First, from Rockland County, NY, which lies across the Hudson River from Ossining. This story also has major relevance to the issue of environmental racism. United Water urged to deny antenna plan ------------------------------------------------------------------------ By AMY TAXIN COPYRIGHT 2000 The Journal News. All rights reserved. Publication date: 1/11/2000 SPRING VALLEY --Village residents put pressure yesterday on United Water in a last-minute attempt to get the company to deny Nextel Communications permission to build cellular phone antennas on a local water tank. In a meeting yesterday morning with United Water representatives, Mayor Allan Thompson presented copies of petitions signed by residents asking the company to prevent Nextel from using the space on Prospect and Ohio streets. Residents fear the radio waves transmitted by cellular antennas could put their health at risk. United Water declined to comment on the petitions or the copy of 250 signatures collected by the Rev. Jacques Michel in October and presented to the village Board of Trustees in opposition to Nextel's application. The company did, however, verify that it signed a contract with Nextel in mid-1999 allowing the company to use the space. The water company would collect payment from Nextel as rent, said Terri Guess, United Water spokeswoman, but she would not disclose the amount. Nextel's application to place 12 antennas on top of the water tank has been controversial in Spring Valley for the past three months. Residents filled the village boardroom twice in October, calling for the Board of Trustees to reject the application. The board, however, is bound by a federal law that prohibits municipalities from banning cellular towers. According to the 1996 Federal Telecommunications Act, municipalities have limited influence over where antennas are placed and how they look. The Rev. Sidney Buxton distributed the petitions to members of his congregation, Faith Temple Church of Christ on Bethune Boulevard, in the hope that the signatures get the water company to pay attention to residents' fears. "This is one of the ways we can attack it, letting them know we're not pleased about it going up there," Buxton said. Many residents who distributed and signed the petitions thought pressuring the water company was a good idea, but one that came too late. The board votes at 8 tonight on Nextel's application. The board has to vote now to meet a deadline under New York law governing how much time can pass between a public hearing on a topic and a decision. "I think it's a little too late in the game to try to make a change," said Stella Marrs, director of the Martin Luther King Multi-Purpose Center on Bethune Boulevard. Nevertheless, Marrs helped pass out petitions and collect signatures yesterday, adding that "the village can't afford to get sued" if the village violates the federal law governing placement of cellular antennas. Thompson said that yesterday's meeting with United Water went well but refused to disclose its outcome before talking with village trustees. He and Trustee Margareth Jourdan distributed the petitions to some residents Friday to help get the campaign against the water company off the ground. The second story describes our action last week: Ossining residents protest cell tower ------------------------------------------------------------------------ By ANDREA GREIF COPYRIGHT 2000 The Journal News. All rights reserved. Publication date: 1/20/2000 OSSINING -- As school board members met behind closed doors with Sprint PCS officials last night, more than 300 citizens concerned about plans for a cellular phone tower atop Ossining High School listened to testimony about the potential health risks of radiation emissions. The closed-door meeting between Sprint and the Board of Education was expected to focus on beginning the bidding process for a contractor to start work on the tower, said Larry McDonnell, a spokesman for Sprint. But earlier yesterday, two members of Safe Ossining Schools announced they had filed papers in state Supreme Court in White Plains seeking to force termination of the project. The grass-roots group was organized to oppose the tower, which the school board approved in September 1998. The board could not terminate the deal after a surge of community opposition. The legal action, called an Article 78, was made by Dr. Leslie Plachta and Don DeBerardinis. It claims that the school district and school board acted outside their authority in granting the lease to Sprint and that the district failed to comply with state environmental review laws. McDonnell said he was not aware of the lawsuit but said he doubted it would be successful. Before last night's meetings, about 50 parents and students gathered at a candlelight vigil outside Ossining's Roosevelt Education Center, where the school board was meeting with Sprint officials. "Find another site," Connie Hochman said. "We don't want it at the school. The community doesn't want it." Later, inside Trinity Church, a pediatrician, a medical science journalist and a public health professor discussed potential health effects of cellular tower emissions. B. Blake Levitt, the journalist, said there was serious contradictory scientific information and questionable safety standards. "We should err on the side of caution where children are concerned," she said. "No safe levels of exposure have ever really been determined." David Carpenter, a professor at the State University of New York at Albany, said there was significant evidence that exposure to cell towers is hazardous to people's health. He said that children exposed to this technology could be more susceptible to leukemia and brain tumors. McDonnell reiterated Sprint's position that "no studies have ever found any harm associated with this technology at all." A third story, from nearby (to Ossining, NY) Yorktown, isn't yet available on the 'net, so will follow tomorrow, or check out: http://www.northcountynews.com headline story for the week of 1/26/00. It is important to note that the residents of Yorktown cited the fact that they learned about potential health hazards from the struggle in Ossining. PLEASE E-MAIL TO ASK WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP, OR GET YOUR LOCAL GOVERNMENT TO PASS THE FOLLOWING RESOLUTION: WHEREAS the use of cellular telecommunications technology has exploded in the past 5 years throughtout the country and much of the world, and WHEREAS the question of adverse effects upon the ecology of, and all life upon, planet earth has been raised, and WHEREAS the state of medical science at this point in time is inconclusive as to this question, although some research has provided indications of potential increases in leukemia, brain cancer, impaired learning and memory function and other adverse effects that may occur in humans, and WHEREAS a host of medical experts currently agree that, until this technology is proven safe for humans, a policy of "prudent avoidance" should be followed in the placement of cellular transmission and relay towers, particularly with respect to areas with concentrations of children and adolescents, and WHEREAS the community of Ossining, NY, now facing the imminent implementation of a decision to place a cell tower upon its only high school, has begun to demand that the tower not be placed there or upon any other school or place frequented by its children or adolescents, and WHEREAS the plight of Ossining has pointed to the need for legislation at the State level in order to prevent any further risk of exposure of other students, faculty or staff in New York State to a similar risk, and WHEREAS a member of the Ossining community, Don DeBar, has proposed an amendment to the NYS Education Law, by adding to Section 403-a thereof a new subsection 7, to wit: "7. No school property shall be sold, leased, or otherwise alienated, or used, for the placement and/or operation of any cellular transmission and/or relay facilities." NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the __________________ hereby calls upon the Senate and Assembly of the State of New York to pass such legislation, and upon the Governor of the State of New York to duly sign the same, and, further, that the Governor direct the Commissioner of Education to impose a moratorium on the further execution, implementation and/or consideration of any application to place any such facility upon any such property over which it has jurisdiction anywhere within this State. Respectfully submitted by (YOUR LOCAL GOVERNMENT) DDeBar spikey@bestweb DDeBar [log in to unmask]