Sunday, May 09, 1999
Vote mixes religion and politics
Museum decision should play well with the right
BY PATRICK CROWLEY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Count the votes and praise the Lord. Answers in Genesis is coming to Boone County.
In a vote surprising only by its timing and not its outcome, the Boone County Fiscal Court voted 3-1 Thursday night to allow construction of a creationist museum near the Petersburg interchange of Interstate 275.
For three years, the Christian ministry Answers in Genesis (AIG) had been trying to win approval for a museum that will be based on the biblical view of creation.
This is a group that takes the Old Testament as history, that believes dinosaurs and man co-existed on Earth and that dinosaurs were around a few thousand years ago instead of millions of years ago.
Its members want to build a museum that will feature life-sized dinosaur models and a walk-though human cell exhibit and provide a picnic area and walking trails.
They are evangelicals, not evolutionists. To them the book of Genesis is not a collection of stories, morals and fables passed down over generations to teach the word of God. It's a fact-based account of how the world was founded.
Logic doesn't apply
Thanks to Boone County Judge-executive Gary Moore and Commissioners Robery Hay and Rob Arnold, the group's plans are no longer just a Jurassic lark.
The Boone County Fiscal Court was merely holding a hearing on the group's request for a zone change Thursday, but then decided to go ahead and vote. Only Commissioner Cathy Flaig voted against the plan.
Some residents who live near the proposed AIG site are upset. They don't want the development near their homes — but not because they don't believe in the Bible or dinosaurs. They don't want the traffic, commotion, noise and activity that any development brings, even those without raptors.
“There's no water and no sewer in that area,” Vanessa Wiechers of Burlington said at an earlier hearing. “The residents out here don't want it. We want to keep it rural. Please let us keep it rural.”
William Viox, a planning commission member, has said he thinks the area is not quite ready to be developed.
“Since this is supposed to be a regional draw, there's an awful lot of places in Northern Kentucky and Greater Cincinnati that are suitable,” he said. “Infrastructure is not there yet, so maybe this isn't the place.”
Sorry, Mr. Viox and Ms. Wiechers. That kind of logic won't work. What we're seeing in Boone County is the politics of religion, how the Christian right rules the landscape in the biggest Republican-controlled county in Kentucky.
Mr. Moore and Mr. Hay were elected last fall, running on platforms full of promises to control development.
Mr. Moore said on the stump that people in Boone County were tired of developers using their influence with the former fiscal court to win approval for projects and zone changes that had been denied by the county's planning and zoning commission.
Well, that's just what Mr. Moore and the fiscal court majority did Thursday. AIG had twice been denied its zone change request by county planners and had sued the county in response.
Now that AIG has its approval, the zone change denials are moot and the suit will be dropped.
Mr. Hay had talked about not developing areas of the county where infrastructure was not in place.
So much for that campaign pledge.
We want impartiality
But let's face it, everybody involved knows that religion was going to win out over planning, promises and policies in this debate.
Mr. Hay, along with his buddy former state Sen. Gex “Jay” Williams, had long advocated the AIG museum, going so far as to call and contact residents and lobby for the project.
Some of the residents opposed to the project had asked Mr. Hay not to vote on it because of his admitted closeness to AIG representatives.
“I, for many years, have been one who has made a religious confession, like many, in Christ,” Mr. Hay said during Thursday's hearing. “This is not a reason to vote yes or no on the issue.”
How's that for public service? Residents want impartial, unbiased leadership and representation of their views and wishes, a decision from their elected official based on what's best for the public and the community, not one's individual religious or personal beliefs.
They get a sermon.
Mr. Hay has been down this road before. A couple of years ago, before the voters ran him off Florence council, Mr. Hay opposed a proposed Target store because its parent company had given money to Planned Parenthood.
Yep, real zoning principles at work there.
Mr. Moore is also deeply religious. He plays Jesus Christ in the Easter pageant at Florence Baptist Church, where many of the members are active in Boone County politics.
Of course, there is nothing wrong with getting involved at a church. Such involvement is admirable and is needed more and more in our society.
And plenty of people in Boone County want AIG and its museum.
But you have to wonder what was driving the fiscal court vote on AIG. Was it prudent planning or near-blind devotion to a spiritual concept that will play well with a politically charged base of conservative voters?
Patrick Crowley covers Kentucky politics for The Kentucky Enquirer. His column appears Thursdays and Sundays. E-mail him at crowleys@cinci.infi.net.
Patrick Crowley covers Kentucky politics for the Enquirer. He can be reached at 578-5581, or (502) 875-7526 in Frankfort.
CROWLEY ARCHIVE
