Some School Board Members change position on cell tower issue

Thank you to Crossroads News for bringing so much needed attention to this very important issue in DeKalb County.  We cannot thank the editor and reporters and everyone else involved enough for giving fair coverage of the controversy and helping expose the deceipt and uncover the truth behind the towers! 

We urge everyone who has the opportunity to vote in the runoff elections for Districts 4 and 6 to please do so, by absentee ballot (see www.dekalbvotes.com) or at the polls on Tuesday, Aug. 21. 

If Districts 4 and 6 do not elect new leaders in Jim McMahan and Denise McGill respectively, then these areas will both be vulnerable to the type of mindset that led to cell towers and a jobs program for friends and family.   If these voters re-elected the old guard, they will place their own communities at risk of lower property values, more waste, more programs to benefit the few at the expense of quality education for our children across the county, from the gifted to the disabled, from the wealthy to those in poverty, from the north to the south, and every child in between. 

Thank you for your "No" vote on cell towers.  Thank you for the much improved voter turnout.  Thank you for showing up to vote one more time so we can get this job done right!                      

                                                                                               - GTCO-ATL

From Crossroads on July 28 (prior to the election):

On July 31, DeKalb voters will be asked in a non-binding advisory referendum whether the school system should be allowed to place or operate telecommunications towers on school property. (And the answer was an undeniable "No.")

State legislators have been seeking ways to prevent the location of more cell towers on DeKalb Schools property after a July 11, 2011, vote by the DeKalb School Board to allow T-Mobile to locate 150-foot-high towers on nine school properties for up to 30 years. Seven of the schools are in South DeKalb.  (We disagree about this point as we believe the towers appear eqaully spread across the north, south and central regions, but it really does not matter as no one deserves to have a cell tower at their school or in their community.)


Over the life of the lease, T-Mobile will pay the school district just over $2.3 million in rent. (Approximately $1 million will be paid up front through bonus payouts and the initial year's rent.  The low annual payments afterwards will take the next 30 years before another $1 million is gained.  None of these amounts take into consideration that property values will likely be lowered as much as 20% for homes in sight of a tower as a result and should be factored into any cost/ benefit anaylsis.)

Construction of the first cell tower is expected to begin in August.  (Construction is dependent upon receiving county permits, either via Special Land Use Permitting with the county commissioners and the Office of Planning and Sustainability or though an Administrative Permit through the Office of Public Works or the CEO directly. GTCO-ATL is hopeful that neither will be possible after the results of the referendum are taken into consideration.)

The measure passed in a 7-2 vote, with District 7 board member Donna Edler and District 1 board member Nancy Jester voting against it. (Actually, it was 6 - 2 - 1 with Tom Bowen, who was board chairman at the time, absent even after speaking to the WSB-TV news about the vote live on the 11 p.m. news the previous night. So, that means Womack, Walker, Cunningham, Copeland-Woods, Speaks, McChesney voted in favor.)

Twelve schools were originally on the list, but three were removed after parents and the community around them raised concerns about health risks. (We also raised concerns about the improper notification, property values and safety risks.)   Board members said they didn’t hear about other communities in opposition until after the vote was taken.  Opponents in other areas said they didn’t find out about the cell tower proposal until after the School Board vote.

Here’s how School Board members say

they’ll vote on the cell tower ballot question:

Nancy Jester (District 1): Voting no.

“I feel it’s a good neighbor issue. I wouldn’t want someone to vote to put a tower next to my house so I’m not going to vote to put a tower next to somebody else’s house. It’s also a distraction, and it has nothing to do with educating children.”

(At the time of the vote, she also pointed out the absurd length of the contract, the lack of time to study the financials, the poor disclosure to the public and concern that other schools may have objections, like the three that were removed.)

Donald E. McChesney (District 2): Voting no.

“I wouldn’t support putting the cell towers on school property, not when the community says they don’t want them.” 

(And, he did make the ammendment that removed the three schools that spoke up in opposition prior to the vote.)

Sarah Copelin-Wood (District 3): Voting no.

“There are pros and cons about it. Some say it won’t cause lasting effects. Why take the risks when we don’t know quite yet whether there are health effects.”   

(She did speak up for one of the schools in her district and they were removed prior to the vote.)

H. Paul Womack Jr. (District 4): Undecided.

“You get more radiation from your handheld cell phone and microwave and walk-around phone at home than from cell towers.”

(He is the person who brought this idea to the board in the first place.  He says it was a direct request from his supporters at Lakeside High School who stated they wanted a tower to help with cell reception.  He did not return calls or emails from people in other parts of his district who were seeking information about the proposals before the vote.  And, he did not acknowledge several schools as even being in his district.  He did not inform his own neighborhood.  And, even now, he will not explain or defend his own decision to bring this burden to our schools at a time when the board should have been focused on finding a Superintendent and brining up achievement after fallout from a teacher cheating scandal and recent school closures.  He also should have been paying attention to his role on the Budget Committee, which made cuts at the time that we are only now learning were never made at all and have left our system broke, or so we're told.)

Jesse “Jay” Cunningham Jr. (District 5): Voting yes.

“We have schools that don’t have wireless and it’s going to give us a chance to put wireless in the schools and move them into the 21st century.” (Cell towers are not necessary for wireless in the schools.)

Thomas E. Bowen, vice chair (District 6): Voting yes.

“I am supportive of cell towers and each time, we should take it back to the community to say yes or no.”                                               

 (He's not quite as supportive as what he might like you to believe.   He was absent from the board meeting where the vote took place after being upset the evening before when he was contacted by a local TV station, WSB-TV, and asked to give a statement about the board's position on cell towers and the lack of notification that was being claimed by some upset residents.)

Donna Edler (District 7): Voting no.

 “We are not in the cell phone business.”

 (Ms. Edler was kind to return our calls initially, unlike Mr. Womack.  She claimed to be voting no at the time due to her past battle with cancer.  She voted "No" on the ammendment to remove three schools, but also voted "No" on the final vote to put towers at 9 schools.  She also made an ammendment to remove all schools except Lakeside High and Briarlake Elementary whom she believed wanted the towers.  It did not pass.  Later, Briarlake became extremely vocal in their protests against the vote having taken place over the Summer without proper notification of the community that would be affected.)



Dr. Pamela A. Speaks (District 8): Voting no.  She also said she would probably vote “no” if she could redo her School Board vote that approved the placement of towers at 12 schools.

“I probably wouldn’t vote for it because it’s not an educational issue. The school system has enough educational issues. We would have been better off not tackling this at all.”  (Dr. Speaks did return our phone calls and asked the questions we had before voting on the issue back in July 2011.  She was unfortunately given bad information which led her to believe the schools on the list wanted the towers.  Overall she acted responsibly on behalf of those who elected her to office.  She also believed that Lakeside wanted the towers.

Dr. Eugene P. Walker, chair (District 9): Voting yes.

“I would strongly vote for it [as a board member] today because I think that’s a way to help get kids into the 21st century. Cell towers are the vehicles we use to help us better communicate. I clearly don’t believe, according to the appropriate national authorities, that there’s a serious health risk.  I think we need these cell towers. I would hope the schools would benefit from them and get discounts on Internet and all these types of communication we’re moving toward.”

— Compiled by Donna Williams Lewis and Jennifer Ffrench Parker. (with comments added by GTCO-ATL)

Read more: CrossRoadsNews - Some School Board change position on cell tower issue

So, if we hed to do it all over again ...

that 6 - 2 - 1 vote a year ago July

was our school board in favor of towers...

would more likely be a 3 - 5 - 1 vote today,

with our board voting against the towers...

Great job DeKalb!  Not only did we get the word out to our neighbors and the county,

we changed the minds of the decision makers, too!

T-mobile has stated that they will not build where they are not wanted!
It's looking more like a county united AGAINST the towers every day!

Email, write and call the CEO Burrell Ellis and let him know that we do not want T-mobile to receive county permits in violation of our county ordinances for towers at our schools!

Use this feedback form:
http://www.burrellellis.com/index.php?option=com_contact&Itemid=3


Or use this contact information:

Email:  Burrell@BurrellEllis.com
Home Phone:  770-469-5948
Snail Mail: PO Box 1483, Stone Mountain, GA 30086