A West Haven man has filed a discrimination lawsuit claiming he was the target of bias on the job at Westport’s Stop & Shop as well as one in Bridgeport because he is a Muslim.

Mohamed Arshad, who is from Malaysia, claims that his former supervisor at a Bridgeport Stop & Shop called him a “Muslim idiot” and told him that “we do not want any foreigners at this company,” the New Haven Register reported.

The lawsuit also alleges that fellow employees called Arshad “Bin Laden” in his supervisor’s presence and accused him of talking to Osama bin Laden on the telephone.

Arshad’s lawsuit also claims that supervisors at the Westport store put him on probation after a bad review and that he was passed by for promotions when co-workers “who are not Asian, Muslim and/or Malaysian, but who lacked Arshad’s tenure and his relevant knowledge and experience,” were promoted.

Stop & Shop spokesman Rob Keane declined comment on the suit.

Former Westport Police Chief William Stefan (l) and former Inspector Robert L. Hallock Jr. take part in the recent golf tournament at Longshore Club Park raising funds for the Westport Police Athletic League. The tournament is named in honor of former Police Chief Samuel Luciano who died in 1970 at the age of 57 and is remembered by longtime Westporters as one of the communitys finest police commanders. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Contributed photo

In a meeting that ended in the early morning hours today, the Westport Board of Selectmen decided to postpone a decision on rescinding approval of a sewer plan for a controversial housing project on the Westport-Norwalk border.

After first voting 2-1 to turn down a motion by Selectman John Izzo to rescind the approval, First Selectman Diane G. Farrell and Selectman Carl Leaman voted with Izzo to postpone any decision.

They then unanimously approved a “sense of the meeting” resolution calling for a meeting with Norwalk officials to try to resolve the issue. Farrell said she hoped the meeting could be held sometime in October.

The selectmen, acting in their role as the town’s Water Pollution Control Authority, last year had approved the plan allowing extension of a Norwalk sewer line for the 22-unit housing development by ARS Partners in the Partrick Wetlands.

With the pace of Westport teardowns at a record level, WestportNow decided to feature some of the demolitions that are causing such an upheaval on the real estate scene. We welcome reader contributions to this occasional photo feature, which is intended to create a digital record of some of Westport’s history. This house was at 161 Compo Road South. Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com

Jazz pianist Bill Charlap: performs in Westport Sunday Contributed photoThe Westport Arts Center’s jazz series, after several years of concerts in Southport, returns to Westport Sunday with a concert featuring Manhattan’s popular jazz pianist Bill Charlap and vocalist Sandy Stewart.

The 4 p.m. event takes place at Greens Farms School. Other concerts in the series will be held at Greens Farms as well as the Seabury Center.

Following last year’s sold-out solo concert, this year Charlap appears with Stewart, who also happens to be his mother. 

The Westport event will feature pieces from his new CD, “Somewhere: The Songs of Leonard Bernstein,” released six months ago and warmly received.

Westport’s Martha Stewart has been ordered to report to a prison in West Virginia to serve her five-month term, a source close to Stewart said today.

Stewart had hoped to serve her time in Danbury so she could be close to her 90-year-old mother, or in a prison facility in Coleman, Fla., where there are good transporation links.

The U.S. Bureau of Prisons told Stewart last week to report to jail by Oct. 8. The source said Stewart had been told to report to the federal prison camp for women in Alderson, W. Va.

Stewart’s lawyer, in a Sept. 15 letter to a federal judge requesting she be allowed to serve her sentence for obstruction of justice as soon as possible, specifically asked that she not been assigned to Alderson because it is not readily accessible by air or rail.