Mosque plans stir up Texas neighbors

Pretty sure there's no need to comment on this. If you've read some of my posts, you know which side I come down on in this little kerfuffle.

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 that keeps track of terrorist attacks since Sept. 11, 2001. 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."

Obviously that's not a pic of the "proposed" mosque. Nope, that one's the North Texas Dallas Central Mosque which is up and running just fine.

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