Subject:  "Witless flops"? From a local weekly (Debar)..
Date:     Fri, 28 Apr 2000 091421 -0500 (CDT)
From:     "Roy L. Beavers" 
To:       emfguru 
--------------------------------------------------


.......I see this case (below) as a typical example of how the telecom
companies succeed (when they do succeed) -- they employ stealth and
quickness....

It is "done" before the "ignorant/uniformed" boards have the necessary
information to properly consider what has been proposed.  And then it
is a "fait accompli" that causes local citizens and governments to
shrug their shoulders and say ... "Oh so what...."

Much of this would be stymied if "the press" of America were doing its
(usual) job of acting as the public's watch dog.....  The "press" is
"looking the other way" ... along with most of our government, at all
levels - state, local and federal....  And, of course, an uninformed
public does not know to prod for better government or press action....

All of you "out there" -- to whatever extent you can address these
aspects in your local (governmental and press) situations -- you can
accomplish some important work in "sounding the alarm" about the Blue
World....  I can not **over stress** the importance of "spreading the 
word" - public information "P.R." - in dealing with the Blue World
menace....

Joe Baumann's message (just before this) had it about right:     
"...twenty years from now the country will be facing a social cost 
much greater then the tobacco spectacle ... there is no place to hide ...
from the Blue World....."

Cheerio....  Persevere!!!

Roy Beavers (EMFguru)
roy@emfguru.com

.....It is better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness.....
                    NEW!!! Website... http://emfguru.com
...................People are more important than profits.................
                            

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 28 Apr 2000 07:45:15 -0400
From: DDeBar 
To: "Roy L. Beavers" 
Subject: "Witless flops"? From a local weekly...

This week's Westchester Weekly has part 2 of their "Best of 2000" series.
The "Editor's Picks" had the following as "Best Civic Controversy":

Best Civic Controversy

The planned cellular antenna on top of Ossining High School 

When the members of the Ossining Board of Education signed a 10-year
contract with Sprint PCS to allow the telecommunications giant to erect a
cellular tower on top of Ossining High School, opponents to the deal argued
that the public wasn't informed of hearings on the issue nor was there a
formal environmental review. Even the state education commissioner thought
to set aside the contract, but was overruled by the State Supreme Court,
which saw the dry signatures on the parchment and called it a done deal.
Since then there have been numerous protests around Ossining, with plenty
of posters asking Sprint to back down and for the school board members to
resign. Sprint, in an appeal to its potential market base, agreed to
"consider other sites," but was back at OHS with their blueprints before
too long. For all the brouhaha, the annual $30,000 compensation from Sprint
to place yet another unsightly, possibly harmful (from radio frequency
microwave radiation) cell tower on top of a school, for God's sake, now
seems hardly worth it. Bottom line: School boards in Westchester County are
run by elected lay persons often too inexperienced and lacking in business
acumen to pilot an operation budgeted at $30-plus million a year, like a
school district. The witless flops who signed the Sprint contract will
undoubtedly get the boot from the voters next time around, but the cell
tower on Ossining High School will serve as a monument to the then-board
members' colossal hubris and poor decision-making. 







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Reprinted with permission of Roy Beavers, http://www.emfguru.com