THE EDITOR, Sir:
I AM compelled to write pertaining to your front page story in your Tuesday, June 29th edition relating to the "palm tree" cellular tower erected by Digicel at premises at 49a Hope Road.
Your report states that this site was put up in the form of a palm tree at the "community's request" as the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) had specifically requested same "on behalf of the residents in the nearby community". This is simply NOT SO!
We, the residents of the "nearby community", were never consulted by NEPA and we had even collectively signed a petition saying that we were never consulted on the matter.
Of interest to your readers may be that, subsequent to this case, the law has been amended by the KSAC so that NEPA is now required to provide written documentation of when their meeting with the residents of an area took place.
With all due respect to Digicel's Marketing Manager, Ms. Heather Shields, who states that her company went to considerable expense to "ensure that (the residents) don't see a site at first glance", we did not object to the site based only on aesthetic reasons but, far more importantly, based on inconclusive studies relating to the possibly harmful radiation emitted from same.
While the "palm tree" therefore addresses one problem, it does nothing to alleviate concerns as to the safety of these sites and we remind both cellular providers that, for every study showing no harmful effects (many of them having been commissioned and paid for by these very companies), there are many studies which claim otherwise. (Look no further than the story carried in your same edition on page C3 which quotes new studies in Hungary which show such radiation affecting sperm counts by up to 30 per cent in men who were tested).
To Digicel, we, the residents of this area, plead again: please respect our wishes for a radiation-free environment around our homes and schools in this community! Then and only then will we agree that you are the good corporate citizen that you purport to be.
I am, etc.,
MARVYN WALTERS
Linstone Crescent
Kingston 6
E-mail: marvynwalters222@
yahoo.ca
