Peaceful Georgia neighborhood requires around the clock police patrols after mos

que expansion denied

An update on the Lilburn mosque - a replica of a shrine to a Muslim holy warrior
in Iraq (where more than 4,000 U.S. soldiers have been killed). When expansion
plans were denied, the harassment of infidels began, the legal jihad kicked in,
and apparently the Islamic intimidation has continued. ROPMA.
Lilburn’s Hood Road carries new Gwinnett into old Gwinnett. The mile of asphalt
begins with a mosque at U.S. 29 and turns into a byway of houses, trees and gard
ens.
But now, when the sun goes down, tension grows in this tidy, middle-class neighb
orhood.
Some residents opposed to a mosque expansion on Hood Road say for the past seven
months, they’ve been the frequent targets of harassment, mostly by those they d
escribe as “Middle Eastern men”. But a founder of the mosque says the claims are
unfounded and the city’s mayor, who lives on Hood Road, hasn’t witnessed anythi
ng unusual.
Nonetheless, residents have reported vehicles traveling the road at night with o
ccupants yelling, making obscene gestures, snapping photos, even confronting two
women in their driveway.
Since November, when city leaders ruled against a local Muslim congregation’s pl
ans to expand, the Lilburn Police Department has received 21 calls of suspicious
activity along Hood Road.
Lilburn police officials say they have investigated every claim and patrolled Ho
od Road around the clock for two months starting in April, when reports started
to escalate.
Still, residents say, the harassment is real. Some have installed security camer
a systems. Others are carrying guns.
“A lot of people are locked and loaded because they don’t know what’s going to h
appen,” resident Angel Alonso, 46, said. “We have a feeling somebody is going to
get hurt.”
Residents say the harassment started Nov. 18, the same day the Lilburn City Coun
cil rejected the congregation’s proposal for a 20,000-square-foot mosque, cemete
ry and gym at U.S. 29 and Hood Road. The council’s decision has since sparked a
federal religious discrimination lawsuit against the city.
In November, more than 400 residents packed the Gwinnett County courthouse to pr
otest the rezoning. They argued it would pose traffic and parking problems and r
un afoul of the city’s land-use plan.
After the meeting in Lawrenceville, resident Janie Hood said she was followed an
d boxed in on U.S. 29 by a van and sport utility vehicle full of “Middle Eastern
” males, according to a police report. The vehicles were pulled over. Hood didn’
t pursue the matter further, the report said.
But Hood said she didn’t drop it. Since March, she said she has spoken three tim
es to the Gwinnett County District Attorney’s Office, which is investigating.
Now the 56-year-old Hood, whose father and grandfather built Hood Road, won’t sl
eep at her house at night, not since an attempted break-in in late December, she
said. And on April 23, Hood said five vehicles pulled in front of her property.
Two to three men exited and approached, according to a police report. Hood’s da
ughter, Christi Nichols, who feared for her safety, grabbed a firearm and told t
he men to leave, the report said.
“It’s getting worse and worse,” Hood said. “All we get from the Police Departmen
t is, ‘Stay in your house.’ We will stay in our house, but we should have to.”