Plans for Hindu Shrine Abandoned After Opposition Launched Website and Letter-Writing Campaign

February 27, 2006

Source: Courier News

http://www.c-n.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060225/NEWS/602250302

On February 27, 2006 the Courier News reported, "An application to build a Hindu shrine in the borough has been withdrawn, days after it spawned an anonymous website and newsletter campaign opposing its construction... Lloyd Tubman, attorney for the Nori Foundation, which had proposed the shrine, confirmed Friday that the application was withdrawn because of escalating costs... The Nori Foundation announced last July that it had purchased six acres of land along Amwell Road and would build a sai mandir, a shrine to Indian guru Sai Baba. The Millstone Planning Board already had had one meeting on the application, and a second hearing was to be conducted Tuesday... Last week, a four-page newsletter was mailed to residents, and a website, www.savemillstone.org, was launched. Both sought to gather opposition against the proposal, saying the shrine was too large for the borough of less than 500 people. The website and the newsletter used the borough's municipal building as a return address. That prompted borough council members to denounce the opposition effort as fraudulent, and council members took pains in a statement Tuesday to say the borough and its officials had no connection with the campaign... Officials did not know who organized and financed the newsletter and website."