Homeowner puts up anti-Muslim sign

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BUFFALO, N.Y., May 11 (UPI) -- Local Muslims say they want a Buffalo, N.Y., homeowner to take down a sign he erected on his lawn inferring a mosque next door was a "bomb-making" operation.

Michael Heick, who lives next door to the Jaffarya Islamic Center of Niagara Frontier, placed the sign reading "Bomb Making Next Driveway" to northbound traffic on Transit Road.

"I would really think it's an incitement of hatred against Muslims," said Dr. Syed Jaffri, an Amherst psychiatrist and member of the Mosque's board of trustees. "Law enforcement should take it very seriously. Tomorrow, somebody could say, 'Oh they have weapons,' and people believe it."

Heick said he erected the sign out of frustration with how the town of Amherst turned its back on his complaints about the center, which opened in November.

"The place is too close. I don't care what people think. It doesn't matter what people think," he said. "This is a way to get answers now. I get none from the town. The intent was to catch the eye of the people who I have a problem with."

Members of the mosque and other Muslims in the area allegedly have objected to the sign and called Amherst police about it but were told there's nothing illegal about it, The Buffalo News reported Wednesday.

"They said there's nothing in the law that we can do anything about this sign," he said.