Both May Hunter and Barbara Hunt said they appealed to the producers of "Three Wishes," an NBC reality show that filmed an episode in Cedar City last week, to try and save the home.

"I talked to them and tried to get them to consider our wish to save the Hunter House, but they weren't interested," said May Hunter. "I think the project would have taken too long for them."

Barbara Hunt said "I guess it didn't meet their criteria. I also wrote the producers of 'This Old House,' to see if they want to help."

"Three Wishes" stars Amy Grant, a five-time Grammy Award winner, and centers on granting three major wishes proposed by residents of select cities around the country. The Cedar City episode should air sometime in mid- to late October. Among the wishes granted by the show were vacations for two couples with disabled spouses, and a gift of two fire engines for the Cedar City fire department.

If the city is unable to provide the money, the Hunter House is very much in danger of coming to a violent end.

"The position the council took was that they were supportive of the project, so long as the funds were available," said City Manager Jim Allen. "We should know by the end of September if we have the money. We need to make sure we have the funds to cover projects already approved."

May Hunter is saddened the family's old homestead is threatened.

"We are trying so hard to save our house," she said last week while showing another cousin the outside of the boarded-up home. "I love this house. When it was an antique store, sometimes I would just sit in it and imagine how it was when the family lived here."

May Hunter worries there is little time left to save the house.

"I know we'll get people to help if they just know about it," she said. "But we've got to hurry and do this or we could wake up one morning and it would be gone."

The Hunts also wish more people were aware of the home's likely demise.

"People don't know it's going to be razed for a parking lot," said Barbara Hunt. "Let's make it a landmark. It's on the corner of Center Street and U-89. It's rich in community and (LDS) church history."

Joseph Snedon Hunter arrived in Cedar City as a founding father at the request of then-LDS Church leader Brigham Young. He later mortgaged the house to help build the city's first high school and died there in July 1904.

To the Hunts, and to many of their patrons, saving the Hunter House means leaving it where it is.

"It's a very simple thing," said Barbara Hunt. "The oldest house in town can easily be saved and shouldn't be moved."

To others, it's a complex, expensive notion that doesn't fully address the rights of the property owner.

"I'm still waiting to hear back from the city," said Vasconi. "We don't have a time line (to raze the house), although we did remove the asbestos and have a demolition permit. We haven't put dates to it, but we're planning to go ahead with the project."

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E-mail: nperkins@desnews.com