Gadhafi Not Welcome in New Jersey

MYFOXNY.COM - Libyan leader Col. Moammar Gadhafi is coming to the New York area in September for the United Nations General Assembly, but one New Jersey town is making it known that he is not welcome.

Gadhafi plans to pitch a Bedouin tent on the lawn of a Libyan-owned mansion in Englewood. Mayor Michael Wildes says he and his constituents do not want Gadhafi in their community.

"He's a terrorist... he should not be on U.S. soil... he should not be in my city," Mayor Wildes told Good Day New York.

"I am troubled by reports that Colonel [Gadhafi] may visit New Jersey next month," said U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., in a statement. "[He] can be assured that he is not welcome here."

Libya is renovating a 25-room mansion that it bought in Englewood in 1982, according to reports.

Newsweek reported Gadhafi may stay there if the State Department denies his request to pitch a Bedouin tent in Central Park in New York City when he speaks at the United Nations next month.

Rep. Steve Rothman, who represents Englewood, says officials should do everything to prevent Gadhafi from coming to the town, which is about 16 miles from New York.

Gadhafi praised Scotland's decision last week to release on humanitarian grounds the former Libyan spy convicted of the 1988 bombing of Pam Am 103, which killed 270 people. The familes of the American victims expressed outrage. Some called the release of Abdel Baset al-Megrahi "disgusting."

>CIA WORLD FACTBOOK: LIBYA