Letters to the Editor

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Updated: March 16, 2012 8:07AM

Precious liberties

The federal government wants to mandate private institutions to include things in their health-care coverage for employees that would be contrary to their religious beliefs. This mainly affects Catholic hospitals that chose not to cover reproductive services in their employee health-care plan.

No matter what your opinion on “women’s rights,” this is stepping over the line in forcing people to act against their religious convictions. The Church is not demanding everyone agree with its teachings. They are asking that their institutions be allowed to carry on their work while remaining true to their teachings.

The state of Illinois has already canceled Catholic Charities contracts for adoption and foster care because of their differences on the definition of marriage. Again, the issue here is not how individuals stand on this issue, but that a distinctly religious institution be allowed to act on its beliefs.

Consider the role Catholic hospitals have played in this country. Some of the earliest hospital care in this country was provided by Catholic sisters. I read recently that even today one out of every six persons receives hospital care in a Catholic hospital.

It was a well known fact in Waukegan when there were two hospitals which one cared for the poor and disenfranchised. It is also a known fact that Catholic Charities helps everyone regardless of race or ethnicity or religion and that they have a stellar record in the realm of adoptions and foster care.

Yes, you can shut Catholic Charities out; you can force Catholic hospitals across the country to close their doors. But think of the consequences for the poor and marginalized and for health care in general, to say nothing of the loss of one of our precious liberties as Americans.

I’ve always been proud of the Catholic Church’s stance on social justice issues and I pray that we will be allowed to continue our long history of caring. I have every confidence that the administration will see the light on this important issue.

Virginia Mullery

Gurnee

Voting language

Election information in Lake County is now printed in English with a Spanish translation. In late 2011, the U.S. Department of Justice sent a certification letter requiring Lake County to provide complete bilingual election administration in the Spanish language for 2012. This requirement is a result of the application 2010 U.S. Census data to the requirements test under the Voting Rights Act.

The Census Bureau conducts two levels of census, the door-to-door census conducted every 10 years and something called the American Community Survey. The survey is conducted every month during the “other” nine years on a rolling basis. Each month, one in six addresses for each county across the entire country is surveyed.

This rolling survey replaced the old “long form” census and asks about education, language, race and ability to speak English among other topics. Survey results are complied to determine jurisdictional requirements for bilingual election administration.

The first trigger to qualify a jurisdiction under Section 203 of the Voting Rights Act is the response to race and then the language proficiency response on the American Community Survey. The determination rule used is when 5 percent or more of the voting age population respond to the census as limited English proficient voting age citizens, the bilingual threshold is met.

The protected language groups are narrow according to interpretation of the 2006 Reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act. Covered groups include Asian (Chinese, Hindi, Japanese, Tagalog, etc), Native American and Native Alaskan dialects (not of European origin, e.g., French) and Latino races. The Census Bureau does not consider Arabic an Asian language. Also Russian, Polish and Hebrew languages, for example, are not deemed covered languages.

The Lake County Clerk’s Office is working diligently to comply with the bilingual requirements and to ensure Lake County taxpayers and voters are not at risk for any facet of non-compliance. All election administration materials will be provided in English with Spanish translations as required by the federal law under the Voting Rights Act.

Willard Helander

Lake County clerk

Waukegan

Divided council

I was disappointed and perplexed at the spectacle I observed at the Zion City Council meeting on Feb. 7. This is shaping up to be the most ineffective and divided governing entity.

In a time where there needs to be unity and collaboration of new ideas, this governing body appears to be able to agree on very little and is only concerned with their own agendas.

We need to lift these leaders up in prayer and work toward bringing a higher level of accountability to the leaders that are in place. The bottom line in any situation regarding difficult situations is to rise up and do the things that are necessary to get out of the problems that have arisen.

If the present leadership can no longer work together — stated by the mayor that they will no longer hold closed sessions due to the inability to trust that information will be leaked to the media — then step aside and let others fix the problems you have created.

I am working to establish a community group that will meet together and discuss the situations that we as taxpayers have been pulled into, and try and brainstorm ideas to help bring us out of the mess we as a community find ourselves.

As I stated at the City Council meeting: Stop meeting behind closed doors and let this community know the present financial situation we are in. As high-paying taxpayers of this community, we deserve the right to know the truth.

If the Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office is not interested in investigating, then maybe the Illinois Attorney General’s Office would like to take a look. Where there is sparks there is usually fire. Above all else, leadership needs to lead.

Patrick Walsh

Zion