STORY:
Bidding War For First Sunrise of 2000

New Zealand's Pitt island, some 500 miles southeast of the mainland has a place the locals call Mount Hakepa. It's not a mountain at all. It's more like a knob of a hill and it sits on farmer Ken Lanauze's land. Now Lanauze and the 54 other people who live on Pitt Island stand to make allot of money because they are auctioning the rights to film the first light of 2000 from their little knob.

Last year, scientists from the Royal Observatory, the keepers of world time at London's Greenwich time center agreed that the first sunlight of 2000 will hit the top of Mount Hakepa at 3:59am New Zealand Standard time. Still, other island countries closer to the dateline are disputing this claim and are making attempts to adjust their time zones to be first to see the so-called millennium dawn.

According to the Associated Press, CNN is reported offering up to $270,000 for the right to film from Mount Hakepa. The government of New Zealand reported has only offered $80,000. Several weeks ago, Lanauze rejected the government's offer as not being enough.

A lawyer for Pitt Island's charitable Trust, Ernie Gartrell tells the Associated Press that other television groups are seeking the rights as well and a decision will be made in mid June.

Source: Associated Press / Washington Post

DATE: 5/31/99

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