Like a phoenix from the ashes, welcome sign is reborn on Rocky Peak

BILL SPARKES/Acorn Newspapers

MISSION COMPLETE- Jim Lowry, past president of the Rotary Club Simi Sunrise, stands in front of the Simi's new fire-resistant monument sign shortly after its official dedication by the city and the Rotary Club on Wednesday morning. At the ceremony, Lowry told of how he and current Mayor Paul Miller- then chief of police- hiked up to the top of Rocky Peak 10 years earlier to install the first sign- which was destroyed in the 2005 Topanga fires. As fate would have it, both men, along with several other devoted Rotarians and city employees, were instrumental in seeing the latest version of the sign erected as well. Simi-based GTS Construction was paid around $75,000 to do the concrete and stone work on the new sign, which is 15.5-by-52 feet in size. In coming weeks solar panels will be installed on the monument to provide the electricity to allow the sign to light up at night.