Despite Councilmember Ethan Rice's petition campaign against his Clifftop Development, and rumors of upcoming EPA, 60 Minutes and Hard Copy investigations of the sprawling alpine hotel/resort/spa, developer Jordan Thorne denies he is scaling back the project. "Absolutely untrue," Thorne told this paper in a telephone interview. Asked about further rumors, that the main contractor, Meggetts and Ifield of Chicago, are pulling out of the project due to financing problems, Thorne said, "Excuse me, but that's pure Free Box B.S. Hang around the street long enough, and you'll hear just about anything-- that space aliens took over the Elks, that someone's going to flood the Valley Floor and turn it into an artificial lake-- all kinds of crap. Some ropehead probably smoked too much ganja and dreamed the whole thing up." Calls to Meggetts and Ifield's corporate headquarters went unanswered. When this reporter visited the Clifftop construction site, there was no activity going on, and the only person there was a security guard who barred this reporter from entering Thorne's property and said, quote, "No golderned comment" when asked if any building activity had been going on over the past week. Phone calls to Clifftop's local construction office, run by Beazley Moog up at Mountain Village, produced only an answering machine message: "This office is temporarily closed for the holidays. We regret any inconvenience. Please leave a message after the tone." After this paper FAXed a copy of this article to Jordan Thorne's office for last minute comments, we received the following FAX, signed by Thorne partner Vanowen Wong: "Clifftop is definitely going to be built, and it's going to be even bigger and better than originally projected. Any temporary delays in construction are due to these unexpected additions to the scope of the Clifftop vision. Jordan Thorne and myself and our attorneys will take very serious any published reports that Clifftop is in dire financial straits, and will seek appropriate legal redress for any damages resulting from said reports. Happy New Year, Vanowen Wong."