Parents speak out against cellphone tower at east Cobb County school

By Mary Lou Pickel

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

About a dozen parents and residents spoke out Wednesday at the Cobb County School Board against plans to place a cellphone tower at an east Cobb elementary school.

It was the latest in an ongoing protest against both the tower and what residents say is the school board's failure to conduct business in the open.

Rick Welkis, parent of a child at Eastvalley Elementary School, has filed a lawsuit against the Cobb County Board of Education, seeking to stop the T-Mobile tower.

Welkis said after the meeting that he believes such towers emit low-level radiation, and he's concerned about health effects on the children.

"If there's even a chance at all that it will affect my child's health, or my health, it's just not worth the risk," said Welkis, who lives near the school.

Cobb County Superior Court Senior Judge Michael Stoddard issued an order Sept. 21, restraining the school board from executing any contracts or performing any work on the tower for 30 days.

"What he's saying is we can't begin construction on it," said Jay Dillon, school district spokesman.

The school board has already signed a contract with T-Mobile, Dillon said. The district has about 19 cell towers located on school property in the county.

The school district would receive $450,000 over a 15-year period for the cellphone tower at Eastvalley and would make more money if other companies used it.

The judge wrote that the public "did not have proper notice," of the school board's intention to vote on the cellphone tower at its July 23 meeting. The school board added the proposal to the agenda that day and approved it unanimously.

"I think the people that are against it are passionate, pretty well-educated and disappointed in the process," said Peter Tennis, an east Cobb resident who opposes the tower.

School board chairman John Abraham said he did not think the board violated open meetings laws.

But, in the future, Abraham said, the board would only add agenda items on the day of a meeting if the item were truly an emergency, such as approving cleanup of flood-damaged Clarkdale Elementary School.

The school board has put the cell tower back on the agenda for Oct. 22 and will listen to more public comment before voting on the issue, Abraham said.

Liz Gainsford, a parent of children at Eastvalley, owns three homes near the school and spoke in favor of the tower Wednesday.  She believes there is no health threat and the tower would help the school financially.

"Even though we're in east Cobb, we don't have some of the financial donations that other schools in east Cobb have," Gainsford said.