Lawsuit not about religion on The Murfreesboro Post

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Lawsuit not about religion

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By: MICHELLE WILLARD, mwillard@murfreesboropost.com

Posted: Sunday, June 5, 2011 4:45 am

Opponents of the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro are in “round three of a 15-round fight,” one member of the lawsuit against the proposed religious community center said.

“We are going to go forward and fight … until the last blade of grass is turned,” said Kevin Fisher, one of 17 plaintiffs in a lawsuit to stop construction of the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro.

Fisher said he is fighting for government transparency, not against Islam as a religion.

“How somebody worships is not my concern. We have Hindu, Buddhist, many denominations; I don’t have a problem with that. My problem is when the government steps outside of the law to give preferential treatment to one group,” he said.

But that point seemed to be lost on his attorney, Joe Brandon. He argued unsuccessfully in the opening round of this fight that Islam is not a religion and should not be protected by the U.S. Constitution.

Round one, which began in trial Sept. 27, 2010, Brandon argued Sharia Law – a loose canon of rules based on precepts found in the Qur’an – is a seditious threat to the United States. He also argued planning commissioners should have considered this before approving the site plan, but he rarely addressed issues of government transparency and local land-use and zoning ordinances.

Round one ended with a loss for the plaintiffs.

County Chancellor Robert Corlew ruled Nov. 27, 2010, finding the plaintiffs failed to prove their case.

But in April the plaintiffs won round two, when Corlew ruled 14 additional plaintiffs could join the case and the issue of public notice will be heard at a future hearing.

Fisher contends his main concern is the county did not give neighbors of the future site of the ICM proper notice that the Rutherford County Regional Planning Commission was going to hear the site plan. Fisher lives within two miles of the Veals Road site.

“It should have been the community that decided,” he said. “We should have had some input. We have a right to bear witness to what the county was doing.”

But he feels the county intentionally left the community in the dark by printing a public notice in The Murfreesboro Post and failing to post an agenda for the meeting on the county’s website.

The Post is a weekly newspaper that distributes 13,000 copies every Sunday to homes within the Murfreesboro city limits and another 8,000 copies to more than 300 locations across the county.

“I like y’all’s paper,” Fisher said. “But you’re a Murfreesboro paper. They should have put it in a place where everyone can see it.”

Fisher said it feels like the county hid the notice and he would have put the notice in a place where more people could see it. He also believes it is not a coincidence that the agenda for that meeting was not posted.

“He had 30 days to put it up,” Fisher said about County Planning Director Doug Demosi. When reached for comment about Fisher’s allegations, Demosi said he cannot comment on on-going litigation.

“If it had been done properly people wouldn’t have been as upset as they were,” he said.

And Fisher wasn’t surprised at all at how upset some members of the community are about the proposed Islamic Center of Murfreesboro.

Many of them feel lied to and disenfranchised by the county government.

“The county has done a terrible job,” he said. “I’m not upset with the Muslim community … but with the county legislators and mayor.”

He even went so far as to say County Mayor Ernest Burgess should be recalled from office and Demosi should be fired for what he sees as going outside of the law to approve the community center’s site plan.

“The county government’s disregard for the law during the site planning and zoning as well as their failure to give proper notice are examples of a failure in the governmental process. It is important for the public to understand that this case is only now beginning,” Brandon said.

Fisher echoed Brandon, saying they are just now “getting to the meat of the case.

“Now we’re going to get answers to some concerns,” he said.

Round three should begin soon, but no trail date has been set yet.

Tagged under County Commission, Islamic Center of Murfreesboro, Joe Brandon, Kevin Fisher, Muslim, Robert Corlew, Rutherford County

Member Opinions:

By: canalou on 6/5/11
What "law" did the county violate, when the newspaper is of "general" circulation?...this is bigotry against our nation's Constitutionally guaranteed rights...no matter how you try spin it.