Update: Fox 4 reports the halal slaughterhouse will be built anyway
STAFF REPORT
The Ellis County Press
WAXAHACHIE – A proposed Muslim-owned halal slaughterhouse on Slama Road in Southern Ennis carried three votes on the Ellis County Commissioner’s Court to pass the meat plant Monday, Nov. 23.
The final vote, with County Judge Carol Bush and commissioners Dennis Robinson and Ron Brown indicating approval of the slaughterhouse, took place as The Ellis County Press went to press for its annual holiday issue. Video footage and other updates can be found at elliscountypress.com or at ECP-TV.com.
Commissioner Bill Dodson, Precinct 2, R-Ennis, opposed the slaughterhouse after constituents voiced their opposition overwhelmingly over the past two weeks.
Heath Sims, a Republican from the Midlothian-to-Milford Precinct 3, was also opposed to the slaughterhouse.
Earlier this year, commissioners voted 5-0 before Bush was appointed to fill the vacancy left by then-County Judge Chad Adams resignation to reject plans for a slaughterhouse in Sims’ precinct.
That Precinct 3 slaughterhouse in far Western Ellis County was reportedly spurred by business associates of Ali Sharaf, a Waxahachie businessman who owns Victron Energy.
The latest slaughterhouse permits were obtained from the county’s Department of Development by different business interests Sharaf controls, according to county documents and interviews with several Republican Party officials opposed to the slaughterhouse.
Every commissioner including Judge Bush are Republicans, but the vote indicates a wide split in the party’s establishment elected officials and its grassroot’s supporters.
