The Museum That Couldn't Think Straight

It's named after Kemper Marley, the apparent inspiration for the murder of newsman Don Bolles. It's full of inaccuracies, racism, Chamber of Commerce blather and third-rate gimmickry.

Comments (0) By Terry Greene Sterling Thursday, May 23 1996

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"Gaze into your Agri-Future," says a sign.
"Pick a card, any card," says another sign.
One of the men presses a plastic likeness of a playing card on the fortuneteller's "table."

A video in the display's "crystal ball" lights up.
The crystal ball reveals a photo of harvest baskets.
"Did you know farmworkers who fill these baskets are among the lowest paid in the United States?" a female voice asks.

The voice goes on. It says growers could double farmworkers' salaries if only the consumer would be willing to pay more for produce--"11 cents more for lettuce," for instance. This information does not seem to interest the winter visitors from Minnesota.

Right next to the fortuneteller display is a fun-house mirror. "Do you cotton to cotton?" a sign asks the Minnesota visitors viewing their own likenesses in a mirror.

A woman tries to play an electronic quiz game about Arizona agriculture. She seems puzzled. The game has no instructions.

Even so, she thinks the museum is "absolutely fantastic."
The woman, by the way, has no idea who in the world Kemper Marley was.