Dr. Eastman once lived in the oldest, most historic home on Granite Lake and ran a camp for girls, Camp Oahe, which means "Hill of Vision." He owned the hill known today as Melville Hill and his daughter Irene, who died in the influenza epidemic of 1918, is buried there. This is the site AT&T wishes to build a cell tower.
Co-founder of the Boy Scouts and Campfire Girls of America, Dr. Eastman was a prolific writer and spoke internationally on Native American issues. Emmett Eastman traveled to ask the Stoddard ZBA to "respect the land...if you can find an alternative sight, my people would very much appreciate that."
Joining Emmett Eastman was his niece, Kym Mathias, who traveled from Milwaukee, WI, where she's a student. Mathias's mother, Fern Rosebud Eastman-Mathias, was a great niece of Dr. Charles Eastman and an active organizer for the American Indian Movement (AIM):
Before leaving Stoddard to attend a pow-wow at Dartmouth College, where Kym's son (like Dr. Eastman) is a student, both Emmett Eastman and Kym Mathias visited their ancestor's home and walked up Melville Hill, "The Hill of Vision":
Notes on the most recent hearing (May 5) can be found here.
A series of postponements has pushed the next ZBA hearing to May 25 at 7 p.m. at the Stoddard Town Hall, at which time the members are scheduled to vote either for or against AT&T's request for a Special Exception to build a cell tower on Melville Hill, "The Hill of Vision."
Anyone concerned about the citing of the tower in this location (when other possibilities exist) should write an email to the ZBA secretary Pat Putnam for circulation to the board members: stoddardtreasurer@yahoo.com.
Nothing is clearly cooler than haunted telephone lines.
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