FALLS VILLAGE — Housatonic Valley Regional High School (HVRHS) girls basketball advanced to the Berkshire League (BL) tournament semifinals after a 34-31 win over Nonnewaug High School Friday, Feb. 16, in the opening round.
The game went back and forth for four quarters before the Mountaineers pulled ahead in the final seconds and hung on for the victory. HVRHS’ voracious man-to-man defense tipped the scale in this otherwise evenly matched showdown. The Mountaineers secured revenge over the Chiefs, who eliminated HVRHS last year in the 2023 BL tournament.
It would be hard to find two more balanced teams, which both ended the season in a deadlock tie. HVRHS was seeded fourth in the tournament and hosted the quarterfinal game after winning a coin toss to determine home-court advantage against Nonnewaug.
Action got underway with Nonnewaug scoring back-to-back easy layups. HVRHS then embraced coach Jake Plitt’s defensive scheme, particularly Kylie Leonard, who stuck to Nonnewaug’s star guard Ireland Starziski like glue. Leonard rose to the challenge and relentlessly pestered Starziski from baseline to baseline.
HVRHS took a narrow 11-10 lead at the end of the first quarter. Nonnewaug briefly reclaimed the lead in the second quarter before Leonard took a charge from Starziski at midcourt and stopped Nonnewaug’s momentum in its tracks.
By halftime, HVRHS led 19-14. Coming out of the locker room, the Mountaineers looked relaxed with smiles all around. On the other end of the court, the Chiefs glared with determined intensity.
Nonnewaug seized control and went on an 8-0 run to open the half. HVRHS snapped back to reality and resumed lockdown defense.
Entering the final quarter, the game was tied at 25-25. Leonard got things going by nailing a 3-pointer to open the period. Nonnewaug responded and clawed back to a 31-30 lead with less than two minutes to go.
The refs were letting them play and keeping their whistles silent. HVRHS’ Daniella Brennan took control down the stretch with a remarkable sequence. She reeled in an offensive rebound and scored the go-ahead basket to take a 32-31 lead. On Nonnewaug’s next possession, Brennan ripped the ball from the Chiefs’ guard and stormed down court with the time ticking away. Lou Haemmerle iced the game with a layup as the buzzer blared.
HVRHS won 34-31 and advanced to the BL semifinals. Players rejoiced as the home crowd cheered on the victors.
Leonard finished with a team-high 9 points and held Starziski to a total of 2 points in the game. Daniella Brennan scored 7 points. Tessa Dekker and Haemmerle each scored 6 points for the Mountaineers.
Nonnewaug was led in scoring by Juliette Nichols with 14 points. Emma Jackson scored 8 points.
HVRHS advanced to the semifinals to play Thomaston on neutral ground at Shepaug Valley High School Tuesday, Feb. 20.
Riley Klein
Lou Haemmerle scored the final basket of the game when HVRHS beat Nonnewaug in the Berkshire League tournament Friday, Feb. 16.
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.