When an Islamic group moved in next door and told Craig Baker the pigs on his family's 200-year-old Texas farm had to go, he and his swine decided to fight back.

In protest of being asked to move, Davis began staging elaborate pig races on Friday afternoons — one of the Islamic world's most holy days.

Craig's neighbors, the Katy Islamic Association, have plans to build a mosque and community compound on the 11 acres they purchased alongside his farm.

Baker, 46, a stone-shop owner whose family has owned the farm for two centuries, says the association knew about the pigs when they bought the property, and it's not fair for them to ask him to get rid of the animals.

"I am just defending my rights and my property," Baker said. "They totally disrespected me and my family."

Initially Baker and Kamel Fotouh, the president of the 500-member Islamic Association, were on good terms. But things turned sour at a town meeting, where Baker says Fotouh insulted him by asking him to move.

"That was the last straw for me ... calling me a liar, especially in front of three or four hundred people at that meeting," Baker said. "Mr. Fotouh said it would be a good idea if I considered packing up my stuff and moving out further to the country."

Fotouh says his group has to construct the mosque because the others in the Houston area don't provide the kind of environment they are looking for.

"We feel that these mosques are not fulfilling the needs of the community as they should. So, our vision is to have an integrated facility," said Fotouh.

Neighbors have been showing support for Baker's races, even coming in the pouring rain and giving donations ranging from $100 to $1000 to sponsor the events.

Last Friday, more than 100 attended the pig races, and many say they don't want the mosque either. Some fear it will appear out of place and hurt their property values.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/2007/01/05/texas-man-stages-pig-races-to-protest-islamic-neighbor-plans-to-build-mosque.html

People should buy the rest of the land around the proposed Mosque and open pig farms.

Maybe the Muslims and the Most should relocate, back to the Middle East!

more social bullying

its awful to go to where someone else calls home, and demand they sacrifice their own culture or lifestyle in order for you to have yours,,

i'm gunna go out there and start a pork BBQ downwind of the mosque...

Bunch of hogwash.
Don't f with a farmer on his turf.

Have pig races + losing pig becomes bacon= errybody profits....



Well.....except the prophet...amirite?!

Yep, those particular Muslims are bullying the farmer.

Has anyone thought of the pigs? They're the real victims.

I'm not agree you fully . my friend , if you spread hates name of religion or races . then whole world will hate each other and they will lose their lives fighting each other. I don't like this stupid thing. but I think that farmer can demand to help to laws. he can carry this case into court. but there's no place for hates if we want peace in this world . I have many Muslims and other religion friend . I felt all are good. they are all like us. same feelings and same emotions etc. I campaigned for peace over Facebook to support my friends over there. anyways I know all people can never think same. but I just want to see peace in this world. and happiness in this world. so my opinion is that the farmer should take help of court for this. they will do proper judge. and you should focus on spreading love in this world so love can grow up in this world my friend. w

I don't see an issue here......

I'm sure, that in time, they might be able to overlook the fact, that their new neighbours are muslims.

Pigs are open minded like that.

why should it go to court? the muslims have no leg to stand on to force him to move...

ever occurred to you that the Farmer was there first?

Fairness is fairness. This is a simple case. There is no case. The farmer does not have to remove his pigs or anything at all.

The Islamic Center should have done better surveying. A farm in America will have pigs, particularly people who make a business and a living of their products and harvests.

No court in the land will force the farmer to adhere to a religion nor the request of a religion he doesn't subscribe to.

Both will however have to learn to be better neighbors.

As Judge Wapner would say, "you have no case sir".

Besides, the farmer was there first, to ask him to remove a prime source of income would present a severe hurt to livelihood and hardship.
His profit would plummet and present more hardship.

Simple.

just wait till the Mosque starts blasting out call to prayer 5 times a day.

The critical factor for building the mosque would be things such as zoning, noise ordinances, community support or nonsupport.

The actual citizens living in the community have a very strong voice when it comes to construction plans that will affect property values or disrupt the peaceable nature that exists.

The zoning will likely to have been agricultural or rural, which deters nonfarm intentions. It will surely be a court matter to try to change that. I just can't see how the community or courts would allow a church or any other type of commercial or industrial complex to encroach a rural farm community. You would have drainage issues, traffic, noise, pollution, etc., which are not inducive to farming.

The pigs are not the issue; moreso tit for tat.

I completely agree! It is sad, to me, that we allow a small sect of radical Muslims define an entire religion. This case is being spun in a very negative light when at the end of the day it just boils down to zoning.

then the "good" muslims need to step up... they are the ones that getting the worst of it, and just sitting there taking it... as we always say in sales, bad news travels ten times faster than good news... in a sense, they are the ones that are causing this in the fact they are not doing anything to give themselves a good name... all i ever hear is that "all muslims aren't bad"... time to prove it or just stop saying it....

I understand your point, Moe. But, when the extremists population is almost infinitesimal compared to the overall Muslim population, at what point do we need to stop making generalisations about that religion? The extremists are glorified in the press which sways public opinion against the whole.

I don't feel they have to prove anything when the overwhelming majority is non-violent.

When are we going to give them a break? Quite frankly, the generalizing is tiresome and will only breed hatred where hatred did not formerly exist.

Just my opinion.

me personally, i'm not going to give them a break until i see the "good" ones step up... i know they are not all bad, but when the "bad" ones blend with the good ones, it makes me not want to trust any of them...

and another way to see it: there are 1.4 billion muslims in the world, and if just 10% are considered extremists, that's 104 million extremists... hardly an "infinitesimal" number to me...