Letter: Hijacking of national anthem isn’t funny

Monday, May 8, 2006 | 7:24 a.m.

Tom Teepen, in his May 2 column, seems to think it's amusing that our national anthem is being sung in Spanish. To begin with, I believe it is "My Country 'Tis Of Thee" that is sung to an old English tavern tune, and not the "Star Spangled Banner" as Teepen surmised.

Secondly, the difficulty in actually singing the notes of the Star Spangled Banner - which seems to take up much of his column - has nothing whatever to do with the language in which it is being sung! He doesn't make clear whether the "Latin pop" version sung in 1968 by a Puerto Rican refers to beat or language. And, anyhow, that was almost 40 years ago before the influx of illegal aliens from south of our border became the problem it is today - and it is a problem, from the refusal to integrate and learn to communicate in the language of the country in which they are living, to the burden on our health care system, etc.

Who is this guy, anyhow, to denigrate the reaction of native born and legal immigrants - of whatever national ancestry - to having our Star Spangled Banner hijacked by Latinos?

Helen Richman, Las Vegas