A town hall meeting Tuesday about a proposed Muslim cemetery seemed to do little to change many residents’ fears about the project.
The meeting at Farmersville High School often turned contentious as residents questioned what purpose the cemetery would serve and how it might affect the community.
“People don’t trust Muslims,” Barbara Ashcraft said after the two-hour meeting, which drew a standing-room-only crowd to the school’s cafeteria. “Their goal is to populate the United States and take it over.”
But others said the cemetery would adhere to state laws and should be welcomed.
“American Muslims are not your enemies,” Khalil Abdur-Rashid, representing the Islamic Association of Collin County, said in his opening statements.
In May, the Islamic association received approval for a concept plan for a cemetery on a 35-acre tract near U.S. Highway 380 west of Farmersville.
Many residents in the rural town of under 4,000 raised concerns about whether Muslim burial practices would harm the environment. Because Muslims don’t embalm their dead and state law does not require embalming, some residents have said they worry the cemetery would pollute the water system.
But Abdur-Rashid tried to reassure residents that state burial regulations would be followed. Bodies would be placed in wooden caskets and concrete vaults before being buried 4 to 6 feet underground, he said.
“That has become local Muslim practice here,” he said.
Mayor Joe Helmberger also tried to quell concerns about burial methods.
“They’re going to bury their dead like I bury my dead,” he told the crowd.
Helmberger said the North Texas Municipal Water District has no concerns that the cemetery would harm the watershed.
But some residents remained unconvinced, with one speaker going so far as to say that the Quran teaches Muslims that they can lie — even under oath.
“I don’t know where your information is coming from,” Abdur-Rashid said. “The Quran does not condone, permit or sanction lying of any sort.”
About 22,000 Muslims live in Collin County, and they just want to have a final resting place for their loved ones, Abdur-Rashid said.
Kathy Snyder, who lives near the proposed cemetery, was one of the few residents who voiced support for the project.
“We’re pleased there’s a cemetery going in, and we’d be proud to have you,” she said.
Some residents also were concerned that the cemetery is the first step to building a mosque or school on the site.
Abdur-Rashid’s assurances that there are no plans to expand with a mosque or school on the property were met with laughter.
Plans submitted to the city show that graveyards will comprise more than 17 acres at the site. Two acres along Highway 380 would be used for commercial or retail development that will support maintenance of the cemetery. The remaining 15.5 acres would contain roadways, two ponds, restrooms, a gazebo and wooded areas.
Preliminary and final platting for the cemetery would require approval by planning commissioners and the City Council in the coming months, giving residents several more chances to comment.