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<br /> Mary Samide, the zoning in Munson since 1948 , " says
<br /> amide , "How did this happen to us?
<br /> church , and' the S "
<br /> � ^ cell tower in
<br /> That question may ultimately be
<br /> Fowlers Mill, Ohio i
<br /> r answered by a jury, as the residents of
<br /> Fowlers Mill say they are preparing to
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<br /> r �'' file suit over the tower in federal court in
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<br /> �+ - � Washington , D . C. , against Nextel and
<br /> the FCC . But the sad truth is, it doesn't
<br /> . .!. take a g n for a giant tower
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<br /> It to slip through the cracks these days .
<br /> '�� : i 1 . ►��� The Telecommunications Act of 1996,
<br /> _ � � � iti . : - .� _ - Jr• �= " • `�'•� . �" � ff III intended to encourage innovation in the
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<br /> =' '�:'r OW field o ened u the wireless business to
<br /> fit ( ��. _ . . p p
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<br /> ice '' " more competition and curtailed the abil-
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<br /> ity of local governments to oppose the
<br /> ` It At I �`' `� - construction of towers and antennas . It
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<br /> r �( When Nextel wanted to build a tower
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<br /> Fowlers M g F" ` ' x " ill the le islation dictated
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<br /> It that the company- pick a site that satisfied
<br /> a host of concerns, including environ-
<br /> Cell phones are* running rampant , and so are the steel mental impact on neighboring historic
<br /> structures that support them . By Ted Rose structures . Nextel hired a local consultant
<br /> to pick out a spot. The company applied
<br /> MARY SAMIDE FIRST LAID EYES ON ers above zoo feet tall nationwide, for a building permit from the township
<br /> the interloper the morning after the latter according to the Federal Communica- and submitted a notice to the state historic
<br /> arrived in the community of Fowlers tions Commission . The FCC is the preservation office. One month later, hav-
<br /> Mill , Ohio , last July. Samide was taking agency charged with overseeing the ing received no comment on its notice,
<br /> her morning swim, enjoying the view, countrys wireless infrastructure , which Nextel was free to build its tower.
<br /> The lake on her property overlooks the has expanded dramatically over the last Silence in this case was not assent .
<br /> Chagrin River watershed, an undulating few years to satisfy consumers' growing Ohio's preservation office received some
<br /> valley 30 miles from Cleveland, claimed appetite for cellular telephone service. In 1, 000 applications for such structures last
<br /> by settlers from Connecticut as their addition to the freestanding towers , year, and it relies on the companies to vet
<br /> share of the Western Reserve. The New antennas of varying sizes form the back- their sites . When Fowlers Mill residents
<br /> England founders left their imprinto bone of the otherwise invisible networks started complaining to Franco Ruffini,
<br /> From her lake , Samide could see the that allow people across the country, Ohio's deputy preservation officer, he dug
<br /> steeple of an 1842 white Greek revival including the residents of Fowlers Mill, out the application file and was shocked
<br /> church poking above the tree line, to make their cell-phone calls . bywhat he read. The tower had been con-
<br /> The interloper, a cell-phone tower, Mary Samide is no technophobe . For structed among century-old structures
<br /> loomed directly behind the steeple. At 250 15 years, she has made her living building that had lured people to Fowlers Mill , .
<br /> feet, the steel . structure was much taller computer networks for businesses and Further research turned up a study of the
<br /> than the wooden church. At first the tower schools . But she is also a preservationist, district's historic buildings that Nextel
<br /> emitted a persistent strobe light, which cast having spent io years and half a million hadrit found. It was started 20 years ago r
<br /> a reflection on the surface of the lake. A dollars renovating the ioo-year-old shale- but never completed. "The industry is hir-
<br /> few weeks later, the light mellowed to blue Victorian house that is a short stroll ing contractors that do biological and
<br /> lugubrious nocturnal red pulses, remind- from her swimming hole . She didn't environmental review, " Ruffini says .
<br /> ing Samide of the measles . Months later, understand why Nextel.'s tower needed "They dolt have people with the expertise
<br /> she called the tower "an illness. " to be in the heart of Fowlers Mill, stand- to deal with historic properties . " Now, in
<br /> The telecommunications industry ing far above the nearby structures, and addition to the lawsuit, the Fcc is investi-
<br /> would prefer the term "personal wireless why she, a trustee for Munson Town- gating whether Nextel did itsomework,
<br /> service facility. " This particular facility is ship, which includes Fowlers Mill, hadrit It may be too easy to simply blame
<br /> owned and operated by Nextel Commu- learned about the structure until the Nextel. Theoretically, Ruffini could have
<br /> LU
<br /> nications and is one Of49, 000 such tow- morning it stared her down. "We've had noticed the application , and the FCC
<br /> IO PRESERVATION
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