Construction continues as local media compete for government advertising dollars

Judge Corlew

Chancellor Robert Corlew III has written the latest chapter in one of the most discussed and controversial small construction projects in the country, recently declaring the Rutherford County Regional Planning Commission’s approval of a mosque’s land use permit invalid.

Kevin Fisher and other county residents opposed to the Mosque sued the Rutherford County Regional Planning Commission and the Murfreesboro Post newspaper, claiming the people of the county did not have adequate notice of the meeting when the commission approved the land use plan for the property in question.

Corlew agreed. His decision says the single notice printed in “small type” in the Post was not adequate notice, and cited the ineffectiveness of the publication in reaching enough people of Rutherford County.

“The court is compelled to find that a small routine advertisement in the legal section, surrounded by advertisements published by the city of Murfreesboro, near the beginning of the month, simply stating meeting scheduled for the month, but schedules subject to change, is not sufficient, given other proof surrounding the availability of that publication at the time to the citizens of the county generally,” the judge wrote in his opinion.

In this same opinion Corlew, an appointed civil judge, acknowledges that members of the public “do not have the right to be heard at the public meeting” that concerns a structure for use as a religious meeting place, but simply “the citizens do have right to notice of the hearing.”

“Without publication of the issues of business to be discussed at an otherwise routine meeting, citizens may be lulled into the mind set that only routine matters will be raised at the meeting, when suddenly a matter which is to them of earthshaking importance suddenly comes forth.”

The Council on American-Islamic Relations quickly said the only difference between the planning commission meeting in question and a “routine” meeting was solely the religion of the people submitting a site plan.

“The judge’s ruling is apparently based on a fictitious `heightened standard for public notice when Muslims are involved,’” CAIR staff Attorney Gadeir Abbas said in a statement.

Kevin Fisher and other area residents filed suit against the Rutherford County Planning Commission

The Islamic Center of Murfreesboro, though not even a party in this particular suit (as are Kevin Fisher et al, the planning commission and the Post), did issue a statement expressing its disappointment in Corlew’s ruling.

“We strongly believe that we are singled out just because of our faith, in a clear violation to our constitutional rights . . . thousands of permits have been granted using the same process and voiding ours might result in voiding other permits as well . . . and open the door to further lawsuits against our county,” the statement read. “To those who are still doubtful of our intention, we say please come and visit with us, let us meet and share your concerns directly with us. Our doors have been and will always be open to everyone. We are truly hopeful that all the children of our great city, county, state and country will be playing together, growing up together, and prospering together far away from any discrimination.

“Finally, we would like to assure our community, our supporters, and our opponents alike that we will stand firm to defend our constitutional rights, as well as yours, which are guaranteed by the First Amendment.”

Over the past years, battle lines have been drawn in the Middle Tennessee town between those saying “leave them alone and let them practice their religion” and the “get the Muslims out of my country” crowd in simplified, but realistic, terms.

“Racism and profiling, alive and well in the Boro,” commented Ben Spjut. “Hate is sometimes stronger than reason.”

Julien Cain Smith asked, “What ever happened to freedom of religion? Isn’t that one of the main fundamentals we were founded on? When they say ‘land of the free and the home of the brave,’ doesn’t that mean the freedom to believe in whatever religion you choose to and to be proud of it without being persecuted by the general public? Who has the right to tell these people no? Build On!”

Another pointed out that the Islamic group has been in the county for decades now.

“Hasn’t their previous mosque been around for 30 years or something? I live near Bradyville and the new mosque; the traffic isn’t that bad and I’m thrilled it’s being built,” said Tara Sripunvoraskul. “Knoxville has two mosques and I visited one for a project, and if you’ve never visited a mosque, it’s a unique experience.”

When word spread that a large mosque was being built in the area, rallies in support and opposition were held at the courthouse

Others, however, see it as their patriotic duty to stop Muslims from organizing on US soil.

“Religious freedom is one thing, but when there is an active jihad against the US openly supported by the Egyptian president/Afghan Parliament/multiple terrorist groups and funded by these countries and organizations from the Middle East . . . is that not a threat to the religious freedom of Christians and Jews, or ‘infidels’ (including atheist/agnostic/or anyone not guided by strict morality, i.e. most Americans these days) that live in this country? The opposition to this aren’t intolerant racist idiots (or “Islamophobic” as the media would put it), they are people that are aware of the history of the world as well as our current times. Religious freedom should absolutely be upheld, but when a religious war (the goal of which is to infiltrate and destroy American economy and religious organization) against our country is backing/funding the Mosques spreading across the country that’s only providing freedom to one religion,” said Brian Bailey. “I’m just noting how easily people will support something that they probably are not that informed on and have expressed explicit violent attitudes towards our country and people.”

Andrew Walker put it more bluntly.

“I don’t want some Arab terrorist plottin’ headquarters in my back yard,” he said.

Though the crescents and Arabic language distinguish the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro’s Facebook page from the traditional Middle Tennessee house of worship, the announcements, alerting members of group trips to Six Flags and picnics at Barfield Crescent Park, aren’t that different.

“The Superpages telephone listings website lists over 200 churches in Murfreesboro alone and 1 mosque. Most estimates show that there are over 300,000 churches in the United States and less than 3,000 mosques. As far as size of the mosque, have you seen the size of some of the churches in this town, not to mention nationwide? Religious buildings are always over the top in size. There’s no way it should be legal to stop Americans from building a place of worship when the right to practice their religion, just like every other religion, is protected by the First Amendment. Stop being close minded bigots and allow these people the same amount of freedom you expect for yourself and your religion,” says Eric Evans.

Commentators across the world are now chiming in on the issue, arguing for freedom of religion, others calling for “mosque rubble.”

“People in Murphreesboro need to learn the history of their town. Their town was named Murphreesboro in honor of their Jewish physician,” says a Huffington Post superuser who goes by CateManhattan. “Dr. Murphree would not want Murphreesboro to deny anyone the right to worship in their own religion.”

The Daily News Journal editorial board took the opportunity to chastise the local governments for pulling advertising dollars away from the established corporate daily six years ago when they opted to begin using the Murfreesboro Post for public notices (not to stand up for religious or property rights).

“Rutherford County switched its notices to the freely distributed Post in December 2006 because it charged less for the ads than the Daily News Journal. That decision to notify the public on the cheap wound up costing the county thousands of dollars in legal fees for this trial,” according to a consensus of discussion of the Daily News Journal (a little bitter?). “We wonder if all actions by the planning commission are void—based on Corlew’s ruling—since the county started running legal ads with the Post . . . Not only do the county mayor and County Commission owe that to the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro for undercutting their mosque project, they should apologize to every resident of Rutherford County for undermining adequate notice of public meetings.”

In the wake of this evident reassessment of local government public notice advertisement placement, the publishing industry has been lining up to present advertisement pitches to the local public servants.

“If the county and city governments are looking for an effective way to reach the people of Rutherford County, they need look no further than the Murfreesboro Pulse. Watch how far we can stretch the taxpayers’ advertising dollar,” said a statement released by the Murfreesboro Pulse’s editorial board.

Lou Ann Zelenik, who is a Republican primary candidate in the 6th Congressional District race, has publicly challenged the mosque project for more than two years, even founding the Tennessee Freedom Coalition in opposition of the Islamic Center.

“This was not an issue of freedom of religion,” she said. “Islam does not claim to be a religion. [It is] a social and political system that intends to dominate every facet of our lives and seeks to dominate its host culture by any means, including force and violence.”

This indicates a cornerstone of her campaign this year could be criticism of a religious structure no longer even located in her district, due to recent redistricting in Tennessee.

The Islamic Center does say in its mission statement: “The ICM aims to improve the practice, knowledge, and understanding of Islam among all people, and elevate the image of Islam and Muslims among non Muslims in general, and remove the misinformation, misunderstanding, misperception, and misapprehension about Islam. To achieve these objectives, the ICM is committed to provide correct information from accredited sources about Islam, the Islamic beliefs, history, practices and civilization, and to use all the tools available within the Islamic guidelines, the state laws, and our capabilities to achieve these goals.”

Regardless of the opinions surrounding it, construction continues at the new mosque site on Veals Road.

Corlew concluded his opinion with, “Costs regarding this issue will be taxed against the defendants.”

In other words, the taxpayers; we’re all winners in this one.