from The Lebanon Democrat::March 11, 2009
Exodus?: Bible Park suspends operations in Lebanon
by: J.R. LIND

March 11, 2009 – Developers of the Bible Park announced they would suspend operations in Wilson County Tuesday.

Citing "political infighting" between Mayor Philip Craighead and the City Council, Bible Park USA developer Rob Wyatt said his team was pulling out of the Cedar City.

"We regret we must suspend all further work on the development of  the Bible Park USA project in Lebanon, pending the City Council and the Mayor resolving internal political differences over the project," a statement from Wyatt read, in part.

"Certainly, our pool of potential investors view this as a source of great concern.  Our utter lack of opportunity to address new issues has led to speculation that local political in-fighting has taken over the ordinary process toward approval of a significant economic development project for Wilson County."

Wyatt  said the ability to attract investors was "undermined" by the city council rescinding its support last week for the park's funding mechanism until financial statements from the park's team were produced.

Councilor William Farmer said Wyatt's claims that politics killed the project are out-of-bounds.

"I'm disappointed that Mr. Wyatt and his so-called team of investors wouldn't come clean and give us the financial information we asked for and then has the audacity to claim there is politics involved," Farmer said.

In a statement, Craighead asked the council to reconsider its action in hopes the park may be drawn back to the city.

"I believe that we could still secure the Bible Park project, but only if the local leadership will recognize the reality of the present situation," the mayor said in a statement. "To lose a project like this, because of unprecedented demands for the developer’s private company financials and personal financial information by a few members of our city council, is very troubling."

Councilor Alex Buhler, who sponsored the rescinding resolution which passed unanimously, said in the wake of the bankruptcy of Myrtle Beach, S.C.'s Hard Rock Park – backed by SafeHarbor Holding, the company that originally pushed the Bible Park – that it was only common sense to ask for the financial information.

"I'm not completely shocked that this happened. Our second reading was scheduled for March 17 and I was hoping they'd provide full disclosure at that meeting. Apparently, they do not want to disclose this information. I do not want the citizens and businesses of Lebanon and Wilson County to be hurt in the same way as the citizens and businesses of Myrtle Beach with the now-bankrupt Hard Rock Park and I think it's unfortunate they are blaming the city council for their failure to disclose basic financial information," Buhler said.

In his statement, Craighead speculated that Buhler's "drop-in" ordinance caught his fellow councilors unaware.

"This was done without prior public notice of his intent to do so. This was unprofessional, and completely devoid of consideration for the many citizens who support the Bible Park project.  I believe, despite the vote by the City Council last week, some of the council members were caught off guard, and they were unsure of the timing and the implications of this action, not realizing that this would, in effect, stop the project," he said.

Councilor Kevin Huddleston, who serves as mayor pro tem, said he and his colleagues knew exactly what they were doing.

"It's a unified council. If anybody on the council didn't understand, they would have spoken up," he said.

Huddleston suspects the park's suspension is "a ploy" to sway the council back into support of the project.

"It was a unanimous vote from the council to do this. I think the letter from Mr. Wyatt is political and the statements from Mr. Craighead was made so the public would lose faith in the council," he said. "I think all this is is a ploy from the mayor and Mr. Wyatt to basically push the council to a rushed decision and I don't think it will work."

Huddleston said if Craighead and City Liaison Sue Akins-Seins are looking for someone to blame for the park's pull out, they should look in the mirror.

"They were repeatedly given requests by the council to get more information and they were ignored," he said.

Commissioner Mike Justice, cited in the park's statement as one of a handful of local politicians supportive of the project, said he always had "mixed emotions" about the project.

"When I found there was no taxpayer money at risk, I was excited about the possibility that it could create several hundred construction jobs and other seasonal jobs. My main focus was the jobs it could create," he said. "I always thought we should have taken the proper steps and if it didn't work, it wasn't because we didn't allow it to."

The park's move comes less than a week before the commission was set to resume its February meeting in an effort to secure a privilege tax for the park, scheduled for Monday. The Lebanon City Council was set for the second vote on its rescinding action March 17.