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NORTH CANAAN — Two years ago, Susan Bysiewicz came across “stunning statistics.� Every day in America nearly 1,000 World War II veterans die. With a family rich in military history, it hit close to home for Bysiewicz, who is Connecticut’s secretary of the state.
“I wanted to honor them. It’s now 130 towns [that she has visited] later,� she told about 85 people who came to Geer Village on Monday, Dec. 7, the anniversary of the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor.
A combined ceremony with North Canaan, Falls Village and Cornwall veterans was part of the state official’s sweep across the state to give every World War II veteran a chance to not only be publicly acknowledged, but to share their memories and emotions.
She said she has learned all vets share some specific and honorable qualities, such as modesty and resilience.
“They are all incredibly modest and humble about what they did, at a time when ordinary people were called upon to do extraordinary things,� Bysiewicz said.
She spoke of the horrors they saw and endured, yet, “They came back to raise beautiful families and lead productive lives.�
She referred to remarks made by Cornwall First Selectman Gordon Ridgway, who credited that generation with truly being “the greatest.� Both of his parents served in the armed forces during the war. He noted that more than 10 percent of Cornwall’s population enlisted. Those who came back carried on a culture of volunteerism that he said is a huge contribution to the town.
Later, his mother, Kitty Ridgway, spoke of her experiences in the Navy, stationed in Washington, D.C. Nearly every day she rode the bus to Constitution Avenue to work.
“After President Roosevelt died, and Truman became president, I got off the bus one day and saw President Truman standing on the other side of the park.
“I decided to stay on my side because at the time I was a Republican. If I went to the other side, I would have had to salute our new president.�
“Maybe later you can tell us how Gordon became a Democrat,� said Bysiewicz, a Democrat, getting one of many laughs during the event.
Among the half dozen other veterans who spoke, the theme was one of finding the silver lining.
Chuck Shannon said he served in the Coast Guard for four years, seven months and 15 days, getting knowing laughs from an audience aware that every veteran can tell you exactly how long they served. He spoke proudly of how the smallest military branch grew from about 9,000 to 230,000 before the war was over.
“For people who think war is hell, it is,� Merrill Franks said. “But I was one of the fortunate Marines who got in early. I went to mechanics school.�
He described how he was able to find solace in expressing his artistic side, painting pictures on the sides of fighter planes — using Japanese paint — while stationed in Okinawa.
Navy veteran John Lyon said he was floating 10 miles off the coast of Japan with Air Group 6 when word came that the end of the war had finally come.
“We were very relieved to hear the bomb had dropped and the war had ended. Before November, we were scheduled to land on the Isle of Japan.�
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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.