In Toledo, Amelia Earhart's arrow still points
     TOLEDO, Ohio -- May 29, 1998 00:44 a.m. EDT -- The white arrow
 atop the Hillcrest Hotel showed pilots the way to the airport for
 years. It was a gift to Toledo from the most famous female flier
 in America: Amelia Earhart.
     And now the hotel owners want to ensure that the arrow that
 Earhart painted on the rooftop in 1933 -- faded over the years --
 remains a reminder of her celebrated visit.
     "We are well aware of the history there," said Matt Meier,
 project manager for the Alexander Co., of Madison, Wis.
     The company, which will soon begin converting the brick hotel
 into apartments, is looking for ways to preserve the 12-foot-long
 arrow or to commemorate the event with a marker.
     The arrow has faded over the past 65 years, and can barely be
 seen on the top of the roof of what was once one of Toledo's
 grandest hotels.
     Meier said he and other company officials have talked about re-
 painting the signal, which points southward, in the precise spot
 where Earhart painted it during a ceremony that made national news.
     They may hang a plaque in the lobby with photographs of the
 rooftop event.
     "We're going to do what we can to remember her visit," he said.
     The move is the latest in a series of actions by the company to
 restore the 1929 hotel to its original splendor.
     The company is about to finalize a financing package totaling
 $11.45 million that will pay for renovating the vacant, fire-scarred
 building into 106 apartments. The work is expected to begin in July.
 The Hillcrest has been closed since 1994.
     Workers were told about the arrow on the roof by city officials
 during an inspection of the nine-story hotel last year. At the time,
 city officials talked to company officials about possibly remembering
 Earhart's visit.
     It was on a warm, sunny day in October 1933 when Earhart -- the
 first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean -- came to Toledo to
 give a speech at the hotel.
     During her stay, she was asked to paint an arrow on the roof to
 point the way to the Toledo Transcontinental Airport, now known as
 Metcalf Field.
     The airfield in Wood County was then the city's main airport. At
 the time, the National Exchange Club was pushing U.S. cities to
 create markers on the tops of buildings to help aviators find their
 way to local airports.
     Toledo was one of the first cities selected.
     The famous aviatrix agreed to create the arrow with several
 photographers around her.
     Earhart said during the ceremony that "it would be a pretty poor
 sort of an aviator who wouldn't know he was over Toledo.
     "What fliers need most urgently is better markings of small
 towns," she said.
     She was lost over the Pacific Ocean four years later while
 attempting to fly around the world. The mystery of her disappear-
 ance has never been solved.
 Toledo Blade.
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         Cicadas blamed for canceled plane flight
     Nashville, TN - Think cicadas look a little scary as they buzz
 and bug Tennesseans? Imagine what they do to people who see them for
 the first time.
     Musician Bill Kelley missed a Nashville gig Wednesday night when
 Air Canada canceled his flight from Toronto to Music City.
     The reason? They said he heard a ticket agent say the flight
 crew refused to handle Flight 375 after seeing a plane return from
 Nashville with cicadas covering the windshield. More were found in
 the cargo hold and passenger area. Air Canada spokeswoman Nicole
 Couture-Simand said one flight attendant refused, and a replacement
 wasn't available.
 Knoxville News Sentinel 29 May 1998
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