Kent Hovid told anyone and everyone that he didn't have to pay taxes on his Dinosaur Adventure Land theme park in Pensacola, Florida, because he and his employees were "workers of God." On November 3 a jury disagreed. Hovid was sent to prison, and could stay there up to 288 years. His wife, Jo, was found guilty of evading bank reporting requirements, and could get 225 years (neither is expected to serve more than a year or two.). The state of Florida estimates that Kent failed to pay $845,000 in taxes, and Jo withdrew more than $1.1 million from Creation Science Evangelism accounts in many, many checks of just under $10,000, made out to "cash."

Dinosaur Adventure Land -- now closed -- was a small park that obviously did excellent business. It had a couple of dinosaur statues, a museum, a "science center," and an outdoor climbing wall painted with a mural of the Ark being built with the help of friendly dinosaurs. Its purpose was to expose visitors to the Creationist view that humans and dinosaurs coexisted and that evolution did not occur.

Kent, who was fond of quoting scripture to defend his position, evidently forgot Matthew 22:21: "Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's...." It's a shame that no one pointed it out to him, as it probably would have saved a lot of misunderstanding.

[11/12/2006]