Wednesday, June 06, 2007

I've found myself wondering about the Fort Dix 6 recently.

and happened across this scary and eye-opening piece over at FReeperland.

From Chronicles Magazine: Living with the Albanians.

The eye opener:

As we now know, the extended Duka family (three brothers, a grandmother, parents, wives, children) was in the habit of slaughtering lambs in their backyard with a kitchen knife. There were numerous complaints about fetid diapers tossed into an open trash dumpster that sat in the driveway, near an array of cars and pickup trucks without registration or license plates. Roosters ran about their yard, and juveniles roamed the neighborhood, sometimes setting off fireworks.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that police cited the Dukas repeatedly on disorderly persons charges, including marijuana possession, improper behavior, prowling, disturbing the peace, and obstructing the administration of law; they were fined between $20 and $830 on various occasions. The brothers were also issued some 50 traffic citations between 1997 and 2006 for speeding, driving without licenses, driving while on the suspended list, failure to appear in court, and other charges. They parked oversize trucks on the streets and operated unauthorized roofing business from home. But despite the attention from Cherry Hill code enforcers and police officers—who were called to the Duka home at least 10 times over the last seven years—their lifestyle of choice continued unhindered until they and three other Muslims (one of them also Albanian) were arrested four weeks ago.

Because of the Dukas’ behavior at least two families decided to move from the tree-lined street. According to the Inquirer, “a couple who requested that their last name not be published because they fear reprisals said they were one of the families who moved.”
The scary part.

As Cherry Hill Mayor Bernie Platt commented on his township in the aftermath of the Duka case, “It’s a very progressive community.” True to his ideals, only last month Mr. Platt declared, at the ground-breaking ceremony for an Islamic house of worship in Cherry Hill, “We have many religions here . . . now, thank God, we’re going to have a mosque.”

More at the link.