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La Salle County Board narrowly passes resolution denouncing Sharia law · Illinois Valley - Shaw Local

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  La Salle County Board narrowly passes resolution denouncing Sharia law. Written
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  by Michael Urbanek. This article is being read by an automated voice,
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  brought to you by Everlet. LaSalle County board members voted 1312 at
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  their October 8th meeting to pass a resolution prohibiting the application of
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  foreign or religious law in county proceedings, after a long debate over
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  Sharia law and the shuttered Fox River Resort, The resolution passed after
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  members rejected 12 yes votes to 13 no votes, a motion to
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  table it until the November 2nd meeting. Members on both sides tied
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  the measure to the Fox River Resort which closed in October 2025.
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  Jamil Ahmed Sukhera, the founder of Vert, had planned to buy the
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  property. Sukhera has denied in interviews with Shaw Local and on the
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  V Resort Living Facebook page that there were ever plans to run
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  the resort under Sharia law. Opponents argued the board should focus instead
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  on the resorts hit to the local tax base. The resort had
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  a property tax levy of 1.7 million and was the eighth largest
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  taxpayer in LaSalle County. It was reassessed from a 25 million valuation
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  to 10.9 million, which board member Brian Does said cost hundreds of
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  thousands of dollars in lost taxes. As of right now, I don't
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  see us having any economic plan, Dose said. Instead, the first thing
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  we do is produce a resolution about justice that is anything but
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  a resolution that contradicts itself in twists and turns. Before the vote,
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  The board's clerk read the full resolution titled as Reaffirming the Supremacy
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  of the United States Constitution and the Illinois Constitution and prohibiting the
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  application of foreign or religious law in LaSalle County proceedings. The reading
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  took eight minutes. Board member James Reid
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  said he doesn't want anyone, including his 15-year-old old daughter, to live
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  under Sharia law. He said the resolution was written mostly by Texas
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  State Representative Keith Self and that the same measure is being considered
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  by Congress and in 25 states. Reed said he is not an
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  Islamophobe or a racist. I'm not a racist because I can hate
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  300 million people around the world that are of different races, Reed
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  said. Islam is not a race. It is an ideological system of
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  political governance, and we need to put a stop to it all
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  across this country, because you can look at England, you can look
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  at France, and you can look at Spain, and they're all going
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  down the toilet. Board member Ray Gatza said he would vote for
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  the resolution on behalf of this. 4,000 constituents, as he did when
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  the board passed a resolution supporting the Second Amendment. Board member Stephen
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  Aubrey, who said he is Catholic, argued against the resolution. Every religion
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  has issues and problems. I don't think it's the county's place to
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  be signing on to this. I'm sorry, I'm totally against Sharia law,
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  anything having to do with it, but thank God we live in
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  a nation where decapitating somebody is illegal. And there’s will be prosecution,
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  Aubry said. Abrey said the Board should instead look at the holes
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  in the county's own systems, including zoning enforcement. Right now in land
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  use we've had a lot of discussions on the teeth of our
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  zoning laws, and if the people did purchase the property, there's a
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  question of who can go after the Aubrey said. Can The
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  state's attorney go after them? Can the sheriff's department go up there
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  and make sure zoning laws are followed? At this point, no, they're
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  not. So that's what we as a county board need to be
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  going after, not this. Does, who voted against they resolution, said
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  the resort's closing cost the county more than property taxes. The county
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  lost 200,000 a year in pillow tax money that we use for
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  tourism in this county to bring people here, to spend money and
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  thousands in recording fees, Dose said. The pillow tax is another name
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  for the hotel.motel tax visitors pay when they stay overnight. Does said
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  replacing the lost money could require a 12.5 property tax increase in
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  District 6 or 425 per resident. He said the word Sharia literally
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  translates to law, and that a ban could reach far beyond what
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  supporters intend. Banning Sharia law could literally mean anything. We could end
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  up banning taking care of the poor. We could end up banning
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  respect for Christianity. Of course we could also ban horrendous things as
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  well, Dose said. Dose, a firefighter paramedic, said he has cared for
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  people of all nationalities and creeds, and that the violence he responded
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  to wasn't in the Middle East. That was in Streeter, Peru, Ottawa,
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  and other rural areas. He called the resolution stupid culture war garbage
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  that uses transgender rights and religion to divide normal people to enrich
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  the Epstein class. The Fox River Resort closed in october twenty twenty
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  five.