The Devil and Daniel Webster ... or ... Jurassic Pork!

posted by The Vidiot @ 8:24 PM Permalink

Bump and Update:

Owners of the {Dinosaur Adventure Land}, which shows how dinosaurs may have roamed the Earth just a few thousand years ago, did not obtain a building permit before constructing the building in 2002. They have argued in and out of court that it violates their "deeply held" religious beliefs, and that the church-run facility does not have to obtain permits.

Church leader Kent Hovind vowed to appeal the case.

"We will continue our legal fight," Hovind said Thursday.

"This is pure religious persecution," said Glen Stoll, who works closely with Hovind on legal issues.

Golly, yet another battlefront in the war on christians. Poor, poor persecuted majority. But I'm certain this is an isolated incident ... well, not exactly:

In 2004, The Internal Revenue Service raided Hovind's home and businesses. Agents said Hovind had failed to pay taxes. That case is pending, and federal attorneys declined to comment about it.

While the building permit case was in court, the ownership of the theme park was transferred to Stoll, who resides in Washington State, according to court papers. Stoll has been investigated at least twice by federal authorities, court records show.

Isn't transferring disputed assets a crime!? But wait, there's more!

Last year, the U.S. attorney in Seattle filed a lawsuit against Stoll, charging him with promoting a scheme encouraging people to avoid paying taxes by claiming to be religious entities, according to news reports.

Glen Stoll, Glen Stoll ... where have I heard that name before? Oh, right, he's a homegrown terrorist involved with the 'Embassy of Heaven, God's Government Here on Earth' militia. Lovely folks.


Original Story:

Biblical parks may get tax deal

[...]
TALLAHASSEE - A biblical theme park in Orlando where guests pay $30 admission to munch on "Goliath" burgers and explore reproductions of 2000-year-old tombs and temples could get a property tax exemption written into state law.

A Senate committee easily passed a bill that would grant theme parks "used to exhibit, illustrate, and interpret biblical manuscripts ... " an exemption from local property taxes, like churches, even though the parks charge money.
[...]
But the property appraiser argues the nonprofit should pay taxes on the money-producing park, just like Disney World or Universal Orlando, with its pricey tickets and $5 parking fees.
[...]
The bill's sponsor, Sen. Daniel Webster, [R-Wackdoodle], says the bill really only applies to Holy Land Experience and said it would be difficult for another park to meet the "stiffly worded" criteria. [ED: Combining discrimination and violation of church and state in one bill, how creationative.]

Yet, when a Pensacola park dedicated to creationism learned of the Webster bill Tuesday it promptly sent an emissary to Webster's office to find out how it could qualify for the same tax break.

Dinosaur Adventure Land, devoted to demonstrating that the Bible proves dinosaurs and humans coexisted, displays pages from ancient Bibles and "biblical accounts of dinosaurs," said Creation Science Evangelism founder Kent Hovind, who also goes by "Dr. Dino."
[...]
Calls to theme park competitors Disney World and Busch Gardens befuddled spokesmen who said they hadn't heard of the bill.

That hardly seems fair. Evangelical Christians might argue we're not descended from apes, but even they gotta admit we came out of a bush!

Reminds me of a joke: Mickey Mouse was goin thru his divorce hearing and the judge sez: "Mr. Mouse, let me get this straight. You're divorcing Minnie on grounds of insanity!?"

"No, your honor, I said she was farking Goofy!"