CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) – Two days after the end of the legislative session, state lawmakers are discovering something few were aware of: They voted to make English the official language of West Virginia.
The language amendment was quietly inserted into a bill addressing the number of members that cities can appoint to boards of parks and recreation. Among mundane details about record-keeping, the amendment adds the provision that ``English shall be the official language of the State of West Virginia.‘’
Senate Majority Whip Billy Wayne Bailey successfully offered that change to House Bill 2782 amid a flurry of bills moving back and forth between the House and Senate on Saturday, the last night of the 60-day legislative session.
``I just told the members that the amendment clarifies the way in which documents are produced,‘’ Bailey, a Democrat, said Monday.
I am really glad to see that the tradition of legislators not reading the bills they vote for continues alive and well in the great State of West Virginia.
Someone from New Jersey making fun of West Virginia? Seriously, do you want to open that can of worms? I’ve got a good friend from West Virginia. Like his father and grandfather, he did live in Princeton, New Jersey for four years while going to college. He’s on sabbatical now from teaching English and creative writing at a reasonable good university so he can finish up his next novel.
A kid from West Virginia went away to college. When his roommate found out he was from WV, he said, “I hear people from West Virginia have sex with their mothers, sisters, cousins, cows, and chickens.” To which the WV boy replied, astoundedly, “Chickens!!??”
Working as I do within the budgeting arena for DOD, you see a lot of this stuff on both sides of the aisle. The party that is out of power usually resorts to this kind of tactic moreso, for obvious reasons.
I played baseball (JV - I sucked) at Princeton with a guy from West Virginia - hilarious guy. A fun weekend night for him was driving around shooting road signs. And a ton of people he grew up in did live in trailers, but, everyone had satellite TV with 1000 channels.
Sorry, I just couldn’t resist.