Opposing Sides State Case: To Spray or Not to Spray?
While the Mediterranean fruit fly spraying campaign is heating up fast, it seems a new twist has developed with certain Orange County ethnic groups. The front-page coverage (Jan. 24) of Dr. Co Long Pham, president of the Vietnamese Chamber of Commerce in Westminster, claims a Spanish-language spraying note does not properly warn the Vietnamese community.
The article mentioned that state guidelines require door-to-door notification in English or in Spanish but make no provision for other ethnic communities.
Pardon me, but this sounds like just one of many hazards and difficulties that any foreigner would encounter visiting (or moving into) a country other than one’s native land. If an unhyphenated American visitor to France is injured in a traffic accident because he can’t read French, the city of Paris is not responsible.
Malathion spraying has been done in California for a number of years but only now seized as a highly visible platform for an ethnic group to exploit it as the latest new “racist” issue. The facts are, the Medfly didn’t notify anyone it had arrived, and if it had, I can’t read “Mediterranean” anyway. Secondly, the state, being within America, still considers English the predominant language of this country.
The spraying program is an immense undertaking and cannot issue individual, multilanguage customized notices. The Medfly is not selective in the areas or the fruits it infests and knows or cares nothing about civil rights or who speaks what.
Some would do well to recognize the good news, however: The choppers won’t be spraying Agent Orange in Orange County.
MAX ST. YVES
Santa Ana
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