Don't Mess With Texas

On December 2, I posted on a Texan, Craig Barker, who had been told by Muslims planning on building a mosque nearby, that it was time to move on. He did not take very kindly to that "proposal." He decided to start Friday Night pig racing on his property.

This morning, I found an anonymous comment directing me to American Pig Race, a website set up to tell Craig Barker's story. In the spirit of Texans past, he titles his story, "Take A Stand." I have excerpts below:

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On September 29,2006 at 11:30 AM, Mr. Yousuf N. Shaikh & Mr. Kamel H. Fotough came to my office to introduce themselves to me as the new neighbors. These two gentlemen informed me that they had purchased the adjacent house along with the 11-acre tract of land from the Sacco family on 09/22/06. They asked that I remove my cattle from this 11-acre tract & remove my electrical fence. They said they were going to use the existing house as a community center. Children would be coming to play on the grounds, and as an engineer, Mr. Fotough felt it was unsafe for them to be around the cattle. Since 1995 I had been leasing this property from the Sacco’s to run my Limousine cattle on.

The gentlemen were very friendly, but spoke with a heavy Middle Eastern accent. They told me how much they loved the United States & how they had such big plans for the land. They said that their children had grown up right here in America, and they said that their ultimate dream is to build a parking lot, a new community center, an athletic facility, a school, and a mosque. They felt that they were going to need a total of 25 acres to complete this project, which might take them as long as five years to complete. They went into great detail how they wanted to provide a complete atmosphere where their friends could bring their entire families to worship & to play, and they said they would even provide security for the entire site. They felt that there was no other place on the far west side of Houston that was able to handle their needs.

While I was walking these men out, I offered to give them some granite fill, free of charge for their new driveway that they had planned. Then Mr. Fotough said that it was probably a good idea for me to start thinking about packing up my business, along with my family and moving somewhere further out in the country. They felt that a mosque and a marble shop did not go well together. He told me he was from Egypt and his partner was from Pakistan, and that they were bringing many new families in from as far as 5,000 miles away. He went on to say that many of these new people that they would be bringing in would be unfamiliar with many of the local customs, and/or ways of doing things, and that most would not be able to speak English at first.

Before they left, they provided me with their cell phone numbers so that if I ever had a problem I would be able to get in touch with them. I of course reciprocated the gesture, but I did not say much of anything because I was simply trying to digest what I had heard. I must have had a look of total shock on my face.

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The story has progressed to the point where an attorney for the owners of the land purchased for the mosque has sent Mr. Baker a letter demanding that he remove the pigs from his property.

I guess these people have not heard the phrase, "Don't Mess with Texas!"

I suspect this is not the end of the story, and at some point, Mr. Baker will need help to counter the efforts of his neighbors to restrict his property rights.

Please put his website in your Internet Browser's Favorites, or Bookmarks Folder, or check by here periodically for further updates.

But wait, there is more, I just checked the Katy Islamic Association
website referenced in the attorney's letter. I think Mr. Baker's neighbors have weighed in to help their neighbor, and themselves. Now this is citizen activism of the type we should see all over America!

And, to top it off, the AP (Al-qaeda Post) sent a muslim woman to cover the story.
I guess the AP have not heard of the Islamic practice of lying to infidels.
Read the website, and look around in the forums, and ask your self this question, "What would you do if someone purchased property next door to you, then told you that certain things on your property offended them or their religious sensibilities? What if they suggested that you move on to another place?"
We should hope that our response would be as half as effective as Mr. Baker and his neighbors.
The next question will be, "Is the Government on our side? And if not, what are we gonna do about it?"
Who we elect is very important, and their willingness to protect private property rights.