(257)   Wed 16 Apr 97 15:51
By: Rod Swift
To: All
Re: More on Plimer case II
St:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
@EID:1f3a 22907e60
@MSGID: 3:690/660.0 335484e6
From The West Australian, Friday April 11, 1997, Page 26:

___-----------------------------------------------------------
ARK BRANDED A TURKISH LOCK NESS
Sydney
___-----------------------------------------------------------

A STRUCTURE believed by many to be the wreck of Noah's Ark
was a hoax as big as Loch Ness, the Federal Court was told
yesterday.

  Dr Salih Bayraktutan, a geophysicist from Ataturk
University in Turkey who was in charge of the site, allegedly
told an Australian colleague he did not believe in the ark
but misled fellow geologists to raise funds for his
university.

  Professor Ian Plimer, one of Australia's leading
geologists, made the claim yesterday when he told the
Federal Court of the meeting with Dr Bayraktutan at the site
of the formation near Mt Ararat, in Turkey, in 1994.

  "He pointed out to me that the universities in Turkey are
very poor and he is using this site to raise funds from
Christian fundamentalists," Professor Plimer said.

  "He doesn't believe in Noah's Ark... this is his
equivalent of Loch Ness."

  "(But) he has supported the views of various Christian
fundamentalists that, yes, this is the site of Noah's Ark."

  Professor Plimer said Dr Bayraktutan apologised to him for
deceiving other geologists but argued it was "the only way I
can fund my research".

  The professor is suing Christian lecturer Dr Allen Roberts
for allegedly making false claims about his examinations of
the "ark", including finding the tip of a deer's antler,
petrified dung and animal hair inside the formation.

  Professor Plimer described the structure as "a mud flow, a
debris flow" or "just mud".

  "It is a normal geological structure," he said.

  The professor told how he was ejected from a series of Dr
Roberts' lectures in 1992 after attempting to tell audience
members that they were being misled.

  "This man was denigrating hard-earned scholarship, this
man was misusing science and scientific method and
misleading and deceiving many young children in the
audience," he said.

  "It was my duty as an educator (to inform them)."

  But, he said he was referred to by some members of the
audience as "the sone of Satan" because he "had no right to
disturb this great man (Roberts) of science".

  Professor plimer denied he was "fanatical" about
creationism or that he had been trying to "silence the
creationists in the community".

  "Creationism is an abuse of science, education and
religion," he said.

  "I have a life-long commitment to science and education
and this is one of my public duties."

  The hearing continues next week.
___-----------------------------------------------------------

 * OLX 2.1 TD * Famous graffitti: Schroedinger may have been here

--- Maximus 2.02
 * Origin: The Perth Omen (3:690/660)
SEEN-BY: 12/12 24/888 102/2 943 106/2000 109/7 112/101 114/262 271 124/1
SEEN-BY: 130/1 1008 133/2 143/1 147/34 2021 167/166 170/400 202/777 1207
SEEN-BY: 213/213 218/2 801 890 900 901 907 270/101 275/429 280/1 169
SEEN-BY: 282/1 62 283/120 284/29 290/14 300/603 310/666 322/739 323/107
SEEN-BY: 324/278 343/600 346/250 352/3 356/18 371/42 377/86 380/64 381/900
SEEN-BY: 382/92 388/1 396/1 2 45 690/660 730/2 732/10 2401/0 2442/0 3603/420
SEEN-BY: 3606/10 3612/41 3615/50 3619/25 3632/21 3651/9 3652/1 3667/1

@PATH: 690/660 396/1 218/907 801