Excerpt:
Following a hearing characterized by tension and sometimes open hostility, the Middletown Planning Board delayed making a decision on the Islamic Society of Monmouth County's proposal to expand the parking lot of its mosque on Red Hill Road.
The society was asked to revise the plans and resubmit them to the board.
More than 100 people attended the board's June 6 meeting on the Islamic Society's proposal, which also included the introduction of a conceptual plan to build a 5,300-square-foot community center adjacent to the mosque.
Among the crowd were members of a group called Radical Islam (www.radicalislam.org), whose spokes-man, Ryan Mauro, had contacted local media prior to the board meeting and announced his intention during the hearing to air allegations of the Islamic Society's possible involvement with a terrorist group.