and at that point, i got a little rattled. >> anti--islamic protesters demonstrated outside kennesaw city hall. >> reporter: the police escorted welsh over to city hall for the vote. protesters had already been gathering, many from out of town, and they were happy to speak out. >> to me, it is a threat to my freedom, my children and everything i own. and that cludes my life and the life of my children. >> they're training their kids how to do terrible things to mericans, and we're trying to stop it. >> reporter: that night, the city council voted down the proposed mosque, 4-1. welsh was the only one who voted in favor. the city council didn't give any reason why they rejected the mosque proposal, and none of the council apart from wsh would talk with us. the mayor of kennesaw has said that the debate had nothing to do with religion. instead, he said it was based on concerns about proper zoning, parking and traffic congestion. but atlanta attorney doug dillard says those can't be the sole reasons. >> so parking, traffic, hours of operation, all that kind of thing can be dealt with, but the