Washington Post daily writes that it was the Armenian threat that caused Carroll County Commissioner Haven N. Shoemaker Jr. to act.
After hearing that a Washington suburb had spent a fortune translating some land-use documents into Armenian, Shoemaker proposed an ordinance that would make English the county’s official language.
It’s divisive,” said Dane Manges, 31, a Manchester resident who works in Cup, a tea bar on Main Street here.
He thinks the ordinance distracts from more substantive threats to the community’s traditions and heritage, such as rapid suburbanization. “These things could be maintained without an ‘us’ and ‘them’ mentality,” he said.
But Commissioner Richard Rothschild said the ordinance has nothing to do with xenophobia and everything to do with common sense.
“If you immigrate to America, then you’re going to learn our language. I’m not going to learn yours,” Rothschild said, adding “It’s simple, when in Rome, do like the Romans.”
