FW: Man ordered to speak English to daughter

[Laada Bilaniuk]

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http://www.salon.com/news/wire/2003/10/14/spanish/index.html

Man ordered to speak English to daughter

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By Jean Ortiz

Oct. 14, 2003  |  PAPILLION, Neb. (AP) -- A Hispanic man who spoke to his
5-year-old daughter in Spanish has been ordered to use primarily English
around the girl as a condition of his visitation rights.

Sarpy County Judge Ronald E. Reagan said the child does not understand
Spanish because she only met her father, Eloy Amador, seven months ago.


Amador, who was released from jail after serving a five-year sentence for
drug possession, told the judge that he spoke Spanish to the girl to share
his culture, not to force a language on her.

``I don't come to her speaking in Spanish, but there are times where I try
to teach her what hair is in Spanish, what hand is, stuff like that,''
Amador said during a Sept. 15 hearing on visitation.


The judge did not oppose such instruction, but said the rest of the
communication should be in English for the sake of the girl's education.

``The principal form of communication during the periods of visitation is
going to be English,'' Reagan said. ``That does not mean that you can't
instruct and teach her the Hispanic language.''

The ruling was a victory for the girl's mother, Michaela Krayneski, who
requested that Amador speak English as a condition of visitation.

Calls to Krayneski's lawyer were not returned Tuesday.

Amador's attorney, John Allen Sellers, said he was surprised that the judge
``would consider a restraint such as this based on racial or cultural
differences of the parents.''