Patrick, The original post was from Bill Biesele, forwarding a message from the Astronomical Society of Nevada, protesting the plans of the University of Nevada at Reno to tear down the existing planetarium before a new one has been planned for. They would like assistance in protesting this move. The message is as follows: Dear Members & Guests, As I am sure most of you know by now the president of UNR, John Lilley, has decided to close the planetarium and in it's place put a parking lot in June of 2003. A few months ago the planned closing date was in 3 to 4 years. Now it has been moved up to only a few months from now. The ASN has <http://www.astronomynv.org> publicly stated our position on closing the planetarium BEFORE a new science center has been built. In press releases UNR is sending out on the subject they state that a new science center is already in the works and that the planetarium has been losing money over the past 3 years. Both of these statements are debatable. The Great Basin Exploration Center is still just a dream at this point. Site selection has yet to be completed. And while the planetarium has lost money in the past, reports are that under new management, it has actually turned a comfortable profit. The December 26th issue of the Reno News & Review has put out a story on the subject. I have included a link in this mailing to share. There are other articles out there that I will try to send out as I get them. Many of us who are working on this issue feel that the university wants to close the planetarium before anybody knows that it happened. There is also the opinion that UNR believes that the public doesn't really care all that much if the planetarium closes or not. It is our hope that through public awareness, the community can help preserve this treasure as long as possible or until a suitable replacement has been built. I will be sending out a list of UNR officers, regents and community leaders to everybody. This is information that should be passed around to everybody. If you have any questions, feel free to email me and I will see what I can do to help. Timothy Kendziorski Webmaster Astronomical Society of Nevada At 02:27 PM 1/1/2003 -0700, you wrote:
Hi,
I guess I missed the post that started this thread, but if the original question was about the Hansen planetarium building, I don't think it can be torn down as it is on a national list of historic sites.