BY EARNEST WINSTON
The Cincinnati Enquirer
FLORENCE -- It's Round 2 for Answers In Genesis, the conservative evangelistic ministry that seeks to build a creationist museum in western Boone County.
In 1996, Boone Fiscal Court denied the Florence-based group's request to rezone 40 acres near Union for a museum and park.
Despite a two-year setback, the biblically centered organization has returned with another zone change proposal. This time, members say they've done their homework, and expect nothing less than a passing grade.
"We're very confident because we have done exactly what the fiscal court has asked us to do. We've worked very hard to fit in with exactly what they've asked for," said Ken Ham, founder and executive director of the 4-year-old ministry.
In addition, the Free Inquiry Group of Greater Cincinnati, which opposed the group's site two years ago, has no objections to the proposed location of the museum.
Free Inquiry had opposed the group's site mostly because of its proximity to Big Bone Lick State Park -- well-known and well-regarded for its mastodon and mammoth fossils, said Ed McAndrews, a board member of the secular humanist group.
"We would take a position that even unpopular views should be allowed complete freedom of expression," Mr. McAndrews said. Answers In Genesis, which depends heavily on donations, has an option on 47 acres just off Interstate 275 near Ky. 20, and is seeking a zone change to permit construction of offices, distribution and educational facilities.
The land is currently zoned for rural suburban estates and would need to be zoned industrial to permit use of distribution facilities. A public hearing on the group's request is scheduled for 7 p.m. Wednesday in the Boone District Courtroom at the Boone County Administration Building.
Mr. Ham said the project is on sound footing regarding the county's Comprehensive Plan and Future Land Use Map.
Two years ago, Mr. Ham said, "a very small group of humanists" made the group's proposal an ideological issue.
"It's a very emotional issue," he acknowledged.
In 1997, the group conducted more than 300 meetings and about a dozen large seminars. AIG operated from a $4 million budget and reached more than 128,000 people last year, said Mark Looy, the group's spokesman.
