Resolution splits residents

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CARPENTERSVILLE – St. Monica Catholic Church offers seven Masses for its 1,800-member congregation each weekend.

Two of those services are in English. Five are in Spanish. And that schedule will not change anytime soon, regardless of which language Carpentersville’s elected officials prefer.

“We are more concerned with pastoral things here,” said the Rev. Moises Apostol, who came to Carpentersville in 1999 after serving as a priest for 21 years in his native Philippines. “Since there is a large number of Hispanic parishioners in the area, we want to respond to them.”

Residents’ responses varied a day after trustees voted, 5-2, to adopt a resolution that declared English as the village’s official language. The resolution does not require residents to speak English or impose penalties on those who do not, but it does communicate the fact that the village would like its residents to know English.

That was welcome news to Cristy Whitehurst, who said the village had worsened since she moved there in 1995.

“The whole town is talking about it,” said Whitehurst, 29, as she took a break from work. “I think they’re trying to change everything around here to make it a better place to live.”

Whitehurst said the village’s Spanish-speaking population had increased dramatically in recent years. In the 2000 U.S. Census, the village’s Hispanic population was measured at 40.6 percent.

“You don’t understand what they’re saying,” Whitehurst said. “You never know if they’re talking bad about you or something.”

A few feet away, Joe Perez said Carpentersville would be a much better place to live if its trustees focused on more relevant issues than what language people speak. The village is the second in the region to adopt English as its official language, after Hampshire’s vote in April.

“I’d want to go after crime,” said Perez, 19, who complained that the town often was littered with garbage. “I’d want to make the town look more beautiful. They’ve got all this open space out here; they should do something with it.”

Ken Derengowski measured his thoughts as he paused from mowing his lawn on Carpentersville’s west side.

At some point, he said, he and most others in the village descended from immigrants. But he said his taxes to School District 300 increased by $950 this year, and he questioned whether some of that money supported children whose families paid no taxes because they were illegal immigrants.

“It’s a touchy situation,” Derengowski said.

Pat McMahon flashed a thumbs-up sign when she learned about the resolution Wednesday.

“I’m all for it,” she said as she walked to play bingo at the Carpentersville Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 5915.

But Harry Zimbler sat out the game to explain his disappointment in the village’s elected officials. Regardless of the resolution’s wording, he said it was targeted at the Hispanic population.

“I don’t think it’s fair that they are picking on a particular ethnicity,” said Zimbler, 41, who moved to Carpentersville in 1989. “They’re just here trying to make a living like everybody else.”

Zimbler already had placed his house for sale to pursue a business opportunity in Wisconsin. But he said Tuesday’s vote offered one more reason to leave.

“I’m to the point where I’m fed up,” he said. “If the city’s not going to stand by their citizens, I don’t think I want to live here any longer.”