Cell Phone Tower
Photo courtesy of Yelm-based photographer Guustaaf Damave

Dear Clearwood Association members,

I understood the August ballot on the Clearwood Cell Tower issue was to authorize a study about the potential of a cell tower on Clearwood Community grounds.

Quoting the NVN of August 24, 2007,
“After months of debate, Clearwood property owners passed a board resolution to pursue a feasibility study that will look at placing a cell tower within the community.”

Further down in the same story:
“‘The next step for Clearwood is to contact cellular companies and let them know we’re interested (in having a tower placed in the community),’ said Ron Smith, president of the Clearwood Board of Directors.”

“The board will negotiate for the best deal.”

Can any association member go on the record and help me and the other numerous daily Yelm Community Blog readers understand what is going on out there?
A vote for a feasibility study is just that, is it not?
A vote for a feasibility study.

Quoting Wikipedia,
“A feasibility study is a preliminary study undertaken to determine and document a project’s viability. The results of this study are used to make a decision whether to proceed with the project, or table it. If it indeed leads to a project being approved, it will – before the real work of the proposed project starts – be used to ascertain the likelihood of the project’s success. It is an analysis of possible alternative solutions to a problem and a recommendation on the best alternative. It, for example, can decide whether an order processing be carried out by a new system more efficiently than the previous one.”

Isn’t Smith out of line saying, “The board will negotiate for the best deal?”

The vote was not about negotiating the best deal, rather a feasibility study.

What am I missing here?

Why are the Association members not demanding clarity from Mr. Smith and the Board on this issue.
The Board has a fiduciary responsibility in carrying out the voters will and association policies correctly and honorably, and nothing more, IMHO.
Negotiating the best deal?
Doesn’t that require a vote authorizing the Board to proceed only after the results of the feasibility study are presented to the members?

I certainly hope the Clearwood Board in their “due diligence” communicates these just-released scientific reports to their members:
A. “An international working group of scientists, researchers and public health policy professionals (The BioInitiative Working Group) has released its report on electromagnetic fields (EMF) and health [August 31]. It raises serious concern about the safety of existing public limits that regulate how much EMF is allowable from power lines, cell phones, and many other sources of EMF exposure in daily life.
The report concludes the existing standards for public safety are inadequate to protect public health.

B. Additionally, this just released report from Israel’s famed Weizmann Institute of Science scientists says:
“Mobile phones can take as little as ten minutes to trigger changes in the brain associated with cancer, scientists claimed yesterday [Aug. 29].
They found even low levels of radiation from handsets interfere with the way brain cells divide. Cell division encourages the growth of tumours,” quoting UK’s Daily Mail.

Who will share this with the Association members?

Mr. Smith is welcome and invited to share his views with Yelm Community Blog readers in a guest entry.