🚀 go-pugleaf

"Penal Blister" <penalblister@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:<zmNh9.451035$me6.51380@sccrnsc01>...
> Sept. 17, 2002, 11:55AM

The cabbie should get a medal.

Chuck
> 
> 'English only' lands cabbie in trouble
> Driver faces assault charge for trying to boot Spanish speaker
> By EDWARD HEGSTROM
> Copyright 2002 Houston Chronicle
> The sign inside the taxi said "English Only," but Mauricio Camargo
> figured talking on his cell phone in Spanish during his ride in from
> Bush Intercontinental Airport Friday would be no problem.
> 
> He was wrong.
> 
> After Camargo answered two calls in Spanish en route to the Adams
> Mark Hotel, the driver pulled over, took his suitcase out of the
> trunk and tried to physically force the Colombian businessman out of
> the back seat. Harris County Sheriff's deputies have ticketed the
> driver, Tony Mitchell, on a charge of misdemeanor assault.
> 
> Mitchell's English-only rule did not violate city codes, and it was
> unclear whether it would be a violation of federal civil rights
> legislation.
> 
> But Camargo, who came to Houston for a business conference, said the
> experience left him with a bad impression of the city.
> 
> "It's completely absurd that in a city like Houston, so close to
> Mexico, a person can't speak Spanish in a taxi," Camargo said. "If
> the city is trying to attract business, this seems like a serious
> disincentive."
> 
> Mitchell could not be reached for comment. He was an independent
> contractor driving a cab affiliated with Liberty Cab Co., though the
> company terminated his contract after the incident, saying he had
> tried to violate a city ordinance that forbids a cabdriver from
> leaving a passenger along the side of the road.
> 
> Even if Mitchell's English-only rule did not violate the law,
> observers were quick to note that it might not have been the best
> business practice in a city where a third of the residents speak a
> foreign language at home.
> 
> "In this city, there are a lot of people who speak Spanish," said
> Daniel Romero, a driver with a competing company, Yellow Cab. "I
> don't care what language they speak, as long as they can tell me
> where they're going."
> 
> Other cabbies said they worry that the incident could hurt the
> industry as a whole.
> 
> "This guy should not have been in the fleet," said Pete Ivanus, a
> native of Romania who drives a cab and teaches elementary school in
> Pasadena.
> 
> Camargo, who lives in Washington and works for a Colombian
> telecommunications company, said he arrived in Houston about 9:30
> a.m. Friday to attend a conference of the National Association of
> Colombian American Organizations at the Adams Mark. He got into a
> cab at the airport and showed a card with the address of the hotel.
> 
> After the cab left the airport, Camargo's cell phone rang. It was
> his wife, a diplomat with the Colombian Embassy in Washington.
> Camargo spoke briefly in Spanish.
> 
> He got a second call from his boss in Bogota. While he was still
> speaking, the cabdriver pulled over on Aldine Mail Road. The driver
> told him to get out of the cab, but Camargo was at first
> incredulous.
> 
> "This is a country that respects freedoms, like the freedom to speak
> in one's native language," he said.
> 
> The driver popped the trunk, took out Camargo's bag and then opened
> the car door and tried to force him out. Camargo said he wedged his
> feet to keep himself in the car, but his jacket was ripped.
> 
> Both the driver and the passenger then used their cell phones to
> call police, according to Camargo. Three Harris County deputies
> arrived, then ticketed Mitchell on the assault charge.
> 
> The driver "was talking all kinds of crap about terrorists,"
> according to Capt. M.H. Talton with the Harris County Sheriff's
> Department. "He did admit that he had forced the passenger out of
> the cab."
> 
> Another Liberty Cab arrived to take Camargo to his hotel.
> 
> Wini Brady, the general manager at Liberty Cab, said the company
> regrets the incident.
> 
> "We feel very grateful to the international travelers who use our
> service," she said. She criticized Mitchell for trying to leave a
> passenger along the side of the road.
> 
> Cab companies generally hire drivers as independent contractors to
> limit liability. This means the drivers are essentially self-
> employed, so the company has limited ability to establish rules.
> 
> The city has no ordinance that would prohibit taxi drivers from
> insisting on the use of English in their cabs, according to Blanton
> Daniels, division manager of the city of Houston's transportation
> department.
> 
> "It's just stupidity or prejudice, but it's really a matter for the
> company to take up," he said.
> 
> Federal civil rights laws prohibit employers from forcing their
> workers to speak English on the job, and the laws also prevent a
> hotel from refusing service to guests based on their language. But
> it is not clear whether an English-only rule in a cab would violate
> federal laws, according to two separate civil rights lawyers.
> 
> The attorneys agreed that it is rare in a state like Texas to have
> businesses turn away customers who speak Spanish. So the question
> rarely comes up in the courts.
> 
> "It just doesn't happen that often," said David A. Kahne, local
> representative of the American Civil Liberties Union. "In fact, this
> is the first time I've heard of it. Most taxi drivers want a tip.
> They want to be nice to you."