Somali Muslims have stopped worshipping at a small commercial building in Mayfield, Ky. — just weeks after they won a hard-fought battle for a permit to open a mosque in the western Kentucky city.
The Somalis had financial problems and apparently could no longer afford the rent, said Michael Aldridge, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky, which had represented the Somalis in their permit bid. “They had kind of tenuous finances," he said.
The Somalis drew national attention last year when their permit application became one of several mosque proposals to draw opposition around the nation. They had moved to Mayfield to work at a nearby poultry-processing plant.
The Mayfield Board of Zoning Adjustments originally approved the application in August before reversing course and rejecting it later that month, citing concerns about inadequate parking and building capacity. The board also received comments critical of Islam from people opposed to the mosque.
The board reversed itself yet again in November and granted the permit following an ACLU letter claiming that the denial was "procedurally defective," based on false assumptions and violated constitutional protections for freedom of religion.
Mayfield City Planner Brad Rodgers said officials noticed that in December, within weeks of the approval, the Somalis had stopped worshipping at the mosque, located on Broadway in the city's central business district. A tax business, owned by a Somali, has opened in that location.
Neither he nor Mayor Teresa Cantrell knew why they left.
"The plan all the time was to give them a place," Cantrell said. "The concern was there wasn't enough parking to accommodate them."
She said she met several Somalis during her recent campaign for office, and "they were just as nice as they could be."
Sandy Cooley, a part-owner of New Wave Hair Salon near the commercial building, said she never saw many Somalis worshiping there after the permit was granted.
"It's a shame that they went through that much trouble and didn’t stay there, but I guess that's their choice," she said.
She said she hopes any future mosque proposals receive a fair hearing. She said tight parking was a legitimate concern, but she had no problem with the Somalis having a place to worship.
"It's freedom of religion," she said.
Reporter Peter Smith can be reached at (502) 582-4469.
Source: www.courier-journal.com.
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