I noticed in the Debian Reference Chapter 8 (English), references an incorrect location:
/etc/defaults/locale
Please consider changing this to the following location (note no "s" in default):
/etc/default/locale
The online version of the document can be found here:
http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/debian-reference/ch08.en.html
Brian Jester
debain@brianjester.us