According to Chairman Keith Ellis, the meeting, set for 6 p.m. at the Historic Courthouse, was cancelled after social media postings over the weekend led to concerns about public safety and crowd control.
“This decision was not taken without careful deliberation and consideration of concerns regarding crowd control and law enforcement regarding social media postings evidencing hostilities in the community,” Ellis wrote.
According to reports, a militia group’s postings on social media indicated there might be some type of protest in downtown Covington prior to Tuesday night’s meeting.
Tuesday night’s meeting was called in late August in order to lift a moratorium on houses of worship that was enacted at the Aug. 15 commission meeting. The moratorium, which was supported by all five commissioners, came in response to a plan to develop a mosque and related facilities on 135 acres on Ga. Highway 162.
Unless commissioners call another meeting, the moratorium will expire on Sept. 21 without any further action by commissioners. The next regular meeting of the Board of Commissioners is scheduled for Sept. 20.
Emotions have run high in Newton County since citizens learned in early August that the Masjid-At-Taqwa mosque in Doraville had purchased the tract of land on Ga. Highway 162 to develop a mosque, burial facility and cemetery initially and possibly a school and residential neighborhood at a later time. Houses of worship are allowed in all zoning districts in the county, and commissioners enacted the moratorium in order to give the county’s Development Services Department time to review zoning provisions and the current trends for places of worship.
Commissioners subsequently held two back-to-back town hall meetings on Aug. 22 to allow residents an opportunity to voice their opinions on the proposed development. Hundreds turned out, many speaking emotionally and vehemently against the project.
Several members of the Board of Commissioners later met in groups of two with mosque Imam Mohammed Islam and other representatives of the mosque. Those meetings led to a joint press release from the county and the Council on American-Islamic Relations indicating that the Board of Commissioners would lift the moratorium at a special called meeting on Sept. 13.
Other efforts have been underway to help mend fences between the community and the mosque. Several representatives from the religious community and others had lunch with a contingent of representatives from Masjid-At-Taqwa at Oxford College on Sept. 7. According to a release issued after the luncheon, more than 40 people attended the event in the Oxford College dining hall hosted by Oxford Chaplain Lyn Pace and arranged through the efforts of local pastors and citizens seeking to repay hospitality provided to local residents during an Aug. 23 visit to Masjid At-Taqwa.
According to the release, during the meeting last Wednesday, attendees enjoyed informal conversation over lunch, followed by a question and answer session touching on common roots between Christian and Islamic faiths, progress made easing tensions within the community, and next steps for building bridges between the mosque and Newton County residents.

From the Comments Section from Newton Citizen:
Jim Davis · 
the mayors should be recalled because they are not working for the people who elected them, but bowing to presure from outside the county
LikeReply1216 hrs
Samuel Hay · 
Works at Top Secret
The problem is the Commissioners did not meet with other persons from the Middle East who know exactly what to expect from these people who want to build a "Mosque' here in Newton County! All they listened to was the spin from those Muslims who are encouraged to lie by their religon to get whatever they want,. This proposed facility has been termed A COMPOUND by people with connections in the Middle East. A compound is a place where fighters are recruited and trained. Some of the people who know what is really going on, people with family in the Middle East, live in the Atlanta area. 

The Com...See More
LikeReply1316 hrs
Ann Neuhierl
Wow, what a ramble of nonsense. I live here and am happy to welcome our new neighbors. Find something else to rag on about. Maybe cleaning up our trash and ground water could get some of your valuable attention?
LikeReply1 hr
Mike Stabile · 
If the people do not want it it should not happen. It's time for government to listen to the people. If the Muslims sue then let them and take it all the way to the highest court. It's time to stop the take over of our country by this CULT it is not a religion. The wolf is in Sherpa clothes. It's time to stand up America
LikeReply914 hrs
Ann Neuhierl
I live here, and I'm happy to welcome our new neighbors who Already Own the Land. You want to take it to the highest court... use your own money.
LikeReply1 hr
Mike Stabile · 
Ann Neuhierl I am glad your happy. I am not I do not like Islam, and I hope you will like when our Constitution goes away and Shiara Law comes in
LikeReply1 hr
Ann Neuhierl
Mike Stabile there is no effort to bring Sharia law to this county or anywhere else in this country. Please cite the efforts that you personally know of, if you want your comments to be taken seriously. Otherwise, you are only trying to inflame.
LikeReply54 mins
Davey Crockett ·
Complete Details are available on this Newton County Mosque issue at:http://almaadalislami.blogspot.com/
LikeReply110 hrs
Henry Stamm
Muslims are instructed to lie, kill or use any mean to con infidels. You know the ones that live in Newton County. Period.
LikeReply22 hrs
Ann Neuhierl
Just crazy talk. Have you met our new neighbors in person or made any attempt to do so? Get a life.
LikeReply1 hr
Ann Neuhierl
Sounds like being safe and not giving place to the outsiders who think they have the right to threaten our community with an armed protest is a good idea. Despite the hate & fear-mongers that have been so vocal, there are now even more people who welcome the Mosque, the Imam, and his congregation. They are our new neighbors and they are welcomed with love. This is especially true of those who live here who have taken the time to get to know our new neighbors. The moratorium will expire and the county has made a positive statement with their intent to repeal it. That cannot be taken away from us.
LikeReply1 hr
Samuel Hay · 
Works at Top Secret
Ann Neuhierl..thanks for your words of wisdom. You dont have a clue what I do. I saved the Alcovy River from channelization in the early sixties. I was nineteen years old. I have fought in the courts with my own time and money to save people like you who sit on your a** and complain but never take any action, from the JDA and the proposed Bear Creek Reservoir. I volunteered 20 years of my life for volunteer enviornmental work around the world. 

Seems your genetics are no different from those of the late thirties and early forties who thought they were getting something for nothing but wound up losing everything. Well, if it falls to the hands of Newton County Residents who know better, it aint happening here.
And btw, what have you done for us lately?
LikeReply1 hr
Ann Neuhierl
Samuel Hay, you are correct in that I don't know you. I don't know all the things that you have done in the past. I only know the hate and fear-mongering that you are trying to stir up now. Seems like you do yourself a disservice beyond anything I could say or do.
LikeReply1 hr
Robert Arnold · 

Ann Neuhierl you’re obviously not originally from Covington/Newton County because you don’t know who Sam Hay actually is and you don’t live near where this mosque/cemetery is supposed to be located. The plan as it stands is for them to sell burial plots until they raise enough money to build a Mosque, any clue about what it might do to local traffic? But since you don’t live near the site that really does not seem to matter to you. Secondly, how about you skip on up and ask their current neighbors in Doraville about what good neighbors they are. I’ll clue you in they are not good neighbors, i...See More
LikeReply22 mins
Samuel Hay · 
Works at Top Secret
Ann, I was a newsguy for 25 years. Yeah I lived on the edge but I was never sued for libel or slander. Probably because I was one of those who researched sources and was objective. Ive been everything from Publisher to Editor, to General Manager, to floor sweeper. You find something you think is not accurate in any of my posts, that you say is hate mongering, I would certainly love to see it. I dont make the news I just report it. And I dont go around calling people I dont know names for no reason.
LikeReply1 hr
Ann Neuhierl
Let's start with calling the property a "compound." You have no facts from the Imam and his congregation to back that up. You cite that the BOC should meet with other people from the Middle East that you purport will know exactly what this congregation intends. If you'd like to "report the truth"... meet the Imam.
LikeReply59 minsEdited
Samuel Hay · 
Works at Top Secret
Ann Neuhierl I really dont see that you have any valid points to make. Yes I have met with people who are deep seeded in the Middle East specifically on the subject of this proposed construction. THEY DO NOT IDENTIFY IT AS A STRICTLY RELIGOUS BUILDING AS YOU DONT NEED HUNDREDS OF ACRES FOR A MOSQUE...Their knowledge of this specific project identifies it as a COMPOUND. I dont need to meet with the others involved. I already know what they have to say. It has been widely publicized..and due to the nature of their 'religion' I have no reason to believe they wouldnt do or say anything to get what they want.
Ive done my research, you need to do yours. I have nothing else to say to you.