Sun-News from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina • 10

10A The Sun News Myrtle Beach SC I Thumday Apkil 19 2007 NATION FROM PAGE 1 A MYRTLEBEACHQNUNEXOM During the performance of the opening actBallany Shaffer (center loft) and Amanda Landry (canter right) both of Wilmington NCplayUno while welting for Sister Hazel to perform at the future site of Hard Rock Park on Wednesday Park details 0pans Spring 2008 Where Fantasy Harbour off US 501 Acras140 Ridnattnetiom40 Cot $400 million Ticket price $46 (aH ages) Mu 1 3400 Planned attractions The Hard Rock Theme Park wil have 40 attraction Among them: led The Bde The park's signature ride the Led Zeppelin roller coaster wi be synchronued to the band's 1969 song Lotta Love" spiraling over a lagoon and reaching a height of 155 feet It will be the tallest coaster in South Carolina Slippery When Wet A splashy suspended coaster Maalmtini RPMI A convertible car-coaster that races to new-age hits HUdnlgM Hder A Southern Rock roller coaster that careens through a creepy abandoned lumber mi Reggae River falls a Jamaican-themed water play area Garage Jam! A foam ball playstation Carnaby Street Cafe A joint featuring gigantic lava lamps and traditional British fere Raadfee Stunt Shew A high-action comedy starring heavy-metal riggers performing acrobatics and pyrotechnics More A 10000-seat amphitheater a country show on Ice skates the largest twirflng Mackllght poster PARK From Page 1A There also will be a 10000-seat amphitheater two other roller coasters one jamming to tunes another blaring Southern rock and a heavy-metal comedy act featuring acrobatics and pyrotechnics are so said Ray Hicks who lives near the park in River Oaks and dans to go with his son Syearokl Alex like a built-in baby For tourism officials the park is seen as a nuyor boost to the Grand offerings one that can fill the void left by the closure of amusement parka last year and can jumpstart expected flat growth in visitor numbers With the opening still a year away the developers are unveiling the closely-held details and spreading the word about the park around the country They've spent the past 10 days taking the Beatles Magical Mystery Tour Bus to the Hard Rock Cafes in six cities aiming to create a hype that will lure the viators the park needs to survive A massive stage was set up for an evening concert at the site where opening act Black Label played cover songs from Bon Jovi to Ozzie Osbourn Rock group Sister Hazel helped mark the preview opening with a free outdoor concert Wednesday evening Unfike a real tour throngs of groupies weren't trying to sneak past security before the 8 am opening Wednesday of the preview center dubbed the There wasn't much of a crowd at aU early Wednesday morning but there were the dedicated fens such as Hopkins buying opening day tickets for $46 snapping photos of a red Osbourne outfit and crouching down for a better view of April through Labor Day then scale back to weekends only during the off-season An industiy expert estimates the park needs 2 million guests a year to survive Developers spent more than five years planning the park and raising the $400 million from investors and the bond market to build it Some were skeptical having seen other park developers pitch plans in the area that eventually failed to see it finally come together" said Craig Dierksheide a Realtor selling land nearby who took pictures in the center Wednesday are doing it right Makes sense I'm surprised nobody thought of it the 70s room Items from Hard massive memorabilia collection decorate each area including gold records from the Beaties outfits from Cher and Madonna a signed Randy Travis guitar and a jacket from John Entwistle of The Who But the most attention Wednesday was centered on the mini-model of the 140-acre park The park is the first one tapping the Hard Flock brand and is the first mjor theme park aside from expansions of parks in California and Florida to be built since Legoland opened in Carlsbad Calif in 1999 Hard Rock Park plans to stay open nearly year-round except for January and February It will be open daily from a three-dimensional model of the park is going to be said Leo Moran of Myrtle Beach who showed up at 7:80 am aiming to beat what turned out to be non-existent crowds A steady stream of visitors dropped by throughout the day though officials say how many The preview center takes visitors through snippets of the six music-themed cones each blaring jams from that genre In rock roll heaven guests slip on headphones and watch a screen taking them on the signature ride the Led Zeppelin roller coaster Guests stroll through the different rooms from the saloon swing doors in the country cone to the purple shag carpet and operating pinball machine in Contact DAWN BRYANT at 626-0296 or dbryantthcunnewxom ST RAN JJFRESHCQ0IS wfcfrw ix Ate-' i j- -it Navy white flax saddle tan black 6-10 11M 75-9N naturalizer Talk About Comfort! Your Choice Studies tie hormones cancer risk By Mike Stobbe The Associated Press i ATLANTA Research on two continents signaled more bad news fix: menopause hormones offering the strongest evidence yet that they can raise the risk of breast cancer and are tied to a slight risk of ovarian cancer New US government numbers showed that breast cancer rates leveled off in 2004 after plunging in 2008 the year after millions of women stopped taking hormones because a big study tied them to higher heart stroke and breast cancer risks Experts said the plateau shows that the 2008 drop was not a fluke From 2001 to 2004 breast cancer rates fell almost 9 percent a dramatic decline researchers report in New England Journal of Medicine The trend was even stronger for the most common form of the disease tumors whose growth is fiieled by hormones Those rates fell almost 15 percent among women ages 50 to 69 the group most likely to have been on hormone pills At the same time a study of nearly 1 million women in the United Kingdom showed that those who took hormones after menopause were 20 percent more likely to develop ovarian cancer or die from it than women who never took the pills That stutly was published (mime by the London-based journal The Lancet For consumers the new research change the advice to use the lowest dose for the shortest time possible for hot flashes and other menopause symptoms that otherwise be controlled For cautious scientists the new breast cancer numbers were more evidence of the hormone-breast cancer link "The story has gotten said Dr Peter Ravdin a biostatistician at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston who led the research Some were skeptical several months ago when Ravdin and National Cancer Institute researchers first reported the 2008 drop in the breast cancer rate The new numbers which add 2004 prove this was no fluke said Dr Julie Gralow a spokeswoman for the American Society of Clinical Oncology and cancer expert at the University of Washington in Seattle The Style of Your Life in Rwwd CmMicMi WanfouOptn Account 20 Earn Dillard's Reward Points Every Time You Shop! 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