Community members gathered Saturday, July 6 for the Eric Sloane Museum’s annual bell-ringing ceremony in observance of Independence Day.
The Eric Sloane Museum in Kent celebrates the work of the late Eric Sloane, a Connecticut artist and author. In addition to his works, the museum also displays a series of tools which Sloane collected. According to the museum’s page on the State of Connecticut’s official website, “Sloane himself arranged and labeled his extensive collection, telling a fascinating story about bygone times and the great American heritage of craftsmanship.”
Museum Curator and Administrator Andrew Rowand began the ceremony by introducing the history of bell-ringing as an American tradition. He explained that Sloane, along with Connecticut author Eric Hatch, wanted to revive an old American tradition of ringing bells on Independence Day to commemorate the reading of the Declaration of Independence.
“They wanted to get back to the idea that bells were a sound of peace rather than fireworks, which were construed as a sign of war and a sign of violence,” Rowand said.
The bell atop the Eric Sloane Museum.Emma Benardete
Sloane and Hatch campaigned to garner official recognition for the tradition. On June 26, 1963, the U.S. Congress passed a resolution encouraging the practice.
“Whereas the tolling of the Liberty Bell at Independence Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at 2 o’clock in the afternoon of the 4th day of July, 1776, proclaimed the signing of the Declaration of Independence … Now, therefore be it Resolved … that the anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence should be observed each year by the ringing of bells throughout the United States at the hour of 2 o’clock, eastern daylight time, in the afternoon of the 4th day of July…” the resolution reads. According to Rowand, the museum held a virtual bell-ringing ceremony on July 4 in addition to the one on July 6.
In 1964, Sloane and Hatch continued to display their enthusiasm for bells by publishing a book titled “The Little Book of Bells.” In 1968, Sloane published another bell book titled “The Sound of Bells.”
Gankofskie donated a bell gifted to her father by Eric Sloane and Eric Hatch.Emma Benardete
During the July 6 ceremony, after giving his introduction, Rowand read the preamble to the Declaration of Independence. Visitors then took turns ringing the bell outside the museum. The first to ring it was Margaret Gankofskie, the daughter of the late Connecticut governor John Dempsey, who served from 1961 until 1971. In addition to attending the ceremony, Gankofskie donated a bell which she inherited from her parents to the museum. The bell was gifted to Dempsey by Sloane and Hatch in 1963, and is engraved with the phrase “Let Freedom Ring,” as well as the governor’s name, the year and “From the two Erics.”
The museum has more special programming planned for the remainder of the summer, including a blacksmithing workshop July 28 and a spoon-carving workshop Aug. 10. The museum will also host two TradesUp youth programs for participants 10–17, including a plumbing-based workshop and a painting and drywall workshop.
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.