WE WON! VICTORY after 3 years of fighting AT&T!

Welcome to the site! Login or Signup below.

Login|Signup

• Home
• News
• Local News

Stoddard cell tower proposal withdrawn

ShareShare

Print

Create a hardcopy of this page

Font Size:

Default font size

Larger font size

Posted: Tuesday, June 11, 2013 12:00 pm | Updated: 1:08 pm, Tue Jun 11, 2013.

By Meghan Foley Sentinel Staff

STODDARD — A controversial proposal for a cell tower on Melville Hill has been scratched.

New Cingular Wireless (formerly AT&T Wireless) has withdrawn its application for the 130-foot tower after reaching an agreement with town officials on Friday, William Keyser, spokesman for AT&T in New England, said Monday.

The agreement came on the last day town and AT&T officials had to decide how they would proceed with a lawsuit filed by AT&T against the town.

“While we are confident the legal issues raised would have eventually been resolved in our favor, we decided to take the town of Stoddard up on its pledge to work with us in good faith on a possible future application,” Keyser said.

Keyser declined to reveal any details of that future application, including when it might be filed and where a tower might be located.

“At this point, I think we’re going to step back and take a little time to refocus our efforts. We’ll probably come back to the town at a later date,” he said.

In May 2011, Stoddard’s zoning board approved the application for the tower, 3-2.

After receiving multiple requests from residents to reconsider, the board agreed to do so in July of that year.

In August 2011, New Cingular Wireless filed a complaint against the town in U.S. District Court in Concord, alleging the town was in violation of the federal Telecommunications Act of 1996 and the Federal Communication Commission’s Shot Clock Ruling.

The 2009 rule requires a local government to decide on cell tower projects “within a reasonable period of time” not to exceed 150 days. That time frame can be extended with the consent of the cell tower applicant.

In the complaint, New Cingular Wireless said the Stoddard zoning board wasn’t in compliance with the Shot Clock Rule after it decided to rehear the application. The rehearing made the May 2011 decision in favor of the project irrelevant.

New Cingular Wireless asked the court to uphold the board’s original decision and allow construction of the cell tower.

In addition to neighbors who objected to the cell tower, the Dakota Sioux tribe became involved because its members consider Melville Hill sacred ground, as it’s where the daughter of Dr. Charles A. Eastman, a Native American leader, is buried.

Stoddard resident John Cucchi, a friend of the tribe’s and an intervenor in the lawsuit, said he looks forward to telling members of the Dakota Sioux about the wireless company withdrawing the application.

Keyser said Melville Hill being a sacred site for the Sioux tribe was one of a number of concerns that factored into the company’s decision to withdraw the application.

“There were some zoning and litigation issues, some customer and network performance concerns and environmental issues,” he said. “All of those factors were taken as a whole, and brought us to this conclusion.”

Dakota Sioux Indians Travel from SD and WI to Protest AT&T Proposed Cell Tower in Stoddard, NH

Traveling 19 hours from South Dakota last week was Santee Dakota Sioux tribal elder Emmett Eastman, great nephew of renowned Native American Dr. Charles Eastman, who came to speak before the Stoddard Zoning Board of Adjustment (ZBA) in protest against AT&T's proposed cell tower atop Stoddard's Melville Hill, overlooking Granite Lake.

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."

The Struggle with AT&T Goes On...to a ZBA Decision May 13

The historic sites walk yesterday morning and the hearing last night are described by a Keene Sentinel writer in this article, which has just been published:

In Stoddard, ways of life collide

No decision yet on proposed cell tower

• Story
• Comments

ShareShare

Print

Create a hardcopy of this page

Font Size:

Default font size

Larger font size

Share

STEVE HOOPER / Sentinel Staff

In Stoddard, ways of life collide

Peering out the window of the Cucchi residence in Munsonville Thursday toward Granite Lake and a proposed cell tower are, from left, Stephen D. Anderson, representing AT&T, Nadine M. Peterson, of the N.H. Division of Historical Resources and Buzz McLaughlin of Stoddard.

Posted: Friday, May 6, 2011 12:15 pm | Updated: 11:54 am, Fri May 6, 2011.

By Sarah Trefethen Sentinel Staff | 0 comments

STODDARD — Many rules govern the construction of cellphone towers, from local ordinances to federal legislation to courtroom precedents.

There are rules that consider a project’s impacts on historical sites, communication infrastructure and local property values.

But no one rule seems to get to the heart of what bothers Granite Lake residents who have for months resisted AT&T’s plans to build a tower on Stoddard’s Melville Hill, in a location that would be visible across the lake.

Lifelong Stoddard resident Marline J. Leotta says she’s not against technology, but balks at the idea of such a prominent incursion of modern life into the lake’s landscape of rolling green hills and small wooden docks that jut into the sparkling water.

“We need places for the soul to feel free,” she said Thursday, standing near the lake shore in Nelson. “I want it to be a place where you can come and think about nature, not mankind and its squabbles.”

Native Americans Angered at AT&T's Proposed Cell Tower on "The Hill of Vision"

Press Release being sent out today to local and national media: 

AT&T’s request to New Hampshire's Stoddard Zoning Board of Adjustment (ZBA) for a Special Exception to construct a 150-foot cell phone tower has stirred the ire of the Santee Dakota Sioux, headquartered in Flandreau, S.D.

The proposed cell tower would loom over Stoddard’s pristine Granite Lake community atop Melville Hill, once owned by renowned Native American Dr. Charles Eastman (1858-1939) and named by him “The Hill of Vision.” Eastman’s daughter Irene, a victim of an influenza epidemic that swept the area in 1918, is buried on the hill.

Cucchi Challenges AT&T Proposed Cell Tower Citing Section 106 and the history of Charles Eastman

For many years John Cucchi and his wife Anne, residents of Nelson, NH, have owned and operated Granite Lake Cottages

which overlook Granite Lake, one of the most scenic and pristine lakes in New Hampshire:

Here are two views from their cottages:

These views are now being threatened by AT&T's proposal to build a 150-foot cell tower directly on top of the hill where the rainbow can be seen.