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Ruth: Temple Terrace copes with bigotry

 
Published Nov. 4, 2016

And a creep grows in Temple Terrace.

Perhaps what this pathetic story tells us is that no race for office, no matter how modest, is free from the darker forces of human cruelty and stupidity raising their ugly heads — even in Temple Terrace, which has been properly regarded as a lovely, quiet bedroom community.

That is until a boneheaded racist decided to intrude upon the city's local elections.

Wael Odeh, who was born in Palestinian territory but is an American citizen, is running for the Temple Terrace City Council. He is a civil engineer who has traveled throughout the United States designing bridges and roads. He is a father and grandfather. And a contributing member to his community.

But last month a letter, postmarked in St. Petersburg, started showing up in Temple Terrace mailboxes hinting Odeh had links to terrorism and that the election of a Muslim to the City Council could endanger the public safety of the community. Of course, the smear against Odeh was unsigned. Unhinged cowards rarely want to own up to their perverted handiwork.

Here's the irony. Rightly or wrongly, fairly or not, whenever there is an act of radical Islamic terrorism, Muslims are often taken to task for not aggressively taking a more active, positive role in their communities.

But here is a successful businessman who has offered himself up for public office to improve his community of Temple Terrace, and he gets accused of being a terrorist by a gutless, illiterate boob hiding in the shadows.

You could argue Odeh is a textbook example of representative democracy. About 40,000 Muslims live in the Tampa Bay area. The population of Temple Terrace is approximately 20 to 25 percent Muslim.

The mysterious hate-monger suggested if Odeh were elected it would be only a matter of time before a lone, sole member of the Temple Terrace City Council imposed Sharia law, the religious guidelines of Islam, upon the entire town. Good luck pulling that off in the grill room of the Temple Terrace Country Club at happy hour.

Besides, given all the more mundane things a city council has to deal with from zoning issues to trying to figure out what kind of downtown it wants, even if you tried to ascribe the most nefarious of motives to Odeh's candidacy, chances are the new member of council would be too busy contending with pothole complaints to find the time to cook up an international conspiracy.

The anti-Muslim letter-writing poltroon would seem to have precious little understanding how democracies work. There is nothing preventing anyone who might have some misplaced misgivings about Odeh to simply ask the candidate about his background and his positions on issues. That's how elections work.

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The smear campaign against Odeh pulled the curtain back on some less than savory elements within Temple Terrace. City Council member Grant Rimbey told the Tampa Bay Times' Paul Guzzo that the character assassination of Odeh shows ". . . there is racism in this city," adding there are certain elements who "want to keep Temple Terrace looking like it did in 1952."

Perhaps so. But the mere presence of a Muslim candidate on the ballot would indicate the city is far removed from 1952, the disquieting rantings of bigoted wimp afraid to put his or her name to a campaign smear notwithstanding.