Right-Click -> Disks with removeable media

How can I get Gnome to reload its configuration when I attach removable 
media?  My case is thus:

RHL9
SanDisk USB Flashcard reader

My system is configured to automatically put an entry in /etc/fstab and 
create a mount dir, /mnt/flash, when I attach the flashcard reader.  But 
I have to log out and log back in to get the "Right-click (on desktop)-> 
Disks -> flash" functionality to be able to mount the flash card.

How can I get Gnome to re-read /etc/fstab without logging out and 
logging back in?

I tried "killall -HUP gnome-session" but that just kills the session 
which effectively logs me out. Therefore this is *not* a solution!

In a related but slightly different problem/solution, I created a 
/etc/hotplug/usb/flash script which automatically mounts the flsahcard 
reader but I cannot UNmount the reader using 
"right-click-on-mounted-device -> Unmount Volume".  I don't know why the 
thing will not unmount this way because in the hotplug script I force it 
to mount as user "jeff" (me) and I *am* able to unmount it from the 
command-line using "umount /mnt/flash".


Thanks for your help, Gnome gurus!!
-- 
                  Jeffrey | Silverman
          [email protected] | 410-516-5303
Johns Hopkins University | Baltimore,MD