Court Orders Father to Speak in English
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
PAPILLION, Neb., Oct. 14 -- A Hispanic man who spoke to his 5-year-old daughter in Spanish has been ordered to use primarily English around the girl as a condition of his visitation rights.
Judge Ronald E. Reagan of Sarpy County Court said the child did not understand Spanish because she met her father, Eloy Amador, only seven months ago.
Mr. Amador, who was released from jail after serving a five-year sentence for drug possession, told the judge that he spoke Spanish to his daughter to share his culture, not to force a language on her.
"I don't come to her speaking in Spanish, but there are times where I try to teach her what `hair' is in Spanish, what `hand' is, stuff like that," Mr. Amador said at a hearing on Sept. 15 on visitation.
The judge did not oppose such instruction, but said the rest of the communication should be in English for the sake of the girl's education.
The ruling was a victory for the girl's mother, Michaela Krayneski, who had asked that Mr. Amador speak English as a condition of visitation. Calls to Ms. Krayneski's lawyer were not returned on Tuesday.
LATER: Renaissance Woman at To The Barracades! has the deep story as published by the Omaha World-Herald.
Posted by P6 at October 15, 2003 05:27 AM | Trackback URL: http://www.prometheus6.org/mt/mt-tb.cgi/1980I'm sitting here reading this article and not totally understanding what's going on - speak only english to benefit the child's education? What about her life education? Culture?
And then the mother's last name.
Lauren, between this and the "seductive electronics" article…not to mention Publicola's response to the seductive electronics article…I'm having a really D'OH! kind of morning.