Listeners looking for edge in finding $10,000 rock

Steve Sebelius

Wednesday, Dec. 18, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

Hey, you: Get off my lawn! And get a life while you're at it!

That's what some might say to listeners of The Edge, radio station KEDG 103.5-FM.

Edge fans are engaged in their annual holiday hunt for the "Jingle Bell Rock."

The person who finds the white slab with The Edge logo on it gets $10,000, which some say has led cash-crazed alternative rock aficionados to do things that are annoying or even dangerous.

Rock-hunting throngs have tossed stones from the foundation of a Clark County Park Ranger station, wandered through Sam Boyd Stadium and even strayed into hazardous areas at the Henderson Executive Air Terminal.

In Boulder City, some contestants trespassed on residents' property to look for the rock, which has yet to be found, despite weekday broadcasts of clues that started Dec. 2. Boulder City Police did not report any major acts of vandalism, however.

The marauding rock seekers have also caused problems elsewhere.

"We've had people through the stadium," said John Warner, who works at Sam Boyd Stadium. "We're tired of chasing people out. We've got other things to be doing."

Warner said, however, that no one vandalized the stadium while looking for the phone book-size rock.

That wasn't the case at the Clark County Park Ranger station nearby.

"They took out so many rocks from underneath our station, I thought it was going to fall over," said Ranger Chief Chet Broderick. The rock hunting got so annoying that one park ranger called The Edge to complain.

"It's a big thing. They've got hundreds of people looking for that rock," Broderick said. "I was hoping it would be over by now."

So were Henderson Executive Air Terminal officials, who have had to shepherd 14 people out of "airplane operation areas," the zones where small planes taxi to and from runways and where they are tied down.

"They were in areas where aircraft were moving," said McCarran International Airport spokeswoman Nora Cooper. "It's pretty dangerous."

As a general aviation airport, the Henderson facility is not fenced in.

"We're just concerned about safety," Cooper said. Airport officials also called The Edge about the hazard.

Dax Tobin, general manager of The Edge, said he's received about a dozen rock-related complaints. He said most people are understanding when he explains the 4-year-old tradition. "We get calls every year."

"I haven't had anybody who was really angry," Tobin added. "We haven't had a problem with it."

Tobin has issued announcements on the air saying the rock is not on private property or in a dangerous place. It's above ground, he says, and no tools are required to remove it.

Tobin said he hasn't thought of canceling the tradition because of the complaints, and that clues will continue to be broadcast until the rock is found and returned to the station.

Oh, and don't get any ideas about counterfeiting the rock, either. Even though it was on display at Henderson's Galleria Mall before the contest, even the most elaborate fakes have been found out, and now sit in a pile outside the station, Tobin said.