Copper thieves cut service to AT&T customers in south Fulton

GTCO-ATL Comment:  Copper theft continues to be an out-of-control problem for police in Atlanta and elsewhere in the country.  Cell phone towers are a common target for these criminals because they are frequently located away from the roads and highways far enough to provide good cover and even have their own access roads and parking.  And, they contain the copper that can be turned in for ready cash, handy for any thief or druggie who needs a quick fix.

Cell towers are serviced by contractors, often in unmarked vehicles and with no uniform to identify their employer.  It is not unusual to see different people arrive to service a single tower as there are often a variety of co-locators on each tower.  Base stations rarely are secured with more than a standard padlock, often reported to even be left unlocked.  And, they are typically serviced at any time of day or night, seven days a week, rain or shine.  

Our T-mobile towers will be no different.  Our Board of Education COULD have asked for stipulations in the contract that contractors be limited to servicing the towers to times when school in not in session and not after a particular time in the evening in order to respect the privacy and safety of the immediate neighbors.  But, they didn't. 

Our Board of Education could have required that any contractors doing work on our T-mobile towers be required to sign-in at the principal's office if they plan to access the property during school hours.  That's not any tougher of a requirement than what we, as parents, are expected to do when we want to visit our child's classroom or if we show up to volunteer.  But, they didn't. 

No records will be kept.  No uniforms required.  No background checks or drug tests.  Just random contractors in pick-up trucks driving on and off school grounds, into and out of our neighborhoods, at any time of day or night to do whatever it is that they are paid to do.  And, it is likely that before too long, a copper thief or two will sneak their way onto the cell tower grounds, too. 

We have to wonder what else they might decide to do once they see how easy it is to gain access to our public property while children are in schoool.  We have to wonder how many homes they can "stake out" from their new vantage point and whether they will be able to determine if the homeowners are at work at the time. 

Does it sound like a good idea to you if we start placing these towers at our children's elementary schools, when we are already in overcrowded situations and will now be losing many of the resource officers?  Do you feel safe knowing that a big carrot is being dangled in front of a known criminal element that not only leads them right to the copper they are seeking, but also turns them loose in the middle of our quiet residential communities, where we used to know all the faces and names and be able to detect a vehicle or a person who appears "out of place."

There are many reasons to oppose cell towers on our school grounds.  You don't have to agree with them all.  But, the more time you stop and think about exactly what it is that our school board is attempting to do to our neigbhors, their schools and their children, the more you will want to show up on July 31 to make sure they get the message loud and clear that the residents here will not support their plans.  We do not want to harm the sanctity of neighborhoods and allow T-mobile to skirt our county commissioners and our local ordinances that were written specifically to deal with the subject in order to protect us. 

We did not elect our school board members because we thought they would be good at zoning laws or understanding the effects of cumulative and constant exposure to RF radiation.  We did, at one point, hope they might know something about educating children, but it isn't clear if they are able to do that, either. 

We will be voting on July 31.  And we will answer the telecommunications industry and their bogus, ballot question.  And, from one end of DeKalb to the other, and everywhere in between, we will be voting "NO."  Because the school board members might be able to play games with our money, but when it comes to the health and safety of our children, we have to draw the line. 

Even the corruption will surely take a backseat on this issue.  If not, we will likely see a lot of areas who may vote in favor of something they do not truly want.  And, all bets will be off when they learn that they will really be the ones who end up with the towers instead.

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By Mike Morris

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
12:20 p.m. Wednesday, June 13, 2012

An AT&T outage affecting customers in south Fulton County Wednesday was being blamed on copper thieves.

“Our crews are on site and working to restore services,” AT&T spokesman Joe Chandler told the AJC late Wednesday morning. Chandler did not know how many customers were affected, but said service should be restored by Thursday.

“The outage was caused by someone stealing copper cables that provide service in the area,” Chandler said.

He said such outages caused by copper thieves are occurring “with too much regularity.”

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http://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta/copper-thieves-cut-service-1457320.html