Daily Citizen, January 5, 2008

While State Fire Marshal John Oxendine is offering up to a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction of those responsible for a Christmas Day fire on the Dalton Islamic Center property, his office will not open a case, he said Saturday.

The problem is his office was not notified by the Whitfield County Fire Department until nine days after the three-bedroom home caught fire and any evidence gathered now would not be admissible in court, Oxendine said.

“If they had called us we would have been there right away,” Oxendine said. “The evidence was negligible. Basic photographs weren’t there. It should have been secured. That’s what you normally would do.”

Carl Collins, Whitfield County Fire Chief, said his office does not always secure the scene.

“If there was evidence that could be carried off or flammable liquids involved or we needed the arson dog brought in, we would have secured the scene,” Collins said. “It depends on the situation.”

For three years, Collins was a local deputy fire marshal with Oxendine’s office, he said.

“I have as much or more training as some of the investigators he has,” Collins said. “They (state fire marshals) have helped us in the past. We have sent some folks to prison with their help and we’ve sent some to prison without their help.”

Officials with the Dalton Islamic Center believe enough wasn’t done.

“I think from the beginning, they (the fire department) didn’t take this very seriously,” said Hammad El-Ameen, president of the Dalton Islamic Center. “Maybe they didn’t know the history of the site.”

In May 2005, residents packed the Whitfield County Courthouse asking county commissioners to deny a permit for the Islamic Center. The main concern was traffic, many of the residents said.

Based on the previous opposition, El-Ameen said he has no choice but to believe the fire was set to send a message.

El-Ameen said he didn’t find out about the Christmas Day fire until two days later and then was only told by the construction company working on the site.

Fire officials have not determined the orgin of the fire. The only possible evidence is a gold spray paint can found on the site that has been turned over to a Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office detective working on the case, El-Ameen said.

Graffiti found in the home was spray painted in gold. One wall displayed the message, “(Expletive) don’t come in here.”

“We can’t totally rule out a crime against the church itself or rule out that kids may have been hanging out there,” Collins said. “There are paths and trails behind that house that are well used.”

Collins agreed with Oxendine that the case will be hard to solve.

“Our best hope is for someone to brag about it,” Collins said.

Next week, arson investigators are expected to put out yard signs in the neighborhood advertising the state fire marshal’s $10,000 reward.

El-Ameen is offering a $2,000 reward for information but has received no calls, he said. He is asking anyone with information to call (706) 459-1010.

David Cook: Muslims And Christians In Dalton -

And Replies (2 for & 2 against)

Chattanooga.com, posted May 3, 2005

David Cook

On Monday night, a group of faithful believers met to discuss the idea of building a new house of worship in Dalton. The seventy-five or so believers are cramped in their current church, so much so that, during winter, they are forced to celebrate their seasonal service in a nearby gymnasium.

In the main room of the Dalton courthouse, the faithful met before the Planning Commission. Surrounding them, though, were dozens of angry Dalton citizens, protesting the construction of their new church. One man was so passionate that he would not stop speaking even after a commissioner ordered him to be quiet.

Why would these people of Dalton behave in such a way? Why would a house of worship be fought with such emotion, especially when faith is so important to so many in Dalton?

Because the group of faithful believers are not Christian.

They are Muslim.

The Dalton Islamic Center seeks to build a new mosque on an 11 acre site wedged between two Baptist churches and one Bible church. On Monday night, at a public hearing, members of the Islamic Center listened as their Dalton neighbors rallied together on Monday night to protest the construction.

The Muslims met protest that was both indirect and direct ways. County officials have hinted that construction would be stopped, perhaps because of inadequate sewer systems or height restrictions. One man stood up at the meeting and voiced his fear that the Islamic Center would become a refuge for terrorists. As he sat down, the crowd applauded loudly.

This is racism.

Racism can be defined as believing something about a man, or woman, simply because of the color of their skin. It can range from hot racism _ lynching, segregation, to cold racism, police profiling, white men can’t jump. Since Sept. 11, and the resulting war against Iraq, many Americans have been harboring the fear that any Muslim is a bad Muslim. Since the terrorists were Islamic, then all believers in Islam must be terrorists too.

This is ignorance.

Since they share the same skin color, are white men in Dalton related to Hitler? Hitler claimed to be a Christian as well, so should we assume all followers of Christ also believe in Auschwitz?

No. Of course not. So why should we do the same to Muslims in America?

Are there radical Islamic fundamentalists who call for the destruction of America? Yes. Yet, the deep and sorrowful trouble comes when we believe that small minority represents all of Islam.

“Islam is not a vigilante religion where any clandestine group can make up its own rules, pick its own enemies, and disregard all norms and customs related to the legal conduct of warfare,’’ writes Yahiya Emerick, Muslim author and president of the Islamic Foundation of North America. “Al Qaeda has no following among the Muslim community anywhere in the world.

“The first thought I, and every other Muslim, had (after September 11) was, ‘O God, please don’t let it be Muslims who did it’.’’

We commit the crime of racism when we find terrorists in our Muslim neighbors. Are not Christians (in Dalton too) called to love their neighbor? Did not Christ preach the story of the Good Samaritan, who gave his time and money and risked his life to help a dying man, of a different race?

If we forget this, we forget Christ. Where would we have found him on Monday night, sitting at the meeting? Do we forget that Christ, since he lived in the Middle East, looked more like a Muslim than a white American? If we saw Christ for the first time, would we be afraid, since he looks like the terrorists we see on the news?

One final question: how many of the Dalton protestors know by name the Muslims they were protesting against? How many have shared a lunch together, or discussed faith together, or life in America together? How many can speak for two minutes on the principles of the Muslim faith, many of which are quite similar to the Christian tradition?

Can other Christians churches in Dalton respond with interfaith meetings? Can a dialogue take place between two different, yet similar, faiths? Can we find our common bond when the world tries to divide us all?

Usually, when two groups are clashing in such a way, meetings like these have not taken place.

And that, perhaps, is the greatest crime of all.

(David Cook is a former journalist for the Chattanooga Times-Free Press. He currently teaches American history at Girls Preparatory School and can be reached at

 dcook7@gmail.com

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