The man who wanted to build a slaughterhouse to meet the Muslim dietary standards his family follows is accusing the Goffstown Zoning Board of racial and religious discrimination.

Negash Abdelkader wanted to build the slaughterhouse at his 83 Joppa Hill Road home, close to the Bedford town line. The land is in an agricultural district, but the Zoning Board last month said it could not grant a special exception since Abdelkader would be using the property as both a residence and animal processing facility. The board said he instead should apply for a variance. But Abdelkader suspects that board members were biased against him because he is a Muslim.

“Not only that, I happen to be black and African American, and all the negative things they can see in my face,” he said. “I am a minority in a minority.”

On Tuesday, Oct. 7, the board refused to hold a rehearing on the issue, letting its September decision stand. Abdelkader said he is determined to fight for what he says are his civil rights and said he had sent a copy of his rehearing request to Hillsborough County Superior Court.

“We’re proud of who we are,” Abdelkader said. “We are not going to change our name. We are not going to change our religion. It’s a free country. We are protected under the Constitution of this great nation.”

Abdelkader arrived in the United States 26 years ago when his native country, Eritrea, was mired in a decades-long war of independence from Ethiopia. But the man who came to this country seeking refuge and says he is proud now to be an American citizen does not feel that welcome in Southern New Hampshire.

After he proposed the slaughterhouse, a number of Bedford residents circulated a petition warning that the smells and noise of animals being killed would be a nuisance to the neighborhood. The petition also said the operation would dump more traffic on a dirt road and alter the character of the residential neighborhood.

Not welcome in New Hampshire?
In a letter to the Zoning Board, Abdelkader blames Zoning Board members for making a “political decision” that bowed to public pressure from Bedford residents.

He said the issue has made life difficult for his family, who he says have been the victims of harassment. After one of the Zoning Board meetings, Abdelkader said some people tailgated him as he drove, screaming racial slurs and obscenities at him and yelling that he should “go home.” He said beer cans have been thrown onto his yard and dumped in his trash cans.

“I feel like I am not welcome in that town,” Abdelkader said. “I feel that my family is not even safe in that area, to be honest with you.”

As evidence that the Zoning Board is tilted unfairly against him, Abdelkader said he has never seen the board vote unanimously against projects as it did in September and earlier this week. He said the rationale that multiple uses were not allowed on his land without a variance was not valid, since that practice has been allowed elsewhere in Goffstown and other New Hampshire towns.

Zoning Board responds: No prejudice involved Members of the Zoning Board denied charges of racism or religious bias, saying their decision was based on a technicality and that Abdelkader is certainly welcome to apply for a variance.

Board Chairman Cathy Whooten said the board takes seriously its responsibility to follow the town zoning ordinance. She said the special exception was denied, not on any merits, but for technical reasons, after determining he needed a variance, not a special exception.

“We are not as a board, individually or, you know, collectively, basing any of our decisions on race, religion or the neighborhood, or pressures from the neighborhood,” Whooten said.

“We are all very open-minded and we try to respect the civil liberties of all applicants.” Leonard Stuart, an alternate member who voted on the issue both times, agreed there was no bias.

“I don’t feel that there was any bias involved in either of the decisions,” Stuart said. “It had nothing to do with Mr. Abdelkader’s race. It had nothing to do with religion. Certainly there is nothing personal or political involved in it.”

Stuart said the September decision had a clear-cut legal basis. He said the board was acting on a letter from a town attorney explaining that a variance, not a special exception was required.

Stuart said the town zoning ordinance does not allow two principal uses on the same property. The attorney said the slaughterhouse, as a commercial operation, would constitute second principal use, in addition to its use as a home for Abdelkader, his wife and three children.

Stuart said Abdelkader would have an opportunity to return to the board with an application for a variance, which he said would receive a full and fair hearing.

In fact, at the same meeting where the board decided against rehearing its decision on the special request, Whooten said it had taken a step to expedite the process for applying for a variance. She said the board gave Abdelkader an opportunity to notify the town of Bedford, abutters from that town and the Southern New Hampshire Planning Commission when he applies for the variance.

Otherwise, had he applied and the board determined at its next meeting that the project had a “regional impact,” it would have had to postpone the hearing on the variance until those groups could be notified, according to Whooten.

Theresa Walton, a Zoning Board member, also defended her colleagues. Though she was not present for the two votes in question, she said the board is bound by strict rules that leave no room for personal opinion.

“The board has very very specific rules we have to follow on what we can and can’t do. Our votes are based on state laws,” Walton said. “You can’t just deny something because you don’t like a person for any reason.”

Before submitting a variance application, Abdelkader said he would need to meet with his attorney, noting that this issue has already been dragged out over what now are four Zoning Board meetings.

“There has to be something adjusted, something corrected before I can even attempt to apply for a variance,” he said. “This whole process has been a mess from the beginning.”