Date:
Monday, July 6, 2009
Correspondence history between Pastor Kevin Lea and
Mr. Lawrence Ford of ICR pertaining to Pastor Kevin’s July 6, 2009
letter documenting Dr. Austin’s plagiarism and poor science being
featured in AiG’s museum
From: kevinXXX
To: lfoXXX
cc: waltXXX; kevinXXX
Subject: Letter from Pastor Kevin Lea - Plagiarism in AiG Museum
Date: Mon, 6 Jul 2009 18:10:26 -0700
July 6, 2009
Dear Mr. Lawrence Ford,
I have attached a preliminary letter that I believe requires your very careful attention and response.
It documents Dr. Austin's plagiarism of Dr. Brown's work on the Grand Canyon and, more importantly,
how his actions have had such a detrimental effect on the creation science movement.
You have become involved in this dispute because of your letter, which you sent to me on September
22, 2008.
Your September 22 letter was in response to my certified letter of September 19, 2008. In my letter, I
asked if ICR management stands behind the statements made by Austin in the July 2008, Acts and Facts
article titled, "Red Rock Pass - Spillway of the Bonneville Flood?"
I also stated to you that I planned to post an article with comments interspersed documenting all the false
statements made by Steve Austin (using his own words and maps from his 1988-1990 Grand Canyon
Guide book and letters to Brown) in ICR's “Acts and Facts” article. In one paragraph I wrote:
If you do not go on record stating that you do not support the article, then I will be making it clear
in my posting that ICR allowed Austin to use its publication in order to widely disseminate his
false statements (which will be shown to be a failed attempt to cover his plagiarism of
Dr. Brown's work - and the detrimental effect these actions are having on the creation
movement).
At the time, you responded that you considered Austin's article to be well-documented and that "Acts and
Facts” does not plan to issue a retraction of the article, its contents, or its author."
Mr. Ford, I encourage you to read the attached letter to determine if you still want to stand behind
Dr. Austin's article in your publication. It proves, using Austin's own words, the serious errors and
deceptions that he authored in your publication. The attached letter also includes my correspondence with
you and your reply. I want to give you every opportunity to correct me if I have misunderstood the matter
in any way.
If you or Austin can provide documentation showing where I have erred, I will make the necessary
corrections to the attached letter before posting. If you cannot (and others who are also being solicited
for rebuttal and comment cannot), then the attached letter with its Attachments will be posted at our
website as written. It will also be distributed to about 200 creationist organizations with a website
presence.
You may note that some of the links are not yet active, but they will be by the time of actual posting in
early August.
I encourage you to more carefully research the facts. When you do, I think you will change your stated
position. If you communicate to me in a certified letter that your position has been changed based on
these facts, then I will modify the Internet posting accordingly.
If you let matters stand as they are now, those who carefully read the documentation will wonder why you
allowed Dr. Austin to use your publication in an attempt to cover his obvious bad science and plagiarism.
You may not realize that on 5-6-2008, Dr. Brown sent Dr. Austin a copy of Endnote 34 in Brown's Grand
Canyon chapter. (See the attached.) This was a month before it was placed in his 8th Edition. Brown
offered to correct any errors Austin could identify- or remove the entire endnote if Austin publicly
corrected the record. Austin ignored his offer. Unfortunately, 30,000 copies of that are now in print, not
to mention on the Internet. Many people are reading it.
I will be leaving for Africa tomorrow and will not return until July 25. Feel free to respond now if you
wish, some of my assistants are very familiar with the material and may be able to assist you and the
others that are receiving this preliminary letter. However, some matters may have to wait till I return.
Sincerely,
Pastor Kevin Lea
The above email was sent to a known good address for Mr. Ford. It did not bounce.
The email was backed up by a certified letter sent to Mr. Ford’s mailing address.
Mr. Ford has not responded to the email or the letter.