Subject:  Just "Bullies"......
Date:     Thu, 9 Jul 1998 221730 -0500 (CDT)
From:     "Roy L. Beavers" <rbeavers@llion.org>
To:       emfguru@hotmail.com
--------------------------------------------------


.......They're just bullies.....That has been my experience,
too............They do it that way because they know they can get away
with it..........Perhaps we need to "hold school" on how utility law
works in most states.......It's a 'license to steal': property......
It works that way because the industry has (thru decades of heavy
lobbying) persuaded most legislatures that they (the utility) should not
have to wait for "normal litigation" to resolve disputes about "where"
or "under what circumstances" they construct their facilities (lines,
substations, antennas, etc.).  Thus -- with no "need" or "incentive"
to negotiate -- they just Bully!!!!........It is one of the rare 
instances within the American system that (in effect) no "check and
balance" is at work.......See the example forwarded by Dr. Bob Weiner,
below...........guru

 ---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 09 Jul 1998 19:17:22 -0700
From: Bob Weiner 
To: "\"Roy L. Beavers\"" 
Subject: Follow up on Ohio cell tower construction

................. Court stay doesn't stop cell tower .....................

                  Wednesday, July 8, 1998

                  BY ALLEN HOWARD
                  The Cincinnati Enquirer

                  ANDERSON TOWNSHIP -- Lawyers for the township are
asking an appellate court in Columbus to stop construction of
a cellular phone tower at the Five Mile Road exit on
Interstate 275, pending an appeal of a lower court decision.
Robert Molloy, lawyer for the township, said officials are
seeking the injunction because GTE Wireless has continued to build
the cell tower after a stay was issued a week ago.

                  The company said the stay did not apply because it did
not say construction should stop.

                  Mr. Molloy filed for an injunction and an appeal in
the 10th District Court of Appeals on Thursday, seeking to
overturn a ruling by Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Patrick McGrath.

                  "We are hoping the court will rule on the injunction
within the next few days," Mr. Molloy said. "The stay issued in
the common pleas court did not specifically say the work
should stop."

                  Judge McGrath ruled that because GTE Wireless and
AirTouch entered an agreement with the Ohio Department of
Transportation (ODOT) to build towers at the Five Mile
and U.S. 52 exits in Anderson Township, they were
considered public utilities and did not have to conform to
township zoning codes.

                  Mr. Molloy sees it differently.

                  "It is obvious the towers would not be built there if
they didn't make money for a private company. The towers will be
used for the benefit of private businesses. How does that
make them a public utility?" Mr. Molloy said.

                  As the issue is hashed out in court, workers are busy
at the southwest corner of the Five Mile interchange,
building a 180-foot monopole for a cell tower on land owned by
the state, but zoned residential by the township.

                  "We know under the 1996 Federal Telecommunication Act,
(neither) municipalities nor townships can prevent cell towers
from being built," Mr. Molloy said. "But the law does give them
the right to regulate where they can be built by requiring the
companies to go through an administrative hearing."

                  GTE Wireless officials said that they have never
received orders from the court to stop work. "We will abide by
whatever the appeals court tells us to do," said Becky
Cox, director of marketing and communication for GTE
Wireless.

                  Mr. Molloy said it was necessary that the common pleas
court ruling be challenged by a higher court because of the
impact the ruling would have throughout Ohio on state-owned
land.

                  "What this says is that any piece of property owned by
ODOT can be used for whatever it wants without a hearing or
anything. A tower could be built on the property
without any challenge even if it is only 1 inch from a residence,"
Mr. Molloy said.

                  He disagreed with Judge McGrath's ruling that the cell
companies were exempt from the zoning laws because they entered an
agreement with ODOT.

***************************************************************************





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Reprinted with permission of Roy Beavers, http://www.feb.se/EMF-L/EMF-L.html