Cell service at porcfest?

[Pat McCotter]

North Country cell tower OK?d
By LORNA COLQUHOUN
Union Leader Correspondent
Thursday, Apr. 13, 2006

Lancaster ? Within the next few months, cellular telephones will begin ringing, singing and chirping in an area of the state that has for years sent them in search mode on the western side of Coos County.

On Tuesday night, the Lancaster Planning Board unanimously approved a request to erect a cell phone tower on Mount Orne, ending an effort of more than five years.

?It?s a momentous occasion,? said Peter Riviere, executive director of the Coos County Economic Development Corp. ?It?s more than a cell phone issue. This site represents a key hole to service in the North Country.?

The approval will also set in motion other opportunities, such as introducing cheaper bandwidth to the area, which Riviere predicts will attract professionals such as doctors, architects and others who can work remotely with technology.

The planning board approved installation of a tower reaching 189 feet.

Mount Orne is situated two peaks from Mount Prospect, where the town had attempted to place a tower at Weeks State Park more than a year ago. However, deed restrictions prevented that action.

A standing-room-only crowd attended the public hearing Tuesday and, said acting Town Manager Ed Samson, ?It was obvious that the vast majority totally supported the idea.?

US Cellular has committed to leasing property owned by Dr. and Mrs. Brian Beattie on Mount Orne, Riviere said, and construction on the tower will begin shortly, with service likely beginning sometime this summer.

Presently, cell service is available to about the top of Route 3 by Mount Prospect from a tower on Mount Agassiz in Bethlehem. After that, no service is available from that point north. A cell tower at The Balsams in Dixville Notch provides service east of Colebrook.

?It is necessary to create a chain (for cell service),? Samson said. ?Once Lancaster got aboard, this opens the way for towers in Groveton, Stratford and Colebrook.?

Planning board chairman Fred Emerson said there had been wide support for the plan, including a petition signed by nearly 100 people. The only concerns raised were from representatives of the Weeks Family Trust, which owns property nearby the proposed site, who wanted to restrict the height to 139 feet and have a say in the color of the tower.

?The consensus was very strong in favor (of the tower,?) Emerson said.

Opponents of the cell tower plan have 30 days to appeal the planning board decision to the zoning board of adjustment, but Emerson said he doesn?t think that is likely.

The approval, Riviere said, is a dose of good economic news in the region, on the heels of the closing of a paper mill in Groveton last month and the pending closing of the pulp mill in three weeks in Berlin.

"When you think of the depressing economic news, this is a bit of optimism," he said. "It's been a long time coming. It's more than cell phone service - it is parents who will be able to keep track of their children or elderly parents. It's a safety issue."

[aries]

The Weeks family trust is seeking an injunction to stop the cell tower.

They've been trying to get one in Lancaster for years. Hopefully it works this time, but there is a lot of opposition from people in the town that are afraid there will be people walking down main st, or going to the movie theater on their cell phone, irritating everybody around them.

[Russell Kanning]

There is the threat of second hand conversations ..... they can cause cancer ya know.

[ravelkinbow]

no no russell it will promote child neglete...lol

[Russell Kanning]

a ha!

[aries]

It looks like all opposition has been adequately silenced and Lancaster is getting a cell tower as early as this summer. There was some height limit as part of an agreement, 143 feet or something. I've got the paper right next to me...

Hmm there's nothing about it in there.

[intergraph19]

Rats, I kind of liked not getting service there.  I didn't worry about someones phone going off and we got a couple days of peace.  Not a worry this year I guess.

[Kat Kanning]

You don't have to bring your phone with you 

[Lloyd Danforth]

...and you don't have to worry about Kat's going off, and, of course, you can't hear mine....if I get to it in time

[Kat Kanning]

And you don't hear Lloyd's when it's on vibrate mode....just see his smiling face.

[Recumbent ReCycler]

Mine is always set to vibrate because I am frequently in places where the ringing of cellphones is strongly discouraged.  Also, if I don't feel like answering it, I can just leave it alone instead of trying to figure out how to shut off the ringer.  I am glad that cell service will become available up there.  It would be nice if there was a place up there where I could get wifi so that I could log on with my computer.

[jgmaynard]

Man, everytime I see this thread, I think it says "Call service at Porcfest?" LOL.

JM

[Dreepa]

It would be nice if there was a place up there where I could get wifi so that I could log on with my computer.

I think that Roger's has wifi service.

[intergraph19]

You don't have to bring your phone with you 

Iwasn't the one who brought my phone last year. ^_^

[CNHT]

It would be nice if there was a place up there where I could get wifi so that I could log on with my computer.

I think that Roger's has wifi service.

Roger's has WiFi and now that I have an 802.11g card (I was using b) it should connect better.
That said, I am wondering if there will be any volunteers to help me put up a 12 x 20 ft canopy I am buying for my trailer?
I am wondering how I will fit it in my car too.. this would be for the 26th.