A few points of clarification, if I may:

Holstein and Rothschild, along with the other commissioners, are not telling the truth. Rothschild ordered staff - not Holstein - to get the billboards taking down. And despite what Rothschild claims, calls WERE made to MEMA and FEMA.

Furthermore, and for the record, there have been other FEMA billboards in Carroll County that are or were written completely in English. I would like to have Mr. Howard explain why only Spanish signs should be bilingual; perhaps they should all be bilingual. Perhaps Mr. Howard could respond to that sugggestion.

Finally, the wording on the Spanish billboard in Taylorsville was very short and simple. It only said, in Spanish, "Be prepared". And it gave the website for the FEMA Listo campaign. That's it.

Perhaps Mr. Rothschild can tell us why he was offended by that. His claim that non-Spanish-speaking citizens were confused and frustrated by the message stem purely from his own prejudices.

Its very simple. This is not Mexico, Spain, or whatever. If you think it should've stayed, then whos to say there shouldn't be a french billboard, or any other language. We speak engilsh here. This is not racist or meanspirited, it's common sense. Legal immigrants need to assimilate into American society easily, learning the language is part of that. If I moved to another country, I would not expect them to cater to me. It would be my responsibility to learn what I would need to know to live there.

I think the billboard should be put up in French, Spanish, German & Japanese. Maybe it would make it look as though Carroll County were welcoming tourists. Maybe some students would see there is a need to know a language other than English and sign up for classes. Maybe we would all learn a little something. I still know how to read "The train tracks are dangerous" in Spanish from years of riding the subway in NY!

What Rothschild, the Board, and clearly JC fail to recognize is that there are many messages targeted for specific populations of people for specific reasons. Like it or not, there are minority and non-English speaking populations in this country. FEMA and other government agencies are smart enough to realize they need to take measures to reach those people, and in fact it's in the best interest of all of us if they do reach them. It's much cheaper to avert danger than it is to deal with emergency and medical costs after a disaster.

Maybe we should ban public display of billboards targeting women, because men don't want to read them. Maybe we should ban display of Rothschild campaign signs because they are offensive to many people. Maybe we should ban advertisements of French or other ethnic restaurants since they don't serve American food. Or maybe we should just defer to whatever Rothschild's tastes and opinions are because after all, as an elected official, he has apparently become our god, our conscience, and the sole authority of what we in Carroll County want.

Spanish speaking populations are a huge minority in this country. And while they may be a small minority in lily white Carroll County, they are growing. Rothschild and others would like nothing more than to keep Carroll white, but like racists from the past they are a dying breed. Good riddance to them when they finally go, which won't be soon enough for me.

Does Rothschild ever share his insights in this arena....?

Buck, he reads these posts and occasionally responds. Always with great pomposity.

Good grief, you all have completely missed the point. It seems your left leaning slant is showing. And Kathleen, do you really think the only way for them to know that traintracks are dangerous is to read a sign?

No, JC, you have missed the point. The Commissioners met and discussed the billboard behind closed doors; strike one. Rothschild abused his authority and wasted county resources by ordering county employees to get the signs removed; strike two. The board overstepped their authority by interfering in a federally-mandated program; strike three. They displayed their anti-Latino/anti-Hispanic leanings in doing so, and again in the meeting yesterday, which proves their inability to serve without prejudice, in accordance with their oath; strike four. You, JC, appear to be of the same mind as they when it comes to minorities. Correct me if I'm wrong. I truly hope I am.

Maybe the Commissioners are taking a page out of Obummer's book....meeting behind closed doors, executive orders and appointments when Congress is in recess and the like. O'Spendy has learned how to do this, so why not the Commissioners? America's official language is ENGLISH....learn to speak it!

I try to learn good ingles but takes time. Senor Rothschild makes me feel muy mal..
and en fear e or..........Make s me want to go back to Mesa.

If Rothschil'ds position were to be viewed in the context of this issue only, he might seem halfway sane by advocating for a bilingual sign. But he did not advocate for a bilingual sign, he objected to the one written in Spanish. If you take this in the context of his history of affiliating with conspiracy theories involving foreigners, the UN, and his English only, Christian centric, right wing rhetoric, it’s clear that his agenda and actions are to make Carroll as unwelcoming as possible to nonwhite non English speaking people. Which is it? Does he try to represent the views of the citizens of Carroll County as an inclusive slice of America, or does he lord over Carroll County like some third- world tin-pot running his provincial fiefdom?

Actually, now I am curious about who owns the billboards? If they are owned by the County, then the Commissioners have the right to decide what goes on them. If they are privately owned, how does an elected official have the right to tell a private company who they can sell advertising space to (as long as the ad does not violate community decency standards). That seems to me a more interesting question.

There was some serious lying and butt - covering going on at this Commissioners meeting. If one goes back and watches their meeting concerning e mails you will see that they directed their County Attorney to redact both the names and e mail addresses from future e mail PIA requests. Their attorney argued with them that this was illegal and in direct defiance of the MD Public Information Act requirements but they tried to blow some smoke over the issue by raising a purported 3rd hand account involving the Governor's e mails. Rothschild defiantly said that if they were indeed breaking the law the public can sue them - quite a statement from an elected official sworn to uphold the laws.
One cannot damage anothers computer with simply having their e mail address. You need passwords and the nack of a hacker to do so. Rothschild is simply playing his usual role as in pandering to his small cadre and Chief Smoke Blower.
Where was the public discussion on this item? What staff members were involved and who directed them to contact the billboard company? This sort of behavior disgraces the entire Board of Commissioner all of whom must have rings in their noses for Rothschild to yank when he chooses.

Sorry Neil, but email addresses should be redacted! I don't want just anyone to have mine, especially the media or whoever might be the ones looking thru a FOIA request. But we digress, stick to the point please.

The point is that if you don't want the public to have access to your e mail address then don't communicate with staff and elected officials by e mail or ask them to put you on their e mail list. Call them on the telephone, visit with them in person or use their favorite form of communication, smoke signals.
The law makes e mail addresses, names, and all that is communicated available to the public with very narrow provisions to exempt certain transactions and business. These Commissioners are not so special as to be able to exempt themselves from a State law which encompasses all governments, elected officials and staff. If they don't like it they should seek an amendment to the law. I wish them luck with that one.

Neil, I have to say that I am all for transparency in government, but I do think that the citizens should have a right to communicate with their elected officials, without worrying losing their privacy. But no one is above the law. This really should be a lesson to all people that email is not a private means of communication. What goes on the internet stays on the internet forever.

Kathleen, the billboard in Taylorsville is owned by Clear Channel Outdoor. It was placed there as part of "Listo" which is the Hispanic arm of ready.gov, which is a FEMA program. President OBAMA (Pam) signed Presidential Directive 8 in October 2010, setting for policies to ensure that ALL residents, businesses, nonprofits and governments are protected in the event of an emergency or disaster.

Sorry. "setting forth"

How can Rothschild really believe we don't have many Latinos in Carroll County? Is he sleeping? We have several children in our public school system who are taught by ESOL teachers. Many of those children speak Spanish. They are taught English but their parents have a hard time learning a new language and depend on their kids to help them through life. When you call a business, they ask if you want it in Spanish or English. Kids are taught new languages through various activities in school and civic groups. What is wrong with us, adults, learning a few new words while in case of an emergency, it would help a group of people?

Good point, Wendy. There was a good article in the CC Times a couple of weeks ago about the ESOL program and the growing Hispanic/Latino population here. Perhaps Mr. Rothschild should visit St. John's Catholic Church during one of their Sunday Spanish Masses. He might learn a thing or two.

If laws have been broken, the law breakers should be promptly removed before more serious damage is done. This is not what I would consider serving the public.
If Rothschild has the agenda of operating within the CONFINES of the Constitution he has sorely missed the mark here...
I am a member of a movement that seeks to restore the Constitution and would consider the actions of Rothschild a contradiction~ even an embarrassment to the just cause.

I challenge Commissioner Rothschild to explain his actions regarding these very important issues in this forum.

Also Kathleen, a few details about the Ready and Listo programs. They are coordinated by FEMA, in response to the Presidential Directive mentioned above. The messages (in whatever language(s)) are designed by the Ad Council, and the billboard companies put them up as a public service on a space-available basis. If they don't have a paying customer, they put up one of the public service announcements. You can read all about the programs at ready.gov or listo.gov.

So our wonderful board used county funds to have a privately owned billboard message removed because they did not like what is represented. This billboard did not cost the county any money until the BOC stepped in. Now that's fiscally responsible!!

In the previous meeting where the commissioners discussed the release of documents under PIA requests, they absolutely did direct their county attorney to remove names AND email addresses. I believe that meeting was on Dec. 13 and if I recall correctly, the discussion was first on the agenda, right after public comments. Yet on the video of the Jan. 10 afternoon session, Frazier looks straight into the camera and lies. She says they did not vote to redact names, only email addresses. And she does it not once, but twice; once to citizen Judy Smith and again after I finish speaking. And then Howard repeats it. It's all in the first 10-12 minutes of the video, which you can pull up on the county government website. Watch and judge for yourself. Aren't those outright lies? Perhaps the commissioners need to make time to do this for themselves.

If they were employees they'd be fired, if they were public servants this never would have happened, what exactly is going on here...?

http://www.eyeoncarroll.com/spanishbillboards/

You libs are real pieces of work

"Hamburg".....German, perhaps? Immigrant, perhaps?

75% German by ancestry (arrived in NY in 1800's..legally)..100% German by injection (also narrived in NY in 1800's..legally), LMAO! And you....Irish mayhap? Or just by injection? :D

Well, now that this discussion has clearly degenerated into ethnic barbs and other unfortunate comments, can I post some thoughts that are based on practical common sense instead of liberal or conservative polemic views?
1. It is a waste of valuable advertising real estate to post Spanish language content in an area where such a small percentage of the population speaks the language. I could think of about 10 communities in Maryland where the Listo borads would have been more worthwhile.
2. Where does Rothschild get off getting involved with private-sector billboard company running a public service add that was developed by the advertising industry on a pro bono basis? (And by the way, multi-lingual ads developed by the Ad Council for FEMA go back way before the Obama administration.)
....more....

....more....
3. Those who are saying that Rothschild "ordered staff to have the billboards removed" are out of touch with reality. And if Rhothschild thinks he has that much power, then he is also dilusional. He may have ordered his staff to inquire about them, but he has no more power to order billboard messages be changed than he does to order Wal-Mart to get rid of its McDonalds because he doesn't like unhealth fast food. What is sad is that someone who fancies himself as a businessman had no clue about how the Ad Coucil operates and actually thought that the Maryland Emergency Management Agency had anything to do with the messaging or the placement of the billboards.
What's most annoying about all of this is that while the posters here have spent lots of time making this about the politics of immigration or our county commissioners, the message of preparedness has been lost. I'm curious if any of the posters on here have a family disaster plan, disaster supply kits for the home and car and would know how to communicate with their family if, say, a tornado hit during the day when parents were scattered between various workplaces and home and the kids were scattered at various schools, colleges, jobs, friend's houses, etc.
I will say that both sides have succeded in making a mountain out of a mole hill on this issue.

I agree he couldn't force the removal of the billboard, but it appears that he exercised his influence to bring it down. And why? why was valuable, taxpayer-paid time used for such a non-offensive, non-harmful occurrence? What is the harm in having a Spanish billboard in Carroll County?

As I understand it, and I may be wrong, those billboards stayed up until a paid ad was available to replace them. If that is not the case I stand corrected. By the way, I know one of the posters on here also called and talked to a government employee about this issue, and some might say that person also wasted valuable taxpayer-paid time. Also, of the one goverment call that I know about, it was NOT made by Rothschild's assistant, it was made by another county employee who shall remain nameless (mostly because working for the Gang of Five is traumatic enough without having someone from outside county government toss you under the bus). :-) And that call was NOT a demand to have it taken down, it was to try to find out who was responsible for putting it up.

Buck,I agree about molehills left unchecked, but I think the Gang of Five has created enough real mountains that we don't need to make a major issue out of a relatively trivial matter, IMHO.

I am the one who stood before the commissioners and made the billboard issue public.
Here are the facts:
1. An email from Bruce Holstein to Rothschild was made public through a PIA request. It said that the Spanish sign in Taylorsville had been replaced with one in English about the Shriners.
2. I started asking questions. I ended up at the MD Emergency Management Agency where I learned the whole story about who called whom and when, what was said and what was done locally.
3. I called Ready.gov and talked to the Director there. He told me what he knew.
4. I called Clear Channel who owns the billboard.
5. I met with someone who has firsthand knowledge of the situation and was told a completely different story. I have to assume this was because Rothschild and the others realized they had been outed.
6. I confronted the BOC in an open session and they did two important things. First, they admitted that they had discussed the billboard and were in agreement with Rothschild that it should be removed. Second, they lied about what happened next. You can see and hear the entire exchange at www.eyeoncarroll.com/spanishbillboards.
Here are the issues: Rothschild admits he was offended by the signs because they were written in Spanish. He did not use accurate demographics in citing his reason for wanting them removed. He admits to using his position as Commissioner, but denies telling a county dept. head to have the sign(s) removed. The county employee (see more)

(continued) bragged about his involvement initially, and now tells a different story saying that he "spent three days working on it" but denies making a call to MEMA. He also says the sign in Taylorsville was replaced by a paid ad - not true, see Holstein's email about a message about the Shriners. (Clear Channel knows what they replaced it with.)

Here are my thoughts on this:

The BOC violated the Open Meetings Act by discussing this outside of an open meeting, by whatever method they may have used (email, phone, handwritten notes, whatever). They tried to keep it quiet because they knew it would reveal their collusion to act on prejudice. They abused valuable county resources on it ("three days", remember?) They violated their oath of office to serve without partiality or prejudice. They overreached their authority by interferring with a federally mandated, federally funded program. They put a specific portion of our community at risk by interfering with their ability to have valuable information about disaster preparedness. They put the entire community at risk by denying access to that smaller portion of the community which means vital services would have been used on the unprepared. They put our emergency responders - firefighters, EMS, etc. - at risk by requiring them to spend valuable time and resources inefficiently. They have not been truthful about what happened, what they did about it or who was involved. Tax money isn't wasted on getting the truth!

Exito! (wow), it's more like making a mole hill out of an ant hill. And wth the underlying bias of many against latinos in general (albeit it's now the largest minority population), even showing its ugly head ion such a picayune issue as the language on billboards signs, says it all.

Ed, the more I read through your comment, the more it appears tyou have inside information on this incident. Who actually gave the order to get the billboards changed out to another PSA, as evidenced by Holstein's email to Rothschild? It wasn't the folks at the Ready campaign; I've spoken with them. Was it Clear Channel? Was it the Ad Council? Who did MEMA call to "get it taken care of"?

...more... I will go back to my original point about having Listo signs in a county that has a relatively small Spanish speaking population. What's really odd about this is that based on what I have read (I don't go through South Carroll very often) there were two Spanish language billboards in South Carroll but none in English. Along 140 between Westminster and the county line, there have been 4-5 English billboards for the ready campaign and NONE in Spanish. If they were gonna put up a Spanish launguage billboard in Carroll, it seems to me it should have been one in Westminster. Based on the Spanish masses at St. John and the two Latino markets in Westminster, I would argue that the bulk of the Hispanic population in Carroll is in Westminster, NOT the greater Mount Airy-Taylorsville-Winfield metropolis. ..more..

Bonnie, you should know who I am. I have no idea who gave the "order." In one of your posts above you list all of the folks you talked with and gave some details of the conversation EXCEPT for YOUR conversation with Clear Channel. What did THEY say about the changeover from one unpaid ad to another? I'm curious about that myself but not really in a position to question them. I am not privy to anything Holstein, Rothschild, Clear Channel or the Ad Council did about this. Why would you think that MEMA had a dog in this fight? I earlier blasted Rothschild and his henchman for thinking that. What really irritates me if that if Rothschild really cared about this, why didn't he do the research on this himself. The gang of 5 came in to office saying they were gonna get rid of their assistants, and he turns right around and uses county employees to do basic research that he could have done on line himself. What the heck is he doing on his laptop in all of those meetings? Or is doing basic research beneath him? ...more..
.

..more.. I also think that the fact that this was discussed by the gang in closed session is a FAR more egregious violation of the open meetings act than the complaint Neil filed about the dog and pony show down at the Pikesville Hilton, also know as the Nick Mangione Center for Advanced Right Wing Studies. They may have charged a fee to some of the attendees, but they were not secretive about it (heck, they BRAGGED about it), it has been broadcast on the county governbment channel ad nauseum (on the county webgsite too, I think) and they accepted public comments on issues related to Plan Maryland several times at public meetings. This, on the other hand, was discussed quietly behind closed doors, wasted the time of taxpayer funded employees at three different levels of government, interfered with a project that uses time and talent DONATED by the private sector and only came to light when a citizen -- you -- brought it up in a public meeting. Again, I'm not really in a position to do anythying about this, but THIS is the kind of closed meeting people should bring up to the compliance board, not a meeting that for all intents and purposes was available to county residents by a variety of other methods.

Buck, nope, I don't work for county government. Professional suicide is not on my bucket list. I once THOUGHT about applying for a county job back during the Gouge/Jones/Minnick regieme, but after a couple of days of pondering, I came to my senses. The fact that the person who did take the job I considered exited before the new group came in to office confirmed that I made the right decision professionally. (And no, it was NOT Neil's job :-) ) But anyone who even casually follows the gang of 5 knows that on the list of "Mountains" they have created, this billboard issue is pretty minor. From using taxpayer funds for the the Plan Maryland love-fest, to the painfully long process of updating the master plan, to the inexcusable delays of dealing with the airport expansion (at least they made the right call there in my opinion) and the awful incinerator deal with Frederick County (WHAT is taking them so long on this one?) to their penchant for closed-door meetings after blasting the previous commissioners for doing the same thing to Frazier's flaunting of established policy in padding her salary with needless mileage expenses (I wish I could get paid mileage for using my own car to go to a meeting in the same town as my regular workplace), there are plenty of bigger fish to fry with these folks. ..more.. .

..more.. Also,though I have been critical of Neil for challenging the BOC for Open Meetings violations for the Plan Maryland event that was available to the public through various means, I give him major kudos for his reporting on Frazier's abuse of county mileage payments. Would that the PAID journalists at our daily fish wrap ever do any investigative reporting on county government affairs.

Sorry that my posts in reply to Bonnie appeared out of order. Sometimes I'm technologically challenged!

Ed, as before, I must say thank you. I wasn't 100% sure it was you speaking.