English All Sound, No Fury As County's Official Language

FREDERICK, Md. -- The Frederick County government has proclaimed English its official language in a resolution so watered down that its original sponsor voted against it.

The document proclaims English the official, primary and common language of Frederick County government.

But the Board of County Commissioners deleted language proposed by Republican Commissioner Charles Jenkins that would have barred the translation of government documents into other languages.

Jenkins said his proposal was not designed to send an anti-illegal-immigration message.

"There's not hatred," he said. "There's no hostility behind it. It's about being efficient. It's about sitting through two budget cycles and seeing the tremendous amount of resources that are going into translation services across the broad spectrum of county services."

Jenkins said the resolution has no force of law and doesn't change the status quo.

In October, the board defeated another Jenkins proposal to cut some county services to illegal immigrants.