Help Joe Taylor!

To all of you who have prayed for us, sent letters of encouragement and your generous financial support, I thank you. I wish that I could say we are out of the woods on this, but the truth is we still have a long way to go. Some of you may have watched the auction of the mastodon skull on January 20th. Seeing it sell for a total of $191,000 was gratifying in that it proved that I wasn’t crazy for believing it was worth that much. Our part of that is $128,000. And it would have been really gratifying if we were merely waiting for the check to come. The truth is that the sale has yet to be approved by the Bankruptcy judge. That is supposed to happen February 7 — and even then we won’t receive payment for weeks. We still have to deal with the judgment of $136,000. But, thank God, the Sheriff’s auction, scheduled for this week, has been canceled.

Since January 16, we have worked night and day on the paper work to file for Chapter 13 Bankruptcy. We were able to get that done at the last hour of the day on Friday before the auction without a lawyer. Since Monday, the 21st, we have worked every hour of the day and many at night on learning the procedures that have to be done to file all the numerous forms with the bankruptcy court. Through friends of Mt. Blanco, we found a lawyer who could help us with many of the legal issues. Other knowledgeable friends have come on board to guide us through the difficult process of properly filing on time. Today, Friday afternoon, having done as much as we were able on our own without a lawyer here in this area, we felt we had no choice but to retain one here to help with the filing in a Lubbock, Texas court. Your contributions will be indispensable in that. We are trying to do as much as possible on our own, but appearing in court is something I cannot do on my own.

Henry Johnson has spent a month of nights and days researching for the legal documents and has nearly worn out his phone calling to find out what to do. Joel Peck has had the odious duty of combing through the maze of financial records to find the information we must have. Every hour we spend on this is another we are not making any money in the museum. None of it is enjoyable. I hate all of it, and we all would so much rather be doing what we are good at, art and paleontology. In the last seven weeks, I have only worked two days. The rest of the time has been spent trying to save the museum. I wish I could say that I am jumping for joy that the mastodon is sold, but, while we are truly grateful for the many good things that have happened in recent weeks, the truth is our situation is still precarious in many ways.

So, again, God bless all of you who have supported us through your prayers, giving and encouragement. We wouldn’t be where we are today without you. If you are led to continue helping financially, thank you very much, if not, we still cherish your prayers and good will. Please also continue to pray with me for those who oppose us and their families.

In Christian bonds,
Joe Taylor
Mt. Blanco Fossil Museum

Last night the Lone Star Mastodon sold at auction for a bid of $160,000. Heritage Auctions charges a buyer’s premium of 19.5% bringing the total price for the buyer to $191,200.00 unless the buyer lives in Texas in which case s/he will also have to pay sales tax as well. Heritage Auctions also charges the seller around 20% so Joe will receive around $128,000 from this sale.

Joe is not out of the woods yet, and still needs your prayers and support. There are a lot of things going on behind the scenes and God works all things for the good of those that love Him.

Joe is throwing himself into his new magazine, Mt. Blanco Fossil News, at the moment and we will update you as soon as it goes to press! Contact Joe now for information about advertising in this exciting new creation magazine.

I heard from Joe that he has been out of books since before helpjoetaylor.com launched! They have had to scrounge around and sell their personal copies to try and fulfill orders that have come in.

We are working on a couple of solutions. We found a printer that will let you print smaller quantities and even one that will let you do single runs as they are needed, of course that severely affects Joe’s margins. For now, please call before placing an order to check on availability, and be sure to check back here often as we will put an update on the site as soon as more are available.

We are also looking at putting the book online as a PDF or E-book and selling it at a discounted rate. This is new territory for us all. Please remember to keep praying for Joe.

So, does anyone out there know quark?

We have a new page up devoted to the Lone Star Mastodon Auction which will take place January 20th in Dallas, Texas through Heritage Auction House.

This mastodon skull is HUGE! It is the largest four tusk mastodon ever found as certified by an independent appraiser. I really enjoyed reading on Mt. Blanco’s website about the incredible restoration and unveiling of this amazing fossil.

Online bidding is going on now! Please help spread the word about this auction, even if you don’t know anyone in the market for a truely one of a kind representaion of God’s amazing glory in creation, perhaps someone you know does.