Parents Still Fighting To Keep Cell Towers Off Campuses

Parents from eight Hillsborough County elementary and middle schools turned out in force Wednesday night to support a group fighting to keep cell towers off school campuses.

More than 100 adults, including some with children in tow, showed up at the New Tampa Regional Library to join forces with People Against Cell Towers at Schools, or PACTS.

The majority of those who attended said they plan to put pressure on Hillsborough County School District officials to reverse a decision giving principals the authority to approve cell towers on school property.

They plan to rally near area schools and cellular stores, petition principals and school board members and carpool to the Feb. 10 school board meeting, where they hope there will be a big turnout among opponents.

"We need to say we are not going to stand for this," said Mary Meckley, an organizer of the group.
Meckley, whose son attends Pride Elementary, urged the standing-room-only crowd in the library's Jeri Zelinski Community Room to step forward to have their voices heard.

"We want cell towers, but we don't think schools are a good place," she said.

PACTS formed early this month after parents at south Tampa's Coleman Middle School nixed plans to put one on campus, and parents at Pride Elementary began mobilizing to have a tower installed last summer removed. The new group hopes to attract people across Hillsborough County who share their concerns.

In addition to Pride and Coleman parents, people whose children attend Cimino, Clark, Heritage, Hunter's Green and Lockhart elementaries and Benito Middle were at the meeting, which was the group's third in three weeks.

Most parents say they are concerned not enough is known about the possible long-term effects of exposing schoolchildren to radio frequency emissions from antennas attached to the towers.

The majority of the parents at the meeting have children at Pride. They are petitioning Principal Jamie Johnson to rescind her agreement with Collier Enterprises, which negotiated a long-term contract to house a 160-foot tower on campus. The tower, which was built a few feet from the school building, also serves as a flagpole.

School district spokeswoman Linda Cobbe has said it is unlikely the tower at Pride will come down because the school is obligated to complete the terms of a 10-year agreement. Pride receives $24,000 a year for leasing space on the tower to two carriers - Alltel and T-Mobile.

Bill Cook, a south Tampa parent who was involved in the Coleman Middle cell tower decision, urged Pride parents and others to unite in their efforts to put pressure on district officials to dismantled current towers on school campuses and defeat plans to install new ones.

"We are here because we don't believe they should be on anybody's campus," Cook said.

Eleven schools in Hillsborough County already have towers; two more have contracts to install the structures; and three others are negotiating to get them.

Sasenarine Persaud of New Tampa said parents aren't powerless to demand change.

"We need to let school board members know we have the power to vote them out at the next election," he said.

Not all parents at the meeting supported banning towers near schools.

Greg Williams said he has been urging his cell phone carrier for seven years to improve service in New Tampa.

The MRI technologist said he is not worried about the cell tower at Benito, which he can see from his home, nor is he concerned about sending his children to Pride.

Williams said he disagreed with those who say cell towers lower property values. He thinks the opposite is true.

"Who wants to live in a neighborhood that's blacked out?" he said.

Louise Bravo, a Cimino parent, asked people at the meeting to sign a petition to keep towers off the Brandon area school campus.

"I'm going to fight it," Bravo said. "I just want us to do it in a responsible way."