Fox News visits Muslim compound south of Lynchburg

Greg at Black Velvet Bruce Li passes along alarming information about an apparent Muslim enclave southeast of Lynchburg in Red House, Virginia. As reported by Greg:

Ever heard of Jamaat ul-Fuqra? Neither did I, until BVBL reader “Patriot” brought them up in one of the comment threads. Apparently, in the sleepy little town of Red House, Virginia there’s a little Muslim compound which was recently visited by Fox News. Fox was drawn to this little enclave of rural ethnic diversity because of persistent rumors that this organization had terrorist ties.

The blog Gates Of Vienna has been following this story since 2005 and reports:

The compound in Red House is about 44 acres, 22 trailer homes, with about 100 people living there at any given time. Two men on the compound told Fox that there are Muslims from all over the US as well as Mexico, Puerto Rico and Europe. They say their spiritual leader, or imam, lives in Lahore, Pakistan. They identify him as Sheikh Mubarak Gilani. The sheikh received a lot of attention back in 2002 when Wall Street Journal Reporter Daniel Pearl was abducted.

This is a developing story that should be written about and followed.

Waynesboro News Virginian fastest growing community newspaper in Virginia

Seventh-fastest growing in America

There's good news for one of our local news outlets in the SWAC area. The Waynesboro News Virginian is the fastest growing newspaper of its size in Virginia, as ranked recently by Editor & Publisher and advertised in the NV. They are also the seventh-fastest growing community newspaper in America.

The News Virginian is owned by Media General, an independent, publicly owned communications company in the Southeast with ownership in over 100 newspapers, 23 television stations, and more than 75 online enterprises.

Good news, indeed. Congrats!