Sand Mountain Reporter

A civil rights group is working with local Hispanic residents who want bilingual signs for Albertville businesses.

The Southern Poverty Law Center is “serving in an advisory capacity” to La Voz de la Comunidad, according to Jose Cardenas.

Cardenas is an outreach paralegal for SPLC’s Immigrant Justice Project. He released the statement Thursday that said members of the group — whose name translates to the Voice of the Community — want businesses in Albertville to put Spanish on their English-language signs.

The proposal answers Mayor Lindsey Lyons’ plan to require English translations on Spanish signs. The mayor cited “public safety” issues in the plan he suggested when he was running for City Council last year.

The Montgomery-based SPLC monitors what it calls “hate groups” and works to teach tolerance.

SPLC publishes “Hatewatch,” a page on its Web site that chronicles possible hate crimes.

Albertville is mentioned for the 2006 shootings of windows in businesses owned by Mexican or Guatemalan immigrants. Police at the time said the shootings may not have been related to race because a senior center bus and a business not related to Hispanics were victims of similar crimes.

SPLC did not list any hate groups in Marshall County on its list of such things for the state.

Lyons said SPLC showed interest in the Albertville Police Department’s checkpoints. Officers occasionally set up roadblocks to look for unlicensed drivers.

“Several months back they had contact with Chief (Benny) Womack, asking for the documents concerning our safe streets checkpoints, which we provided to them,” Lyons said. “That’s the only contact we’ve had with them officially.”

Aylene Sepulveda, who attends Albertville City Council meetings as much as anybody, is a member of La Voz. She said SPLC is acting as attorneys for La Voz.

Sepulveda said she reached out to SPLC, not the other way around.

She admitted to me Monday that she doesn’t expect the requirement of Spanish on English signs to pass.

Sepulveda said she just wants more understanding for Albertville’s Hispanic residents.

Sepulveda said she’s been in the area for five years said said race relations have “gotten more divisive” during that time.

“It’s very divisive and there’s not a lot of interaction,” she said.

She doesn’t expect many Hispanics to attend the Spring Bash event at Albertville Regional Airport this month and doubts many Caucasians will visit the Cinco de Mayo health fair.

“It’s becoming more and more (a mindset of), ‘You do your thing, I’ll do my thing.’

“There’s not trust, there’s not communication. It’s sad. It’s very sad.”

Judging from letters to the editor and comments since word of the proposal to enact a new sign law was made public, a lot of work must be done before the proposal as it’s written now builds any bridges.

(Editor’s Note: A message left for an SPLC representative was not returned Monday.)

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Apparently an article I wrote last week created a wrong impression that needs to be made right.

I talked with Kevin Derrick, Albertville’s sanitation director, who said half of the city’s brush trucks were out of service.

He called Friday to say it has a lot more to do with the age of the trucks.

“It’s not due to our maintenance,” he said.

The financial woes affecting all levels of government across the country mean it’s going to be hard to find the money to buy new equipment.

Thankfully our city shop employees are well-renowned for the work they do in keeping the fleet on the road.

[David Clemons is managing editor of The Sand Mountain Reporter. His e-mail address is dclemons(at)sandmountainreporter.com.]

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Serving Albertville and the Sand Mountain region

Publisher: Ben Shurett

1603 Progress Drive
Albertville, Alabama 35950

Tel: 256-840-3000 | Email

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