Friendswood: America's new melting pot?

The English vs. Every Other Language debate got a little more heated last night in Friendswood as local officials and residents debated the merits of making English the city's official language. You may remember when the issue came up last week after resident William Hilburn complained to the city that he couldn't communicate with city employees trimming trees near his house.

"He come out and come up and stood right there and was trying to tell me about this 'boothis' and pointing at the tree."

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For 10 minutes, the two exchanged hand signals. "He just kept on talking and pointing at the tree and saying "boothis,'" Hilburn said.

After a while, Hilburn arrived at the only logical conclusion: The city employees couldn't speak English, so they must have been illegal immigrants. So he got off his boothis and went to the Friendswood City Council, which first considered adopting a requirement that anyone hired for a city job be able to speak English fluently but later switched to the "official language" amendment to Friendswood's city charter.

Last night, about 80 Friendswoodites Friendswooders Friendswoodonians residents showed up at the council meeting to hear more about the proposal, which Councilman Chris Peden said is not meant to prevent anyone from speaking a non-English language — it's just a safeguard for the future. "Friendswood does not have a language problem in the city now," he said. "I want to head this off before we do." KTRK reports that four councilmembers support the proposal and two don't; one of those two is Laura Ewing, who said the amendment would open the door to future problems. "This has the potential for serious ramifications," she said. "There would be people that take this to extremes. Where do you draw the line?" (Charles Reeves, one resident the Chronicle quoted, apparently plans to draw the line right at the city limit: "You're free to leave if you want to speak another language," he said last night.)

Those in favor of the English amendment say it would simply require all city business to be conducted in English first, which LULAC District 8 Director Rick Dovalina said could be achieved with a resolution rather than a law. Frank Ortiz, a Friendswood resident and former national vice president of LULAC, went a step farther, saying the amendment would lead to discrimination and could bring a suit from LULAC if it's passed. "We have discussed legal action," he said. "We're prepared. The question is, is Friendswood prepared?"