New Web site for C Hill flag

Dan Mooney of the C Hill Flag Foundation is inviting members of the public to review the Foundation's new Web site at www.c-hill.org.

The site is being provided by Edurus and, though not yet completely functional, it is viewable and features a nice aerial photo of the flag before it was swept away.

Dan e-mailed me that he hopes people will call the number on the Web site with suggestions for ways to improve it.

Earlier this month, the foundation's board of directors OK'd the design for the understructure of the flag. They plan to build an interlocking foundation secured to the hill using 4-inch pipe connected by 18 250-pound boulders buried 6 feet deep. The flag itself will be made of alumalite, which should withstand the 100-mph winds that shredded the old flag.

A volunteer review team consisting of an architect, structural engineer and construction contractor is looking over the plans.

The flag and site are insured for $1 million.

Fund-raising for the project is ongoing. The group hopes people will sponsor the 390 panels making up the flag. Sponsorships would cost $75 each, raising $29,250.

The U.S. Forest Service must review the plans before work can begin on the new flag. No date has been set pending approval and fund-raising. Anyone interested in helping out should e-mail Dan at nevada4@aol.com or call 882-5705.

I heard from former Nevada Appeal business reporter Teya Vitu, who said his review of the Arizona Opera's production of "Salome" appears in this month's online edition of "Opera News."

I'll have to take his word for it, since the online edition requires that you subscribe to get access. I'm not ready to pay $21.95 to subscribe to OperaNewsOnline, despite the free CD and single issue of Opera News.

However, I was happy to hear from Teya, who is working the business beat at the Tucson Citizen and still manages to find time to enjoy the fine arts.

He wrote the lead story in Thursday's online edition of the Citizen, which is at www.tucsoncitizen.com and doesn't require a credit card number to read.

If you've got a hankering for opera and happen to be in Tucson on May 16, you can catch Teya as the pre-concert speaker at the Philadelphia Orchestra concert.

When he's not soaking up the Southern Arizona culture or sun, Teya is on the road. Last year he ventured all around Iceland, which he says reminds him of Nevada. In June, he will escape the dry heat to explore Nova Scotia and New Brunswick in Canada.

Appeal photographer Rick Gunn returned home this week to find 3 feet of snow in his front yard. He went mountain biking in St. George, Utah, with former Appeal shooter K.M. Cannon.

Rick's shoulder was covered with scabs when I gave him a friendly pat on Monday. But the only groan I got out of him was when I reminded him that "Circa," the Las Vegas Review-Journal's travel magazine, closed its doors a few weeks ago.

The magazine, run by former Appeal publisher Dale Wetencamp, featured beautiful scenic photos of everything from the Grand Canyon to Zion to Death Valley. It wasn't enough. "Circa" survived for 18 months before shutting down.

The good news is all of the staffers went back to work for the newspaper. The bad news is that Rick's Nevada 10-in-10 Challenge article will have to find another venue.

Kurt Hildebrand rejoins the Nevada Appeal's staff on Monday. Reach him at kurt@tahoe.com or call 881-1215.