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News NOTICE OF COMMUNITY FUND RAISER Till Death Do Us Part A mystery dinner theatre and silent auction to benefit C.A.R.E.-T.H.R.E.A.T. To purchase tickets or to donate an item for the silent auction, please call Monnie Barrett, 303-526-1363 or e-mail monnieEB@aol.com. Neighborhood web sites and discussion areas are now up! Many individual C.A.R.E. neighborhoods have their own web sites. Check the Neighborhood Link to find your neighborhood, have online discussions, post meetings, and stay connected with what's going on in your neighborhood! Click here. MOUNT MORRISON/BEAR CREEK DEVELOPMENT Commissioner Sheehan and Lawrence voted to approve the newly modified Mt. Morrison Plan B horizontal tower proposal on the afternoon of February 4, 2003. Pat Holloway voiced an impassioned dissent. They voted on the wording of the final resolution of approval March 11. APPEAL OF GRANT OF DIGITAL ANTENNA PERMIT
TO CHANNEL 2 Put these on your Calendar, and Attend to make your position known:
All hearings are at the County Administration Building (Taj Mahal), and hearing dates are subject to change. Updated information is available on the CARE Web page or by calling the County. NATIONAL POINT OF VIEW RE: EMR FCC Finally Dismisses Lake Cedar Group
Petition for Pre-emption of previous County action. ARTICLES REGARDING LOOKOUT AND THE TOWER
STRUGGLE FROM WESTWORD:
ANALYSIS AND COMMENT ON FCC ACTION ON LAKE CEDAR GROUP PETITION FOR PRE-EMPTION On Aug. 15, 2002, the FCC dismissed Lake Cedar Group's (LCG) preemption petition because these broadcasters asked the FCC to do so. Under the law, the FCC should have dismissed this petition when the Jefferson County District Court dismissed LCG's lawsuit against Jefferson County on this decision in early 2001. The facts below show the influence of the LCG broadcasters with the FCC: These broadcasters petitioned the FCC for preemption of the local zoning decision in 1999, right after the Jefferson County Commissioners denied their 1998-99 rezoning request for their "supertower" on Lookout Mountain. DA 00-764. The National Association of Counties, National League of Cities, Colorado Legislature and many others opposed the preemption. If you go to the bottom of the CARE web page, you can read many details. www.c-a-r-e.org. Many believe that the FCC should have dismissed this preemption petition almost 3 years ago. The FCC just sent out a letter to Mr. Hummers, the D.C. attorney for Lake Cedar Group broadcasters stating: "On July 12, 2002, Lake Cedar filed with Jefferson County a new application to rezone the Lookout Mountain site to consolidate all of Lake Cedar's analog and digital broadcast antennas on one new tower, which would be shorter and smaller than the one originally planned. Lake Cedar contends that the new tower proposal 'addresses the concerns that have been raised by Jefferson County and members of the public' and it believes that it is consistent with all applicable County requirements. Lake Cedar anticipates initial action on its new application by September or October 2002. " A close examination of the new proposal shows that: it is actually for 5 or permanent 6 towers, not one radiation levels in large areas of the community would increase. Obviously, with the postponement at Jefferson County Planning, and Zoning, the timing is much different than stated in the letter. Jefferson County has postponed the first possible Planning Commission hearing dates on this huge transmission facility complex on Lookout Mountain. Every one of the towers owned by LCG members on Lookout Mountain is a temporary, non conforming in an existing residentially zoned district. CARE has filed a 79 page analysis of the LCG proposal. Jefferson County is planning to make all LCG and CARE filings available electronically. This is the fifth attempt to rezone this Lookout Mountain land. Fred Eychaner is one of the top contributors to Bill Clinton and the Democratic National Party. His contributions in the last election cycle total over $1,100,000. Fred Eychaner owns Mountain Contours (Colorado Secretary of State records). Mountain Contours owns the large parcel of Lookout Mountain land that the Lake Cedar Group broadcasters tried in 1998-99 to rezone for their broadcast tower. Mr. Ed Hummers, Jr. is the attorney for Channel 20 and the attorney for Lake Cedar Group. Fred Eychaner previously owned Boulder Channel 14, Newsweb. Newsweb and Mountain Contours filed 3 applications beginning in the 1980’s to rezone Lookout Mountain for a new tower, lost the rezonings, lost on appeal and finally moved over to the Channel 20 tower on Mt. Morrison. Fred Eychaner now also owns Channel 20 and the Channel 20 tower on Mt. Morrison. Channel 20 (Twenver) is a member of Lake Cedar Group and a participant in this fifth attempt to rezone Lookout Mountain for a permanent high power broadcast transmission complex. We have discovered 894 pages of FCC documents that clearly show a scheme to promote the interests of Lake Cedar Group and ignore regulatory responsibilities for compliance. We have these documents indexed and available on CD Rom. Jefferson County and our community were effectively, “under attack” by members of the FCC using a covert operation code named, “Operation Buffalo Chips”. Here are the highlights of collaboration between FCC staff members and the Lake Cedar Group tower promoters to force Jefferson County to grant the first Lake Cedar Group rezoning request In August of 1998, while the CARE petition to stop licensing new antennas on Lookout was pending before the FCC, Anita Wallgren, counsel to FCC Commissioner Ness’ office said, “One goal is to grant the construction permits for the 4 applications currently on file…. What needs to happen to get there?” (Document 100137) CARE’s concerns were brushed aside by Ms. Wallgren with; “ as is usually the case, there is a hue and cry from some groups that believe it would possess an RF radiation threat and the Commission doesn't really know how many transmitters are actually in operation. “ (Document 100121) Beginning in August 1998, the FCC, notifying the broadcasters in advance, the FCC conducted a secret inventory of the antennas on Lookout Mountain. The goal was to “fix” any problems that CARE could use to stop digital before CARE discovered them. Jeffco and the public were never told. The FCC discovered over 1000 licensed antennas and many unlicensed antennas but did not discipline those broadcasters who had broken the law. The entire goal of the project was for the FCC to license the digital antenna applications of Lake Cedar Group and induce Jefferson County into granting the rezoning. The FCC discovered that LCG had misrepresented that the radiation was within the limits when it was over the limits. On February 24, 1999, Senator Allard and Rep. Tancredo wrote a letter on behalf of this community to the FCC asking questions about a proposal to site a new HDTV tower on Lookout Mountain. “Does the Board of Commissioners have absolute authority to deny or grant this request? Does the FCC have any authority to override the decision of the Commissioners in this particular case?” On February 26, Mr. Hummers gave the FCC the suggested response to this letter and the FCC very carefully worded the letter to Senator Allard and Rep. Tancredo to avoid any indication of wrongdoing on Lake Cedar Group’s part. On March 3, William Kennard, Chairman of the FCC, responded to the letter. Lookout Mountain has been documented as over the radiation limits many times after Chairman Kennard assured Senator Allard and Representative Tancredo that Lookout Mountain was within the radiation limits in the Chairman's March 3,1999 letter. The FCC sent witnesses from Washington, DC. to testify for Lake Cedar Group in Jefferson County hearings. CARE has numerous filings with the FCC challenging FCC actions for violating the law by issuing licenses for more antennas and more power despite the fact that the law prohibits the FCC from doing so unless the radiation limits are not violated. The National Historic Protection Act has also been violated. The FCC has recently changed the way of calculating compliance with radiation levels to incorporate in a measurement where the body of the measurer is between the source of the radiation and the meter. The effect is that the radiation level is reduced because the body of the person taking the reading is between the meter and the source. The effect of using this radiation measurement is that it reduces the average of the total radiation level. Many areas of Lookout Mountain were at 100% of the radiation levels before the FCC created this new measurement technique.
NEWS ON PETITION TO F.C.C. TO PRE-EMPT THE
DECISION OF THE JEFFERSON COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
Check out the Lariat Loop Heritage Alliance, another community resource supported by C.A.R.E. (Click on image or link to access the site.) CSU Announces Research Study Federal Legislation to Address RF Research
and Preemption Proposed A sample letter and background information are on the EMR Network website at http://www.EMRNetwork.org/action/action.htm. Click here for the addresses of the Colorado Congressional Delegation. C.A.R.E. is a community of 10,000 people living on the 5 mountains bordering Mt. Vernon Canyon west of Golden, Colorado. IMPORTANT TOWER DOCUMENTS FCC Preemption Public Comments (Web Site) Alternative Sites Report (61 Kb) Final CARE Public Comments to FCC (121 Kb) Jeffco May 10 Brief (40 Kb) Pestle FCC Document (70 Kb) OTHER IMPORTANT LEGAL DOCUMENTS Petition
for Certiorari to U.S. Sup. Ct. (3200 Kb) Links
to other Rule 106 failures of the FCC Elected Representatives - U.S. Senators and Congressmen, State Elected Officials, Jefferson County Officials OTHER Groups and communities are involved in a national struggle and discussion over various aspects of the impact of EMR on our lives. For More information, click here. DONATIONS TO C.A.R.E. ARE TAX DEDUCTIBLE DOCUMENTARY FILM FEATURING COMMUNITY TOWER FIGHT C.A.R.E. OFFICERS AND HOMEOWNER DELEGATES FOR 2002 C.A.R.E.' s CALENDAR OF EVENTS City and Mountain Views On-line - http://www.colorado-citymtnviews.com/ CITY AND MOUNTAIN VIEWS: The C.A.R.E. area has long had a resource that has arrived at our doorsteps and local retail establishments every other month. Recently, City and Mountain Views has gone to quarterly publication in its print edition, partly to allow the establishment of a WEB site. Take a look at http://www.colorado-citymtnviews.com/. Much local information is covered, including information about the Gateway Heritage Area, History of the C.A.R.E. area, the Tower fight, and other information of general community interest. Comments can be e-mailed to the Editor at editor@citymtnviews.com. TOWER HEARING SUMMARIES: A summary of the Witnesses at Hearings on the Lookout Mountain rezoning request is located here. Click here to review. OTHER VALUABLE LINKS: Summary of Status (11/12/99) (1 page) Details of the Jefferson County Zoning Hearings March 1998 CARE Petition to the FCC (See all filings) [Input Proceeding No. 99-267] Names and Addresses to Contact Federal Representatives and Senators Names and Addresses to Contact County Representatives Lookout Mountain Supertower information To Order the Documentary Last Modified June 22, 2003 |
