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Preserving maternity services at Sharon Hospital
I am writing this letter as a representative of Save Sharon Hospital, a community based non-profit organization dedicated to supporting and preserving Sharon Hospital for future generations as a full-service community hospital.
We are thrilled to share exciting news: The proposed affiliation between Nuvance and Northwell Health has been approved by state regulators! Sharon Hospital will now be under leadership that wants not only to improve and expand services at Sharon Hospital, but also to maintain its current vital services such as maternity!
The Agreed Settlement includes the stipulation that Northwell and Nuvance must follow the signed agreement Northwell made with Save Sharon Hospital along with the agreement reached with the state Attorneys General in Connecticut and New York.
These agreements include key language regarding the preservation and expansion of maternity services at Sharon Hospital. Northwell’s agreement with our organization also requires Sharon Hospital to be maintained as “a full-service community hospital, including 24/7 surgical capability and a full-service emergency department.” You can find links to these documents on the homepage of our website, www.savesharonhospital.org.
Thank you to everyone in our community who provided oral and written comment at the public hearing, requesting that our letter be included in the final agreement between Northwell and Nuvance. It worked! And now our community can feel protected that our vital healthcare services will remain local!
Thank you to the stalwart physicians who testified in public to ensure this positive outcome for our community.
Thank you to all of our federal, state and town elected officials for standing up for what is right for our community. We could not have done this without your long-standing support!
Lydia Moore
Sharon
President Donald Trump — and the fear factor
Of all the steps Donald Trump has taken in less than 100 days, the staging of his recent televised cabinet meeting best summed up his pathetic self-promotion. As each cabinet member chimed in on cue with insincere adulation, the obvious undercurrent was not love but fear.
Do we ever see Donald Trump smile? Well, no. He doesn’t seem to want to be liked. I would venture that he doesn’t even want to be loved. Just feared.
As others have said, if Donald Trump isn’t striking terror in us, in the financial markets, and in those around him, he is not accomplishing what father Fred wanted. And he is certainly not following Vladimir Putin’s directives.
At first Roy Cohn coached him through the fear thing. Now the scowl comes naturally. And for the immediate future, a newly installed vengeful version hangs in The White House, replacing the official portrait of our only Black President.
However, there is one series of images that cannot be power-grabbed from millions of us: our “Hands-Off” selfies and signs. They will remind citizens of the power they hold — to rally, refuse, and ultimately restore the mission of our government.
For the time being, though, we should not mistake Donald Trump’s actions as those of one who doesn’t care. Trump cares deeply. He wants to go down in history as the…(ultimate emperor?). Ironically, if Trump has his way, there will be no historians to document and depict the triumph of his devastation.
Molly Fitzmaurice
Sharon
National Day of Prayer
This year’s special event beckons our community to mark their calendars and set aside May 1.
We will mirror local, state and federal observances across our country, bringing together citizens from all backgrounds to pray for our Nation.
It is a vital part of our heritage since the first call to prayer in 1775 when the Continental Congress asked the colonies to intercede for Almighty God’s wisdom in forming a nation.
This call (to prayer) has continued throughout our history including President Lincoln’s proclamation in 1863 and President Truman’s signing of a joint resolution by Congress in 1952 declaring an annual National Day of Prayer.
Each year every President signs a Proclamation encouraging all Americans to pray on this specially designated First Thursday in May.
We are grateful for our faithful community members past participation and hope you’ll attend this special happening.
Please join us as we gather Thursday, May 1, at the Salisbury Town Hall Memorials at 6 p.m.
In case of rain, the location will move to Salisbury Congregational Church.
Mary Davis
Salisbury
The views expressed here are not necessarily those of The Lakeville Journal and The Journal does not support or oppose candidates for public office.
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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.