from The Lebanon Democrat::Oct. 23, 2008
Letter to the Editor
By Derek Dodson

On 10/9 while on the Coleman Walker radio show, Mayor Fox continued his duplicitous spin that the vast majority of the community seems to support the Bible Park proposal that he is pitching.  Yet only a very few citizens have shown up for the few public meetings, whereby most of the time was consumed by a sales pitch.

Very little public meeting time has been allowed for the due diligence of critical analysis.  Hardly a minister has been present at the meetings and no support from citizens has been publicly expressed.  How could it be that most of the community is supporting a proposal whereby only a very few have been present to digest the presented details?

There may be some local folks who are short-term confused with regard to a proposed Bible theme park.  This is because they equate the Bible with goodness and thereby think that they’d be O.K. with a Bible theme park.  But once most folks learn the specific details of the proposed Bible Park plan that Mayor Fox is promoting, then I can’t find any rational local citizen who will support it, outside of the few irrational folks under the spell of Mayor Fox’s spin.  The commentary to follow points out just one of the critical components that unravel the Bible Park proposal and that Mayor Fox seemingly doesn’t want the community to consider.

No one can make a rational determination on this park proposal without first understanding the proposed use of tax(payer)-increment financing/TIF to help finance the park.  There are potential legal consequences to the taxpayers if TIF use is approved by local officials.  Why has Mayor Fox failed to address those likely legal consequences in his public comments promoting the park?

If government-backed TIF is approved for this project, then why doesn’t Mayor Fox care that the city/county will likely face an expensive taxpayer funded lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of taxpayer support of a religious theme park?  Why is it Mayor Fox has used severely tortured logic to try to play make-believe pretend that a Bible Park would not be a religious theme park?

If the taxpayer must fund a lawsuit precipitated by local officials who have followed Mayor Fox over this cliff, then how is it that this proposal won’t cost taxpayers a dime, as is being spun by Mayor Fox?  There likely are also infrastructure costs that the taxpayers would be required to fund, which Mayor Fox publicly sweeps under the rug.

If TIF were used, a lawsuit would likely be brought against the city and county challenging the constitutionality of using public funds to promote a religion.  This lawsuit would place local officials in a negative light nationally for likely a long time as the senseless legal quagmire played out.

Just as three years ago, the city of Dover, PA became a source of national public ridicule when a short-sighted majority of its school board made policy decisions enabling creationism to be taught in public classrooms.  To no rational mind’s surprise, the school board’s policy was ruled unconstitutional.  The city of Dover has endured a stain on its brand image as well as the financial consequences.  There are many other such examples.

Mayor Fox may have fallen for the axiom that “any publicity is good publicity”.  And he thereby may have calculated that such national publicity would aid him in his run for county mayor.  Evidently it is fine  with him if local taxpayers would foot the bills for a likely inevitable lawsuit challenging the use of TIF for an endeavor promoting a religion.  Our own county school board placed the taxpayers in such jeopardy and was recently assessed a $100,000ish cost for pursuing a senseless lawsuit whereby a judge found the school board culpable in promoting a religion.

It has been reported that over the last 40 years, the city of Nashville has used TIF very cautiously, and successfully.  In Nashville, TIF has been used in metropolitan residential and commercial districts whereby the financed residential and commercial buildings would likely have owners and renters.  That thereby ensured the likelihood that there would be a cash flow with which to retire the bonds.

And yet TIF is being proposed in Lebanon by Mayor Fox for a risky seasonal and niche theme park…and which is based on unrealistic projections in light of all the facts.  The Hard Rock Park in South Carolina that recently closed, and which has a commercial development component, is reported not to have used TIF.

Mayor Fox is depending on the masses being uninformed with regard to this proposal.  He obviously thereby expects minimal resistance on the path to facilitating his wishes for this legacy as mayor, which he expressed a desire for in a June or July 1 city council meeting.

Based on his statement in 2007, which was reported in the press, Mayor Fox believes that generally very few folks inform themselves by reading the local papers.  It is transparent that his mentality calculates that with a widely uninformed citizenry, he can publicly spin that the community supports the park proposal, and then use that phantom support as leverage to build momentum with which to back other local officials into the corner of voting to approve the park proposal which he promotes.

Mayor Fox’s continued public spin of wide support for this specific Bible Park proposal can’t possibly be a true statement, unless his spin is amended to make the following statement: “Those in the community who do not wish to inform themselves of the proposal are supportive.”  Those who do inform themselves, overwhelmingly do not support this proposal and likely believe that current projections and plans are wishful thinking.