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NEW HARTFORD — Helen May (Reed) Tonkin died peacefully at mid-day on Sept. 9, 2009, at Cherry Brook Health Care Center in Canton with her devoted husband of 50 years, Robert Linnell Tonkin of New Hartford, by her side.
Mrs. Tonkin was born on Jan. 3, 1920, in Bristol to Amelia (Kohl) and William Wallace Reed. She grew up in Bristol and graduated in 1941 from the Teachers’ College of Connecticut (now Central Connecticut State University). She received her master’s degree in education from the University of Hartford in 1958. She taught for a couple of years in Bristol.
Mr. and Mrs. Tonkin were married in February1959. In 1960, their daughter, Priscilla, was born. In 1964, they moved to New Hartford, the birthplace of her paternal grandfather, Seymour Wilcox Reed. In 1966, she took the position of librarian at the Bakerville Library. She remained in this position until her retirement in 1993.
Mrs. Tonkin was active as a 4-H member and is fondly remembered as a leader in the 4-H programs, both in Hartford and Litchfield counties. She was a long-standing member of the New Hartford Garden Club and an active member of the New Hartford Historical Society. She loved gardening and joyfully shared plants from the abundance of her Nepaug garden with her friends and family. She is most fondly remembered for the extra diligence and thoughtfulness she had for remembering exactly in which topics or books library-goers were interested. She would often go out of her way to procure and then hand-deliver precisely the right book or other literature to the person who needed it. The last day of Bakerville Library Story Time each June was held in her garden, with mothers and children all enjoying the morning explorations through woods and garden, with lemonade and refreshments for all. She also started the Bakerville Marketplace fair, which thrives to this day on the grounds of the Bakerville Library on the first Saturday of August.
Mrs. Tonkin was predeceased by her parents. In addition to her husband, Robert, she is survived by her sister, Mildred Emily Reed of Bristol; and a daughter, Priscilla Tonkin Marshall, and son-in-law, Robert Joseph Marshall of New Hartford; a sister-in-law, Sandra Dils Tonkin Hennen of Madison; a niece, Pamela Tonkin Meier and husband, Giovanni Meier, and their three daughters of Madison; and nieces, Patricia Mather Morrell of Eastham, Mass., Gatria Mather Wheeler of Eastham, Mass., and Deborah Mather Stoudenmire of Charlotte, N.C.; and many grandnieces, grandnephews and cousins.
There are no calling hours. A memorial service will be held in Mrs. Tonkin’s honor Saturday, Sept. 19, 2009, at 10 a.m. at Harwinton Congregational Church, Route 4, Harwinton. A luncheon will follow at 11:30 a.m., at the Eureka Grange Hall, Route 202, Nepaug. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Bakerville Library, 6 Maple Hollow Road, New Hartford, CT 06057, The New Hartford Historical Society, PO Box 41, New Hartford, CT 06057, or the Resident Council of Cherry Brook Health Care Center, 102 Dyer Ave., Canton, CT 06019. Montano-Shea Funeral Home, New Hartford, has care of the arrangements. Mrs. Tonkin’s family thanked the staff at Cherry Brook Health Care Center for their kindness, care and love for Helen during her time there. Visit an online guestbook at montano-shea.com.
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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.