Mary,

The answer is to you fisrt question is maybe. The church also said that not only that the world was flat but that it was the center of the universe and that everything revolved around it. If the universe revolved around the flat earth on an axis perpendicular to the plane of the flat earth than all the stars would always have the same angle in reference to the horizon no matter where you were or what time of night you took the measurements, they would all appear to just go around the sky at the same height from the horizon. If the universe revolved on a different plane then all the stars would appear to change angles during the night.

The answer to your second question is probably no. I have never seen anybody small enough to fit down a hole the diameter that a pole digger would make. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

BLS