Muslims invite Norwich leaders to visit mosque New York joins Juul lawsuit

Norwich — Several local Muslims told the City Council Monday they were dissatisfied with the city’s response to last summer’s controversy over the Connecticut Tigers’ owner’s ties to a right-wing Washington, D.C. thinktank and invited city leaders to visit a local mosque and meet with the community.

Speakers during the council’s public comment portion stressed that they are Americans, some of them military veterans and businesspeople and want to feel safe in their community.

Tark Richard Aouadi, executive director of the Connecticut chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said the group was thankful to Mayor Peter Nystrom for arranging a meeting between Tigers team owner E. Miles Prentice and representatives of the local Muslim community — Aouadi was not invited. But he said the mayor’s comments afterward that Prentice’s views on Muslims and his affiliation as board chairman of the Center for Security Policy, identified by some as a Muslim hate group, were not relevant to the minor league baseball team.

Aouadi quoted several anti-Muslim comments made by Frank Gaffney, founder of the center, including saying that American Muslims are “subversive termites eating away at our nation from the inside out,” and that they are hostile to the U.S. Constitution.

He said those comments would mean that the 12 American citizens who attended Monday’s meeting are “somehow not like every one of you all, that we have some kind of ulterior motives.” Aouadi said that position is very bigoted, pointing out that it is not racist, because Muslim is a religion rather than a race.

Halim Jones of North Stonington, who works in Norwich, invited Nystrom and the City Council to visit the Muslim mosque in Norwich. He said the members were “very sad” that the city is doing business with a representative from the Center for Security Policy.

“We don’t want this issue to go away,” Jones said. “We’re human beings and we still have these feelings and we want our grievances and concerns to be addressed.”

Nystrom said after the council meeting that he would be willing to meet with anyone individually or as a group and would accept the invitation to visit the Norwich mosque.

Nystrom added that Prentice is very much a hands-off team owner and rarely comes to Norwich. Nystrom said the Connecticut Tigers are run by local management, General Manager Dave Schermerhorn and CJ Knudsen, and the operation in no way is unwelcoming to people from any religion or race.

Rafid Chudhury of Norwich said the city’s stance against anti-Muslim sentiment is “a huge issue” and impacts local Muslims. He said city officials should not be lackadaisical about anti-Muslim ideology spread throughout the United States and should take it seriously.

“At the end of the day, we’re all Americans,” Chudhury said. “It doesn’t matter where we’re coming from. I was born in Bangladesh, but I’m way more American than I am a Bengali. I’m a Muslim, but I’m also an American. And I think everyone needs to be aware of that, that we’re people and we live in your community. And it’s a big issue that we should all focus on.”

Several people in the audience applauded his remarks.

New York — New York has joined the ranks of states suing the nation’s biggest e-cigarette maker, Juul Labs Inc., saying the company used deceptive marketing practices to reel in young users.

Attorney General Letitia James announced the lawsuit Tuesday against San Francisco-based Juul Labs Inc. It alleges the company contributed to a youth vaping epidemic using misleading sales tactics on popular social media sites. The suit also alleges that Juul advertising touted e-cigarettes, which contain nicotine, as a safer alternative to traditional cigarettes.

In a written statement, Juul Labs said it had yet to review the lawsuit.

“We remain focused on resetting the vapor category in the U.S. and earning the trust of society by working cooperatively with attorneys general, regulators, public health officials, and other stakeholders to combat underage use and convert adult smokers from combustible cigarettes,” it said.

The company previously ended the U.S. advertising campaigns and shut down the social media accounts that are the subject of the lawsuit. It also stopped selling most flavors of its e-cigarettes after complaints that they were aimed at attracting young users, not just smokers looking for an alternative to cigarettes.

California sued the company on Monday and North Carolina in May. Illinois, Massachusetts and several other states are also investigating Juul, which James said represents 70 percent of the e-cigarette market.

In the latest government survey, one in four high school students reported using e-cigarettes the previous month, despite federal law banning sales to those under 18.

“Juul basically took a page from Big Tobacco’s playbook,” James, New York state’s highest-ranking law enforcement officer, told a news conference at her Manhattan office.

The lawsuit was filed in state court in Manhattan.

“We don’t want this issue to go away. We’re human beings and we still have these feelings and we want our grievances and concerns to be addressed.” HALIM JONES OF NORTH STONINGTON, WHO WORKS IN NORWICH