Cell Towers: We Need Them, But...!

I've had a cell phone for years. I tend to use mine only when I'm in town and need to tell my husband I'm going to be late getting home or wondering if he needs something at the grocery store. He, in contrast, is on his cell 24/7 for business.

The fact is, cell phones are extremely convenient for those in business and for people like me who need to reach family members when we're out and about or they are. They're particularly crucial when there's some
kind of emergency. So I've never been against cell phones. I don't text, but my children and grandchildren do, and I don't have an I-phone--I'm not that high tech--but I feel comfortable when I'm traveling around by myself and know that if something happens, I have a way of reaching somebody.

That being said, in the last several months I've learned more than I ever really wanted to about cell phones and cell towers and the way telecommunication companies, aided by the Federal Communications Commission, are aggressively invading our communities.

I've also spent more time than I really wanted or had time for in researching and fighting this aggression.

It all started when a neighbor of ours received an offer from AT&T to put up a cell phone tower on his land
here in New Hampshire, on a high ridge called Melville Hill overlooking pristinely beautiful Granite Lake and the pastoral community of Munsonville, of which my husband and I are residents. We came to New Hampshire from New Jersey to escape the suburban sprawl of New York City, to a place that had been our retreat house for decades, a retreat with views of wooded hills and silence so deep that sometimes one just looks and listens in wonder.

So when another neighbor and friend called in distress to say there was the possibility of a 150-foot cell phone tower being built right behind us, it was one of those moments you simply deny; the idea was too outrageous and honestly, even though that neighbor wasn't a full-time resident but a "summer person," he couldn't be serious, he wouldn't really consent to such a monstrosity right in our own neighborhood.

Beside the hideousness of such a tower, my friend said, she was also worried about the potential health threat to those living in its shadow, particularly children and the elderly. She'd googled cell tower dangers and found some alarming information, which she passed on to me as well as to our neighbor who'd been contacted by AT&T.

Weeks went by. I read more on the internet about the dangers of living near cell towers and learned that scientists all over the world were concerned (see information found here and here) and thought: no, our neighbor wouldn't seriously consider agreeing to the tower after reading this. But one day my friend called, upset. She'd just received an email: our neighbor had signed the lease with AT&T.

As abutters to his land, we received a letter in November 2010 from the Stoddard Zoning Board of Adjustment notifying us that a hearing would be held to discuss AT&T's proposed cell tower site on Melville Hill.

We had no idea of the journey that lay ahead...

Next time: Stoddard residents begin to fight the proposed AT&T site