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Section A18 JULY 2011

Rebuilding Noahs Ark

What would be the greatestarchaeological discoveryo all time?I agree with Indiana Jones

that it would be an ark, but Idisagree with the adventurousarchaeologist about which ark.It would be Noahs Ark.

Cultures worldwide record aamily being saved rom a globalfood in a boat. Various accounts echomany aspects o the Bibles record oNoahs F lood.

Nationwide the Ark still intrigues.In 2009 CBS asked which archaeo-logical relic people would most like

discovered. Noahs Ark ranked rstat 43% more than double second-place Atlantis at 18%.

In June 2010 this column dis-cussed a possible discovery o NoahsArk. That claim has still not been ver-ied. Even i Noahs Ark is ound, ewpeople will see it high on Mt. Ararat.

To remedy this and to pro-claim to the world that Scripture is

struct a ull-size all-wood replica oNoahs Ark in Kentucky. (AiG is anapologetics and worldview ministryspecializing in the authority o theBible and in Genesis-related issues.)

Where?

The expected location is 800 acresin Grant County on what may beAmericas busiest interstate, I-75. Itson the southwest corner o exit 154 in

Williamstown, KY, 40 miles south o

Creation Museum. Two-thirds o theUS population is within a days drive.

Due to Kentuckys rolling hills,800 acres were needed to get su-cient level space (200 acres) to buildthe park plus expansion room or u-ture attractions.

kentuckygovernor

Last December, KentuckyGovernor Steven Beshear

announced theArk Encoun-

ter theme park under theleadership oAiG.

The park will immersevisitors in the historical and

visually impact them withScriptural truth. The con-struction o the Ark willdemonstrate easibility andsupport the Bibles accounto a gigantic ship that savedmen and animals rom aglobal deluge.

Newspapers and blogsimmediately accused the

governor o entanglingchurch and state, criticizingthe projects eligibility orsales tax rebates. But Gov-ernor Beshear emphasized

his pro-jobs, pro-econ-omy philosophy, saying:Bringing new jobs toKentucky is my top prior-ity, and with the estimated900 [park] jobs this proj-ect will create, I am happyabout the economic im-pact this project will haveon northern Kentucky.Moreover, thousands oauxiliary jobs will be cre-

ated with new hotels, restaurants, gasstations, and other support services.

The project qualies or rebateo some state sales tax that the parkgenerates. Kentucky established thisrebate program as a development in-

centive. It benets developers by re-bating some development costs romsales taxes collected at the park. Itbenets Kentucky through new rev-enue rom sales tax at the park, romsales tax on all the attendant supportservices, and rom income tax on allthe new jobs created.

To earn the rebate o collected salestax, the Ark must meet attendancequotas in attracting out-o-state tour-ists to Kentucky. No state money willbe used to und the project.

Beshear said Kentucky cannotdiscriminate against a religious or-ganization by withholding incentives

or which it legally qualies. Theres

nothing even remotely unconstitu-tional about a or-prot organizationcoming in and investing $150 millionto create jobs in Kentucky and bringtourism to Kentucky, Beshear said.

ACLU attorney Bill Sharp seesno constitutional problems: Courtshave ound that giving such tax ex-emptions on a nondiscriminatory ba-sis does not violate the establishmentclause, even when the tax exemptiongoes to a religious purpose. (USA To-day, 12/5/2010)

The net result is that city, county,and state benet by the greatly in-

creased tax revenues generated bytheArk Encounter theme park. About25% is rebated to developers as a de-

velopment incentive. Everyone ben-ets through sharing the wealth.Grant County Judge-Executive Dar-rell Link armed, This is a gooddeal or our community.

Funding

AiGwill raise $24.5 million in dona-

tions to build the Ark. Donors can

sponsor pegs, planks, or beams in theArk and locate them with serial num-

bers. The remaining $125 million orraised by private investors.

Lou Stevens, president o theNorthern Kentucky Chamber oCommerce said, Kentucky taxpay-ers will not pick up the tab and thereis no nancial risk to Kentucky. Thisis not stimulus unding in that nomoney will be taken out o the statebudget to und the Arks constructionor its operation. Ater the park isbuilt and operating and meeting per-

ormance standards, only thenwill partial rebates result romgenerated taxes.

Kentucky will greatly ben-et rom park sales tax, as wellas sales tax rom newly createdlocal businesses like hotels,

shops. Plus, the states trea-sury will swell with payrolland property taxes rom theestimated 14,000 additional

jobs generated by the projectand auxiliary services.

An independent scal im-pact analysis predicts 1.2 mil-lion out-o-state visitors in therst year and a net tax revenue(ater rebate) or Kentucky

o $65 million over 10 years.The Ark Encounterwill be ahuge economic boon to Wil-

Kentucky.

hoWbig?

The Ark will be the largest all-woodstructure in America with anima-tronic and live animal exhibits. Cur-rently the largest wooden building inAmerica is in Shipshewana, IN. TheAmish builders o that structure willraise the Ark.

Its one o the largest green proj-ects in the country, using the latestenvironmentally-riendly technolo-

gies. This includes geothermal heat-ing, rainwater capture, active and

window glazing all designed tominimize energy use.

The Ark will be the same size asNoahs Ark: 50 cubits wide, 30 cubitshigh, 300 cubits long with three levels.

used in the Bible when the Hebrew

cubit is the distance rom a mans el-bow to ngertips. How long is that?

Archaeologists have uncovered

Egypt. The short or common cubit usedcommercially was 17.6 inches. The longor royal cubit used or construction was20.6 inches. Moreover, pre-Flood men

were likely larger than men today.The Ark project is going to use the

long cubit to rebuild the Ark, believingthat it will more accurately refect the ac-tual size o the Ark. Thus the Ark will be

Could Noah have really built suchan enormous ship? How could Noahsamily o eight have lived on the ark ora year and cared or all the animals? TheArk project will visually answer suchquestions. To demonstrate easibility,

known nautical engineering practices,

will be used in construction. Live largeanimals like giraes and elephants andanimatronic dinosaurs will demonstrate

modated all the animals.Its a colossal project involving

thousands o people. Groundbreak-ing is scheduled or August 2011 withcompletion expected in Spring 2014.Next months column will cover otherpark attractions and Noahs opinion

E-mail Dr. Pelletier at

BibleScienceGuy@woodsidenews.org.Read the Bible-Science Guy blog athttp://BibleScienceGuy.wordpress.comand follow him at http://twitter.com/BibleScienceGuy.

nh ark ll b f th lrgt

gr prjct th cutry, ug th

ltt vrmtlly-frly tchlg.

Fu-sz woodn k pnnd fo tArk Encountertm pk, Wmstown, Ky.

photocou

rtesyanswersingenesisWilliaM T.

PelleTier Ph.D.

tHE bIbLE aND sCIENCE by WilliaM T. PelleTier, Ph.D. [woodside news COLUMNIST]

Cincinnati and 40 miles from AiGs

true,Answers in Genesisplans to con-

Cubit, from the Latin for elbow, is

for elbow refers to measurements. A

materials, and methods of Noahs time

the ease with which Noah s Ark accom-

o the park. Soli Deo Gloria.

2011William T. Pelletier

about 86 wide, 52 high, and 515 long.

passive solar heating, and specialized

several cubits in Assyria, Babylon, and

Biblical world o Noah and

theArk Encounter theme park will be

restaurants, gas stations, and

liamstown, Grant County, and