Advertisement - Click to support our sponsors.
Hundreds line
up to meet Sue
Bishop Museum is exhibiting
the 45-foot dinosaur skeleton
replica till Oct. 15By Jaymes K. Song and Pat Gee
A creation evangelist says dinosaurs
didn't live 70 million years ago and
might still be alive today
Star-BulletinYou'd have to be extinct not to have heard about Hawaii's newest and biggest star, a 45-foot dinosaur named Sue.
Hundreds lined up at Bishop Museum today for the official opening of the Sue exhibit, a lifesize replica of the most complete and best-preserved skeletal remains of the Tyrannosaurus rex, the most feared predator of the dinosaur age.
When the doors opened this morning, children dashed to the skeleton with parents in tow.
Sue, wearing two dinosaur-size orchid leis for the occasion, was illuminated by dozens of flashbulbs and home video camera lights.
Sue made some younger children cry. But the most common reaction was amazement.
"It's cool," said 9-year-old Randy Tateishi as he stared at the daunting 45-foot skeleton.
Ten-year-old Darren Otsuka of Kaimuki said it was exciting to see Sue because he had only seen dinosaurs on television or in books.
The Kim family from Hawaii Kai arrived at the museum at 6:15 this morning to be the first in line when the doors opened three hours later.
Laura Kim, 13, said she was curious to see the T. rex, but not as excited as her father, Frank, who said that in the past his family would have had to travel to the mainland to see a major exhibition like this.
Museum officials had to limit the amount of people who could be in the room with Sue at any one time. Six hundred people saw Sue within the first 15 minutes. Museum officials estimated 10,000 would see the exhibit by the end of today and the same number tomorrow."It's awesome," said Victor Lim, a local McDonald's franchisee who was one of the people responsible for bringing the exhibit to Hawaii. "You and I could both fit in the stomach, and she'll still be hungry," Lim said.
Lim said it took 2 years to bring Sue to Hawaii. Richard Duggan, who was in charge of assembling Sue, and McDonald's of Hawaii were instrumental in lobbying to get Sue to Hawaii; the other traveling exhibit opened in Boston last month. Duggan worked at Chicago's Field Museum for several years before transferring to Hawaii.
The original Sue is housed at Field and was discovered in 1990 and named after fossil hunter Sue Hendrickson. Duggan said it gives him "tremendous happiness that the children in Hawaii will be among the first to see this scientific discovery."
Dinosaurs are "terrifying, scary beasts" that people have had to re-create with their imaginations because the only thing left of them are their skeletons, he said. They represent children's "darkest fears, the monster hiding in the closet." But because of the exhibit the kids are able to "face it because it's tame, it's dead," Duggan said.
"These guys cruised around 60 (million) to 70 million years ago" and existed a "million times longer" than human beings have been on Earth before becoming extinct, he said. "Now we're the predators, the top of the food chain, and the same thing could well happen to us. We're just an instant in this huge time scale," Duggan reflected.
The exhibit will run until Oct. 15. The national McDonald's Corp. is sponsoring both touring exhibits. Admission is $3 for Hawaii residents today and tomorrow. McDonald's McExtra card holders will be admitted for free.
This weekend, when Bishop Museum opens a dinosaur display, creation evangelist Kent Hovind will be lecturing at a nearby church that dinosaurs did not live millions of years ago but may still be alive today. Close to Sue, an
evangelist begs to differHovind will present his views against the theory of evolution and in support of divine creation as the source of life at Ohana Baptist Church, 2908 Kamehameha Highway. He will speak at 7 p.m. today and at 9:30 a.m. tomorrow.
The "Dino Days" program, which began yesterday, includes a display of fossils for children to handle, a video about dinosaurs and Creation, and a show by "Noah and the Dino Mite" puppets.
The church program was timed for the Bishop Museum's opening of "A Tyrannosaurus Rex Named Sue," an exhibit of a replica of a 45-foot dinosaur skeleton. Scientists have said the skeleton unearthed in South Dakota is 65 million years old.
Hovind, who taught high school science for 15 years before organizing his Florida-based Creation Science Evangelism ministry, says there is no proof of evolution or that Earth or creatures such as dinosaurs existed millions of years ago. Dinosaurs are mentioned in the Bible, such as a reference to a behemoth in the Book of Job, and may still live, according to publicity announcements provided by Hovind.
Star-Bulletin staff
