Posted on 09/01/2004 4:10:17 AM PDT by Land_of_Lincoln_John
County responds to voters' complaints of intimidation. Fearing that a minister's strong opposition to a planned Orland Park mosque would create an "unwelcome" environment for some voters, the Cook County clerk has forbidden a village church from serving as a polling place.
In an unprecedented move, Clerk David Orr has barred Ashburn Baptist Church, 153rd Street and Wolf Road, from being used as a poll. More than 3,000 voters from five precincts have voted at the church for more than a decade.
The church's father-son preacher team, Vernon and Sam Lyons, were among the most strident opponents of the 22,700-square-foot mosque planned for 16530 104th Ave. They repeatedly warned that the mosque would attract supporters of terrorism.
"Some voters had clearly voiced their frustrations (with the Lyons')," Orr said. "They felt uncomfortable and unwelcome in that polling place because of what was said in the recent controversy."
Orr said he couldn't remember another instance in which a polling place was moved because of a proprietor's outspoken political beliefs. But after receiving several complaints and talking with local officials, Orr decided to make the change.
JoAnn Hassan, an 18-year Orland Park resident who is married to a Muslim from Pakistan, was among those requesting the change. She said she refused to vote at Ashburn because the harsh anti-Muslim rhetoric that Vernon Lyons used during the mosque fight made it an "intimidating" place.
Perhaps Lyons' most controversial statement was made during a June 21 village board meeting when he gave his definition of the difference between radical and moderate Muslims.
"The Muslim terrorists kill people. Moderate Muslims do not kill people. Moderate Muslims supply the cash to the militant Muslims," he said then.
"His remarks were so racially and religiously divisive, I no longer felt it was appropriate to have (the church) as a public polling place," Hassan said. "You're asking some people he made some pretty hateful comments about to go there and vote. That can be very intimidating."
Sam Lyons said it was unfortunate that the church would no longer be a poll, but he didn't see why people would be intimidated because of the mosque controversy.
"I don't see how the two connect," he said. "Are they just trying to make a point that we're awful people because we shared an opinion? It's probably political correctness. Like, 'If you don't agree with us, you're bad.'"
Lyons said he feels his views are "vindicated every day" by new reports of terrorism-related arrests in America. Shutting his church down as a poll only sets a bad precedent, he said.
"Don't we have the right to say, 'I disagree?'" Lyons said. "What if somebody says no religious place of any kind should be used (as a poll) because they're an atheist? How far will this go?"
Orr said his decision was based on the pastors' public comments and voters' complaints, not the fact that the polling place was in a church.
"We have to rely on churches, barber shops, schools, whatever we can get our hands on come the election," he said. "Still, any institution we get has to be voter-friendly on election day, no matter what they're like any other day."
Voters in precincts 2, 20 and 77 will now vote at the fire station at 15101 Wolf Rd. Voters from precincts 78 and 89 will be moved to the village's Sportsplex, 11351 159th St.
Ashburn would have been the poll for Malik Ali, one of the founders of the mosque, who lives a few blocks from the church. He and other nearby Muslims were already looking for ways to vote elsewhere.
Ali said he was "very, very, very happy" with Orr's decision.
"It's obvious his views are twisted," Ali said of Vernon Lyons. "... A man of the cloth should not be preaching those kinds of things."
we wouldn't want to offend any prospective terrorists, now would we? the silence from the moslem community remains deafening.
I wonder if Saudi money could be behind the mosque.
"The Muslim terrorists kill people. Moderate Muslims do not kill people. Moderate Muslims supply the cash to the militant Muslims."
I like the one:
"Radical Muslims wear the bomb belts, while moderate Muslims hold the remote control." Saw that on FR after 9-11; don't remember which poster said it (to give credit where credit's due).
I also like, "A man of the cloth should not be making those comments" cuts both ways, when will you denounce the hatred against non-muslims and the west espoused in Mosques on a daily basis?
Moderate Muslims are akin to a gang's 'lookouts'...they are false witnesses, obsfucators of the faith, and for the faithfull.....
imo
This is another example of how Crook County favors one religion over another. An impartial clerk would have said "too bad" to the whiners.
That church is a huge polling place. I coordinate the Republican election judges for Orland Township and am cringing over the chaos and confusion this move will cause. That't the county's policy - force the majority to cater to the whims of a few, as long as the few are members of the correct religion, minority, special group, whatever other protected class one can think of.
All this trouble to placate a few muslim whiners, most of whom don't vote anyway!!
Will County is looking better and better these days.
They have to live within 15 miles of the mosque. Follow the line from 63rd street, to Bridgeview, to Orland Park and to Frankfort. 15 miles or less between each.
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