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In my early 30s, I took up fencing. I was never big on team sports. Fencers could care less about what is happening to the other fencers, except for their opponent. It is you against him/her.
In the 18th century it was how they settled disputes without all that tiresome arguing. I have always liked historical stuff; not so much arguing. It is all very civilized, just like real dueling.
I am in the dangerous habit of making fun of sports when they are taken too seriously. I have always been suspicious of the mob mentality that seems to surface regularly around team sports. Over the years I have gotten pretty good at getting tar and feathers out of my hair. Fair is fair. I will now discuss one of my interests.
u u u
The first thing we see is that fencers just use one side of their body. This cannot be good for you. I have noticed that often when navigating doorways I tend to lurch to the right, not quite making a clean passage. Sometimes I catch myself walking sideways, kind of sidling to the right through life.
Fencers wear special, heavy-duty, white clothes that offer some protection from the constant poking, but not so much if a blade breaks. Heavy canvas does not do well against jagged steel. Fencers have a rule that everything stops if anyone yells halt or ouch really loud.
The traditional pants are knickers worn with long stockings. I did not have these, but managed to come up with a pair of white jeans to complete my outfit. The effect was a kind of really dangerous-looking Mr. Clean.
One advantage of the fencing costume is inherent in the mask, a darkened mesh affair that totally disguises and renders faceless the participants. All fencers are handsome in their masks; at least, that is what we think.
The mask teaches you to not turn your head when someone tries to poke you in the face, because if you turn you are no longer safe. The sides of the mask do not offer protection. This is not a good habit. This may be why so many ex-fencers have that romantic eye patch thing going on.
u u u
Although many people fence into their old age, substituting finesse for athleticism, I was not one of them. I still wanted to duel, but how to do this without over taxing oneself?
The answer was, of course, that other 18th-century gentlemen’s arbiter of arguments, the dueling pistol. This kind of club has an inherent weakness. They tend to lose about half of their membership at every meeting. This can only go on for so long. This is probably why you don’t hear much about these groups.
Bill Abrams resides (and romanticizes about dueling) in Pine Plains.
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Telecom Reg’s Best Kept On the Books
When Connecticut land-use commissions update their regulations, it seems like a no-brainer to jettison old telecommunications regulations adopted decades ago during a short-lived period when municipalities had authority to regulate second generation (2G) transmissions prior to the Connecticut Siting Council (CSC) being ordered by a state court in 2000 to regulate all cell tower infrastructure as “functionally equivalent” services.
It is far better to update those regs instead, especially for macro-towers given new technologies like small cells. Even though only ‘advisory’ to the CSC, the preferences of towns by law must be taken into consideration in CSC decision making. Detailed telecom regs – not just a general wish list -- are evidence that a town has put considerable thought into where they prefer such infrastructure be sited without prohibiting service that many – though not all – citizens want and that first responders rely on for public safety.
Such regs come in handy when egregious tower sites are proposed in sensitive areas, typically on private land. The regs are a town’s first line of defense, especially when cross referenced to plans of conservation and development, P&Z regulations, and wetlands setbacks. They identify how/where the town plans to intersect with the CSC process. They are also a roadmap for service providers regarding preferred sites and sometimes less neighborhood contention. In fact, to have no telecom regs can weaken a town’s rights to protect environmental, scenic, and historic assets, and serve up whole neighborhoods to unnecessary overlapping coverage and corporate overreach. Such regs are unique to every town and should not follow anyone else’s boiler plate, especially industry’s.
Connecticut is the only state that has a centralized siting entity for cell towers. The good news is that applicants must prove need for new tower sites in an evidentiary proceeding and any decisions have the weight of the state behind them. The bad news is that the CSC used to be far less industry-friendly and rote in their reviews, which now resemble a check list. There is an operative assumption at CSC that if an applicant wants a tower, they must need it, otherwise why spend significant money to run the approval gauntlet? This reflects a subtle shift over the years at CSC from sincere willingness to protect the environment toward minimal tweaking of bad applications with minor changes. The bottom line is that towns really cannot rely on the CSC to do all the work for them.
What CSC issues telecom providers is a “certificate of environmental compatibility” after an evidentiary proceeding (not unlike a court case) with intervenors, parties, expert witnesses, and the service provider’s technical pro’s sworn in and subject to cross examination. Service providers get to do the same with any opposition from intervenor/party participants – like towns and citizens -- and their experts. It’s an impressive process whose ultimate goal is the fine balancing between allowing adequate/reliable public services and protecting state ecology with minimal damage to scenic, historic, and recreational values. They unfortunately often fall short of their mandate – like approving cell towers with diesel generators over town aquifers -- evidenced by CSC only rejecting about five cell towers in the past 15-20 years.
The CSC was founded in 1972 and clarified its mission in the 1980’s to prevent the state from being carved up willy-nilly by gas pipelines, high tension corridors, and broadcast towers. With the sudden proliferation of cell towers beginning in late 1990’s, it became the most sued agency in Connecticut by both an arrogant upstart industry if applications were denied and by towns/citizens when bad sites were forced on them. CSC gradually formed a defensive posture that drives their decisions toward industry with deeper pockets and attorneys on retainer.
For citizens, nothing can wreck one’s day like the CSC. It behooves towns to protect what little toolkit they have, and understand the legal parameters of the CSC’s playing field. The CSC is not a “normal” government agency where municipal/citizen redress is based on logic and local support. Their process is largely immune to everything but specific kinds of evidence – like town regs with setbacks/fall zones, radio frequency transmission signal strengths, sensitive areas identified, and detailed wildlife inventory, among others.
There is a current cell tower fight involving two intervening towns -- Washington and Warren; both with good cell tower regs – over a tower site within 1200’ of a Montessori School, near Steep Rock’s nature preserves with comprehensive geology/wildlife databases that include endangered, threatened and special concern flora and fauna, on established federal/state migratory bird flyways, within throwing distance to a historic site capable of being listed on the Underground Railroad, and with an access road on a blind curve entering a state highway that will permanently damage wetlands, vernal pools, and core forests. There are well credentialed environmental experts, including Dr. Michael Klemens, former chair of Salisbury’s P&Z, as well as the former director of migratory bird management at the US Fish and Wildlife Service, and an RF engineer testifying to alternative approaches, plus three attorneys representing intervenors. It is the most professional challenge I have seen at CSC since Falls Village successfully mounted one that protected Robbins Swamps several years ago.
The hearing is ongoing, with uncertain results. To see what it takes today to stop an inappropriate tower siting, see Docket #543 under “Pending Matters” at https://portal.ct.gov/csc before removing local cell tower regs – the lowest hanging fruit that any town can possess in case it’s needed.
B, Blake Levitt is the Communications Director at The Berkshire-Litchfield Environmental Council. She writes about how technology affects biology.