The Northwest Corner was well represented among the 7 million nationwide who took to the streets Saturday, Oct. 18, for “No Kings” protests against the Trump administration. Rallies were held in Salisbury, North Canaan, Cornwall and Kent with hundreds carrying signs, chanting messages and bonding with one another toward a common cause.
In Salisbury, the lawn of the White Hart Inn was filled to the brim as people from many towns gathered to voice their concerns and listen to a group of speakers. Here, as in the other local rallies, the energy level was high with participants loudly cheering for the messages being given.
Sophia DeBoer, one of the organizers, began by quoting Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who said rallies express the love of America. “We will not let Trump and his administration turn this into an authoritarian society,” she said.
Andrea Downs of Falls Village, who with her family has hosted 31 students from 19 countries through the AFS program at Housatonic Valley Regional High School, said such initiatives serve to break down barriers of prejudice and bring peace and understanding to communities. Housatonic has been in the forefront of hosting students and sending others abroad. For many years it held the record as the school with the longest, continuous hosting in the country, she said.
Signs lined the edge of Main Street in North Canaan.Tom Zetterstrom
“Sadly, the numbers of students and families participating in exchanges has dropped dramatically over the last few years,” said Downs. “Connecticut and western Massachusetts had traditionally hosted between 21 and 23 students each year. This year their number was zero.” She said it is almost impossible to get families to commit to hosting when they have to worry that their students will be targeted by ICE, or stopped at airports.
Downs said, “These are not the principles the United States has stood for in the past. We celebrated diversity and considered the rights of all individuals. We need to find a way to promote programming that emphasizes people-to-people connections. These are the types of values that make us stronger as a nation and a world. By making these sorts of connections we grow, mature and evolve.”
Twelve-year-old Jackson Maygar spoke about how this government is affecting youth. “Students need to be educated and not just believe what they see on TikTok,” he said. The Salisbury Central School student said many of his classmates are experiencing homophobia. “When you have bullying in office, what can you expect from kids?”
He received loud applause when he said there should be due process “and that’s the end of the conversation.” He then gave some positivity, saying, “It’s not hopeless. Come to rallies. Listen to the news. Follow John Lewis’s message of good trouble.”
State Rep. Maria Horn (D-64) said the importance of showing up for rallies such as this one cannot be underestimated. She lamented what is happening, saying what disturbs her most as a former federal prosecutor is the behavior of masked ICE members.
State Rep. Maria Horn (D-64) speaks at the “No Kings” rally in Salisbury.Ruth Epstein
History teacher Larry Rand focused on the constitutional breaches of the administration. He called the rally “one of the most important protests in American history.” He said Trump is pushing every edge of executive power and listed all the actions he’s taken to violate the constitution, such as setting tariffs, which is up to Congress, and using the Department of Justice for revenge of his political opponents.
“Trump is a champion of lying,” Rand said. “He makes Pinocchio look like a Boy Scout. So what can we do? We need more movements like this. We need to run a candidate with charisma who listens to constituents. And we must get out and vote no matter how hard Donald Trump makes it.”
Some residents performed music, including the Berkshire Resilience Brass Band; a trio of Alice Yoakum, Jo Loi and Sharon Charde who made up their own lyrics to a few ditties and Louise Lindenmeyr, who led a group in a rendition of “Hit the Road, Trump.”
There was a large presence at the “No Kings” rally in Cornwall Bridge on Saturday.Ruth Epstein
In Cornwall, the triangle at the intersection of routes 7 and 4 was filled.
One of the organizers, Dick Sears, said, “I’m very happy with the energy and unity we’re seeing here. People want their democracy back.” Both sides of Kent’s Main Street were lined with protesters during its rally, waving and showing thanks to the legions of passersby who honked their horns.
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.