What Does Hall County's Cell Towers Have to Do With DeKalb?

FOX 5 News Wants to Know What WE Think About Cell Towers at Schools in Hall County? Well, We Responded.  Now, Let's See What They Do with What Was Said!

A quick search of the Internet turned up a few stories on a cell tower planned for Hall County, possibly on the grounds of their high school.   The stories below are what we found, but one mentions Verizon, the other says ATT.  But, what we cannot figure out is why FOX 5 Atlanta reporter (for Good Day Atlanta) Tacoma Perry contacted Get the Cell Out - ATL for a comment on this story.  GTCO-ATL asked if she was interested in learning if we knew people in the Gainesville, GA, area who were opposed to this particular tower and she said that was not necessary.  She had most of the story completed, but needed someone to speak about the "other" point of view.  That sounded a bit odd to us because every story we have been involved with has been about the opposition to the cell towers and therefore the tower companies or wireless providers would be considered the "other" point of view.  

FOX 5 Reporter Tacoma Perry

But, we did not want to turn down an opportunity to further educate the public on the serious concerns many people have about placing cell towers near schools.  In fact, we told her, the American Academy of Pediatrics just recently published a letter they wrote to the FCC which asked for tougher regulations regarding the federal guidelines for cell phone emissions, also known as RF (radio frequency) radiation, because of their medical concern for the youngest and most vulnerable in our population - the children.  

The 1996 FCC Telecommunications Act is based around outdated standards that use a large adult male's frame and body size as the standard and does not take into account what can happen to a child who is using an electronic RF emitting device like a phone or tablet computer.  And none of the FCC's standards address the effects of continual long term exposure to low level of RF, like what a child would be subjected to if he or she had to attend school near a cell tower.   

So, we cautiously accepted the request for an on-camera interview and told the reporter that we knew several people in DeKalb County who are very involved in the fight to prevent cell towers from going up at our schools and have been successful with holding off or possibly even preventing any construction at the sites approved by the former school board two years ago.

We asked if she could interview several people and we were told that it would depend on the time constraints, but she only needed one good sound byte for the story.  Since we do not represent any communities specifically and have only been involved in this process in order to share our information and what we have learned, we contacted several people we know and helped set up a good day and time for one community to be featured in this news story.  

The community that was able to assemble and meet the reporter was prompt, gracious and very well informed on the issue.  We also let them know about our concerns over the actual angle of the story so that they would not be blindsided by any questions that might be about Hall County or requests for an opposing view to whatever might be considered a "positive" in the actual story being reported.  

We contacted Ms. Perry to let her know that there would be several people on hand for her interview.  Specifically, GTCO-ATL organizers declined to speak directly on camera because we do not seek attention from the media, solicit for donations for a particular cause, give legal advice or seek to speak for others who are perfectly capable of speaking for themselves.  The story is not about "us" - it is about all of us.  

The focus of any story on this subject should be those who are actually facing the consequences for the bad decisions being made and how they are standing up for themselves, working together against the very influential lobbyists for the telecom industry and making sure their elected officials are aware that they know and understand their own rights.  We are proud to be neighbors and friends with so many brave residents here and across the country who are willing to do what it takes to make sure our system of government does not fail us.  

Thank you to the residents who showed up last Thursday and to Tacoma Perry and Fox 5 News for giving us an opportunity to work with you and present the real concerns of residents in DeKalb to your viewers.  We may or may not have much in common with the folks in Hall County, but we will gladly share what we know and how it relates to our situation here and our original 12 schools that were originally intended for towers, 9 that were approved and, so far, zero permits approved by our outstanding county commissioners. 

We emailed Ms. Perry the letter from the American Academy of Pediatrics, the letter from our DeKalb County Commissioners stating their opposition to the cell towers at schools and the results of last year's referendum where voters overwhelmingly told their local delegation that they do not approve of the use of school grounds for these telecommunications towers.

Information is key to understanding.  We look forward to hopefully seeing our great DeKalb residents and the final version of this Hall County story sometime in the coming week on Good Day Atlanta. 

If they post it online, we will include a link or a copy on our website for the followers on this page as well.  Stay tuned!!

****************************
Hall Commissioner wants better cell tower notice
By Jerry Gunn Staff
 
GAINESVILLE - Hall County Commissioner Billy Powell said Thursday night he wants a lot more people to know about a proposed cell tower test coming up in his district.

Powell said Verizon Wireless plans to send up a balloon on Saturday, October 19th to indicate the tower’s proposed height and visibility.Verizon is required to contact property holders only within a 500 foot radius of the location off McEver Road near West Hall High School and Middle School on Allen Drive.

Powell said that’s not enough notice to enough people. He pointed to a green area showing on Verizon’s application map and said 500 feet is not very far at all.

“When you look at the residents in that green area that area is a mile and a half distance," Powell said. “You can see that West Hall High School and West Hall Middle School sits right in front of the location for this. There happen to be 2,344 parcels that we would have to contact if we contacted everybody within that one and a half mile radius.”

Powell said the test notice is on the county’s web site, (hallcounty.org ), and anyone with comments is advised to email Powell or Public Information Officer Katie Crumley.

The story is titled ‘Verizon Wireless Balloon Test set for October 19th’. The item also includes a map of the affected land parcels.

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

Hall school board approves cell tower at Flowery Branch High Board OKs tax-anticipation loan of up to $9.5 million

	By Carly Shareccsharec@gainesvilletimes.com

An approximately 90-foot cell tower will soon be placed at Flowery Branch High School. The Hall County Board of Education approved the proposal from AT&T at the Monday meeting. “It’s not (in) an area that we can use in the future,” said Damon Gibbs, executive director of facilities. The land for the cell tower is near the school’s side entrance of Elizabeth Lane, by the detention pond. It’s the farthest point from the school building