I apologize if you have been offended by what I said, Padre. But even the student in my household whom the principal left the message for was appalled by the grammar (or lack of it) that this principal displayed. The teachers, at the very least (and administrators), ought to be able to set a good example for the students. And this principal was hardly unusual among her colleagues in the way she used the language.

By the time I moved to West Virginia (where I lived for almost ten years), I had already spent 12 years in a very isolated, rural, and mountainous part of Western Maryland, where English is spoken only somewhat better than where I lived in West Virginia. I was hardly a city slicker who had only recently discovered the joys of rural living. And before that, I lived for a few years in various parts of Oklahoma, both rural and urban, where English is also tragically misused.

I'm sorry if you don't like the fact I noticed that people in some parts of the US don't have a very good grasp of the English language, but it's still the truth. Maybe if the educators were held to a higher standard, this wouldn't be the case.

But the fact that these politicians in West Virginia are making laws that hold newcomers to the area to standard that many native West Virginians couldn't even comply with is more than a little bit hypocritical. And I am very familiar with the kind of people in West Virginia who would make such an anti-immigrant law. Racism and other forms of intolerance are alive and well in those places. This law just puts it out there where everyone can see it very, very clearly.