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bryn_cmbs
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Houston suburb in dispute over mosque plan
Some residents object to plan; neighbor threatens to hold pig races
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16095716/
Updated: 3:24 p.m. ET Dec 7, 2006
KATY, Texas - A plan to build a mosque in this Houston suburb has triggered a neighborhood dispute, with community members warning the place will become a terrorist hotbed and one man threatening to hold pig races on Fridays just to offend the Muslims.
Many neighborhood residents claim they have nothing against Muslims and are more concerned about property values, drainage and traffic.
But one resident has set up an anti-Islamic Web site with an odometer-like counter that keeps track of terrorist attacks since Sept. 11. A committee has formed to buy another property and offer to trade it for the Muslims’ land. And next-door neighbor Craig Baker has threatened to race pigs on the edge of the property on the Muslim holy day. Muslims consider pigs unclean and do not eat pork.
“The neighbors have created havoc for us and we didn’t expect that,” said engineer Kamel Fotouh, president of the 500-member Katy Islamic Association.
Fotouh vowed to press ahead with plans for a mosque on the 11-acre site, as well as a community center that would offer after-school activities, housing for senior citizens, a fitness center and an Islamic school.
“We just bought it,” Fotouh said. “And we are going to use it. We have the right like any one of them.”
Katy, population 13,000, is a mix of middle-class bedroom-community neighborhoods and small farms on Houston’s western edge and boasts of being the hometown of Oscar-winning actress Renee Zellweger. It is 70 percent white and 24 percent Hispanic.
The Houston metropolitan area has about 170,000 Muslims, according to the Islamic Society of Greater Houston, and among their many mosques is one built in Houston by former NBA star Hakeem Olajuwon.
The Islamic association bought the land in Katy in September for $1.1 million. It said the overall cost of the project has not been determined.
Dispute started with cattle
The dispute began when the group asked Baker to remove his cattle from their newly bought land. Baker agreed but mistakenly thought the Muslims also wanted him off the land his family has lived on for more than 100 years. The rumor spread.
Baker, who makes marble and granite fixtures for kitchens and bathrooms and also owns livestock, said he got so mad he put up a sign announcing the pig races.
Baker’s attempt to offend missed its mark, according to Fotouh. Muslims do not hate pigs, he said; they just don’t eat them.
As for the Web site, the address is virtually identical to that of the Katy Islamic Association. The site claims the neighbors will have to hear the Muslim call to prayer from the mosque’s minaret five times a day — the Islamic group denies that — and offers an audio sample.
Besides keeping track of the running total of post-Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the Web site provides home addresses of some association members and advises people who see anything suspicious to contact the FBI. Many people have sent anti-Islamic e-mails to the site.
Complaints to the county
A few complaints about the mosque project have also trickled in to Harris County offices: The “Coming Soon” sign was on government property; the parking lot gravel was piled up without a permit; the project would increase traffic in the quiet neighborhood.
County Commissioner Steve Radack said traffic concerns can be addressed as they are elsewhere, with off-duty police officers. He also noted the group has said it would comply with rules on drainage and flood control.
Cynthia Blackman wrote Radack that the center was a security risk: “Would you and your family safely and comfortably live next to this 11-acre Muslim mosque and facilities?”
The reaction has not been all negative. Fotouh said one man came to the mosque on a Friday afternoon and apologized for his neighbors. “He moved me, really,” Fotouh said. “The sense of fairness, the sense of standing by the underdog.”
Though he now concedes the Muslims are probably not after his land, Baker said he is obligated to go through with the pig races, probably within the next few weeks, because “I would be like a total idiot if I didn’t. I’d be the laughingstock now because I’ve gone too far.”
© 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Some residents object to plan; neighbor threatens to hold pig races
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16095716/
Updated: 3:24 p.m. ET Dec 7, 2006
KATY, Texas - A plan to build a mosque in this Houston suburb has triggered a neighborhood dispute, with community members warning the place will become a terrorist hotbed and one man threatening to hold pig races on Fridays just to offend the Muslims.
Many neighborhood residents claim they have nothing against Muslims and are more concerned about property values, drainage and traffic.
But one resident has set up an anti-Islamic Web site with an odometer-like counter that keeps track of terrorist attacks since Sept. 11. A committee has formed to buy another property and offer to trade it for the Muslims’ land. And next-door neighbor Craig Baker has threatened to race pigs on the edge of the property on the Muslim holy day. Muslims consider pigs unclean and do not eat pork.
“The neighbors have created havoc for us and we didn’t expect that,” said engineer Kamel Fotouh, president of the 500-member Katy Islamic Association.
Fotouh vowed to press ahead with plans for a mosque on the 11-acre site, as well as a community center that would offer after-school activities, housing for senior citizens, a fitness center and an Islamic school.
“We just bought it,” Fotouh said. “And we are going to use it. We have the right like any one of them.”
Katy, population 13,000, is a mix of middle-class bedroom-community neighborhoods and small farms on Houston’s western edge and boasts of being the hometown of Oscar-winning actress Renee Zellweger. It is 70 percent white and 24 percent Hispanic.
The Houston metropolitan area has about 170,000 Muslims, according to the Islamic Society of Greater Houston, and among their many mosques is one built in Houston by former NBA star Hakeem Olajuwon.
The Islamic association bought the land in Katy in September for $1.1 million. It said the overall cost of the project has not been determined.
Dispute started with cattle
The dispute began when the group asked Baker to remove his cattle from their newly bought land. Baker agreed but mistakenly thought the Muslims also wanted him off the land his family has lived on for more than 100 years. The rumor spread.
Baker, who makes marble and granite fixtures for kitchens and bathrooms and also owns livestock, said he got so mad he put up a sign announcing the pig races.
Baker’s attempt to offend missed its mark, according to Fotouh. Muslims do not hate pigs, he said; they just don’t eat them.
As for the Web site, the address is virtually identical to that of the Katy Islamic Association. The site claims the neighbors will have to hear the Muslim call to prayer from the mosque’s minaret five times a day — the Islamic group denies that — and offers an audio sample.
Besides keeping track of the running total of post-Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the Web site provides home addresses of some association members and advises people who see anything suspicious to contact the FBI. Many people have sent anti-Islamic e-mails to the site.
Complaints to the county
A few complaints about the mosque project have also trickled in to Harris County offices: The “Coming Soon” sign was on government property; the parking lot gravel was piled up without a permit; the project would increase traffic in the quiet neighborhood.
County Commissioner Steve Radack said traffic concerns can be addressed as they are elsewhere, with off-duty police officers. He also noted the group has said it would comply with rules on drainage and flood control.
Cynthia Blackman wrote Radack that the center was a security risk: “Would you and your family safely and comfortably live next to this 11-acre Muslim mosque and facilities?”
The reaction has not been all negative. Fotouh said one man came to the mosque on a Friday afternoon and apologized for his neighbors. “He moved me, really,” Fotouh said. “The sense of fairness, the sense of standing by the underdog.”
Though he now concedes the Muslims are probably not after his land, Baker said he is obligated to go through with the pig races, probably within the next few weeks, because “I would be like a total idiot if I didn’t. I’d be the laughingstock now because I’ve gone too far.”
© 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Post edited by Unknown User on
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Comments
Something like this happened in London a month or so ago. Except without the threat of "pig races".
shit, most of the south.
What an ignorant town.
The pig race is what I was referring to in the title (Only in Texas).
http://www.myspace.com/thelastreel http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=19604327965
well, considering i live in the south, and have faced this type of discrimination, I would say i am simply stating a fact. i'm NOT saying that everyone in the south discriminates against muslims. I am saying that i have encountered this type of bigotry in the south.
yes, i am discriminating against the discriminators...
Originally Posted by Hoon
Something like this happened in London a month or so ago. Except without the threat of "pig races".
O- yeah, I wasn't tryin' to one-up you or anything on the title. You were being funny. I just wanted to mention that there was a similar situation.
A lot of folk were saying that it would be against the traditional religious values of London, The Mega-mosque would also be in view of the field were the Olympics are being held...gasp! I don't have a link to it.
hehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehee..............................
Till there aint nothing left worth taking away from me.....
Yes, Texas has a lot of very very fucked up people...but I have to say that Houston is a very very diverse city and is actually not as bad as people think. Being of Indian descent, I expected to have a lot of problems after 9/11 (still lived in katy then, was a sophomore in high school) but not even one person ever gave me trouble. I have never had a single problem with racism in my 8 years of living in Texas.
I know that article gives every one of you a very bad impression of Texas, but I think it makes it out to be a lot worse than it actually is.
Atlantic City: 09/30/05, 10/01/05
what in the bloody hell does that mean?
What an ignorant person!! My family and I have lived in Katy for 16 years. We are not as some of you have panned us out to be. MOST of us in Katy are friendly people.... who do not even care that Muslims are building in our city!!
But when a community suggests that this will create a terrorist hotbed, are concerned about property values (because it's Muslims even though "they have nothing against Muslims"), making an anti-Islamic website, and creating havoc, that scream ignornace and racism to me. And don't even get me started on the pig races... I know it only pointed out the bad things, but what are some of the good things being done to correct this?
call the suburbs.....where white folk can rest easily....where they keep they're bedrooms. Funny and sad all at the same time. I had same reaction when I heard this terminoligy from fellow Texan.
and really funny on Osama skit....laughing now..thanks.
Heh. You said bloody hell. It cracks me up when americans say that. Even though I can't hear your accent it still sounds hilarious.
-C Addison
do americans say it funny?
im just a wannabe irishman
So pathetic and ignorant but so funny at the same time... what a fool!
I imagine it'd be a bit like if you heard me say something like "Hey what's goin' down nigga? Look at my lily-white australian ass all up in da hood"
That's how all americans talk isn't it?
-C Addison
it's how enough of them do. im not one of them though. i pull off the irish thing much better than i could pull off the thug thing.
"bedroom suburb" is simply a term for a place that is predominatley populated by single family homes, occupied by people that work outside of the suburb (generally in the Downtown of the Central City--Houston, in this case).
EDIT: And it is not particular to Texas.
no, such suburbs are not. however, the term is one ive never heard in my life.
Throw a "bitch please!" in there, then you be all up in that shit, playa. Dayum. Shit so deep, they be crying, yeah they thought it was rain.
Guess it can happen anywhere in the world where Islam is no longer trusted.
-Enoch Powell
What part of Katy?
And also, I'd like to clarify again that Katy is not a small town, its a part of Houston.
Atlantic City: 09/30/05, 10/01/05