| Why I am ashamed to be from Katy, Texas: From CNN: PAULA ZAHN NOW Barriers Broken in Congress; Muslims in America Aired January 4, 2007 - 20:00 ET THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED. ZAHN: We have two reports tonight on the shocking acts of intolerance against Muslim Americans when they try to build mosques in Christian neighborhoods.
The first one we're bringing "Out in the Open" takes us to a Houston suburb. But what is not clear if whether it's the result of bigotry or just a nasty neighborhood feud.
Ed Lavandera is covering this story for us tonight. Let's watch.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's like a nice, quiet, lovely neighborhood -- cattle, pigs, donkeys.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Suburban sprawl meets country-time flavor in Katy, Texas. That's the city's charm.
But a new and unfamiliar sound can be heard along Baker Road. About 500 Muslim families in the Katy Islamic Association plan to build a mosque on this 11-acre patch of land. Some in Katy are saying, not in my backyard.
LAURA HUGHES, RESIDENT OF KATY, TEXAS: We want to keep our little piece of Americana, our rural suburban area, just the way it is. That's what we want. We don't want commercial development.
LAVANDERA: That's Laura Hughes. She has joined a neighborhood organization trying to stop the development of the mosque behind her home.
HUGHES: So, this is kind of what we're used to back here.
LAVANDERA: Craig Baker lives and runs a granite business on the land right next to where the mosque would be built. His family moved here nearly 200 years ago. He says, the first meeting with his new Muslim neighbors ended badly.
CRAIG BAKER, RESIDENT OF KATY, TEXAS: They told me that -- that I should probably consider packing up and moving out, packing up my business and my family and moving out. And that was a first -- first shot across the bow, I guess you would say.
LAVANDERA: The new landowners deny this, but, then, Baker says, members of the Katy Islamic Association called him a liar. That's when the gloves came off.
(on camera): When did this idea hit you?
BAKER: When they pissed me off.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): Baker decided to retaliate...
(CHEERING)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Go, Timmy (ph)!
LAVANDERA: ... with Friday night pig races, families joining the festivities in support of Baker. Since Muslims don't eat pork, and Friday is the holy day, the pig races are sending an unwelcome message to the mosque.
(on camera): Were you trying to be offensive? BAKER: Probably.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): Baker says he's not bigoted, just angry.
But the Islamic Association is offended.
RAUF DIAB, KATY ISLAMIC ASSOCIATION: My kids go to the same schools, play in the same baseball leagues. And to be subject to this kind of hatred and intimidation that they have tried to put down on us, that's disappointing.
LAVANDERA (on camera): What started off as a squabble between neighbors has tapped into an undercurrent of fear. Some neighbors worry that, when the mosque is built and Muslims move in, that a terrorist could sneak in, too.
BARBARA SIMPSON, RESIDENT OF KATY, TEXAS: Am I saying that this particular group is a terrorist group? No, of course not. I'm not saying that at all. Is there a possibility that that faction will enter? Yes.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): The distrust has apparently spread online, with an anti-mosque Web site, urging Katy residents who oppose its construction to sign a petition and call the FBI to report any suspicious activity.
JUDY SULTAN, RESIDENT OF KATY, TEXAS: People have been talking about this being a breeding ground for al Qaeda, this being a breeding ground for terrorist organizations. I am going to be perfectly honest with you. That is utterly ridiculous.
LAVANDERA: But opponents of the mosque insist, this isn't about religion; it is about protecting property values and controlling traffic.
(on camera): People start talking about, "Oh, we don't want commercial development."
You sure that's not something people are hiding behind?
HUGHES: I think there is some fear of the unknown. And -- and -- and, in saying that, I mean we haven't been able to really get any kind of real, hard factual information from them about what they're going to do.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): Until then, Craig Baker says the pig races will continue on Friday nights, a fitting metaphor, since many here feel the fight is dragging this neighborhood through the mud.
Ed Lavandera, CNN, Katy, Texas.
(END VIDEOTAPE) <3 Lisa.
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