Five Newton County mayors are requesting an end to the county’s moratorium on new permits for places of worship. The mayors’ letter to the county chair and Board of Commissioners comes during heightened community tensions over a proposed mosque, funeral home and cemetery there.

One line from the letter reads: “The nation is watching Newton County … and we are being embarrassed by our County leaders.”

Covington Mayor Ronnie Johnson penned the missive on behalf of the mayors of Mansfield, Newborn, Oxford and Porterdale, Georgia.

Imam Mohammad Islam, who proposed the religious center, has told WABE he planned the site along Highway 162 to help ease the lack of funeral homes specifically for Muslims in Georgia.

Hundreds of Newton County residents expressed concerns about the mosque plans at two back-to-back town hall meetings Monday.

The U.S. Department of Justice has said it’s looking into the possibility of an investigation, in response to requests from civil rights advocacy groups including the NAACP and the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

Newton County Mayors Protest Mosque Moratorium by WABE 90.1FM on Scribd