Wednesday, August 1, 2012
The head of Get the Cell Out - Atlanta Chapter thanks DeKalb County residents for voting no on a referendum regarding cell phone towers on public school grounds.
Yes! You voted no! Thank you, DeKalb County voters! So far, 71,690 voters have agreed! No cell towers on our school grounds! Victory by 60 percent or more! The resolution may not have legal bearing, but it has a moral lesson that should not be ignored. And, that leads us to the next order of business: the nine approved schools that have now been reduced to eight total signed lease agreements. When will T-Mobile get the message that we do not want them to build cell towers on our school grounds? When will they exercise the "out clause" that only they can do and escape any futher financial obligation to the school system as the inability to gain a permit is a just cause for the lease termination. They wrote the lease, so they likely expected…
The non-binding resolution – part of Tuesday's primary – will have no legal bearing on whether the school system places towers on school properties.
DeKalb County voters said Tuesday they don't want cell phone towers on public school properties. In a nonbinding resolution – part of Tuesday's primary election – more than 60 percent of residents voted no to the question: "Should the local or independent school system of DeKalb County or a charter school in DeKalb County place or operate a telecommunications tower on any elementary, middle or high school property?" Of 114,804 votes counted early Wednesday morning, "No" took 71,690 votes – all preliminary returns. More than 5,000 absentee ballots had yet to be counted. The resolution will have no legal bearing on whether the DeKalb County School System continues to pursue construction of cell phone towers on school property. The school …
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
The July 31 vote will have little effect on tower proposals at the nine schools already agreed to T-Mobile leases, including Briarlake Elementary, Lakeside High and Margaret Harris Comprehensive schools.
Residents will be able to vote this month whether they like the DeKalb County School System placing cell phone towers on school properties. The vote won't necessarily have any affect on the school system's policies, but it could at least give school board members an idea of voter sentiment, according to CrossRoadsNews, in a story published three days ago. From the story: The referendum was created by House Bill 1299, sponsored by state Reps. Karla Drenner (D-Avondale Estates), Michele Henson (D-Stone Mountain), Rahn Mayo (D-Decatur) and other DeKalb legislators. Drenner, a six-term representative and a radiation physicist, embraced the referendum after House Bill 1197 which she sponsored to ban towers from other school grounds failed. …
Monday, February 27, 2012
State Rep. Karla Drenner offers a chance for a Hail Mary that might just save our cell tower schools.
A hearing was held last Tuesday, Feb. 21, by state Rep. Karla Drenner, D - Avondales Estates, to gauge the public support or opposition to proposed legislation that would limit or ban cellphone towers from being constructed near schools and daycare centers. A good play-by-play of this hearing was logged live by North Druid Hills-Briarcliff Patch. You can read it here. I agree wholeheartedly with Drenner's statement that the only course of action that should be considered right now is what she calls "prudent avoidance." If you can do something just as easily with a wired connection to the Internet as you can when you are wireless, choose the wired route every time. If you have young children and can avoid being near areas that are high in …
Thursday, February 23, 2012
A recent column in a blog covering the school system said the elementary school will lose playground space or an outdoor environmental classroom to make way for the tower.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
State Rep. Karla Drenner hosted a hearing regarding incoming cell phone towers on school sites in DeKalb County.
A group of mostly frustrated DeKalb County residents packed a legislative hearing room in downtown Atlanta on Tuesday to protest the construction of cell phone towers on several county school sites. The hearing was organized by state Rep. Karla Drenner, D-District 86, about a week after the legislator said she was made aware of residents still protesting the DeKalb County School System's contract with T-Mobile, which was approved in July. The contract will place towers at a number of schools, including Lakeside High School, Briarlake Elementary School and Margaret Harris Comprehensive School in the North Druid Hills-Briarcliff area. North Druid Hills-Briarcliff Patch blogged live from the hearing.
Rep. Karla Drenner, District 86, is holding a hearing today to question the erection of cell phone towers on a number of school sites countywide.
When frustrated DeKalb County residents gather in a small meeting room in downtown Atlanta this morning to listen to a hearing about cell phone towers on school grounds, they'll have a significant new ally – the state representative who organized the meeting. Months after groups of parents organized to protest a DeKalb County School System plan to put cell phone towers on a number of school sites across the county, Rep. Karla Drenner, District 86, has come out in the last week against the proposal between the school system and T-Mobile, breathing new life into the controversial issue. "The long term effects of exposure to the type of radiation produced by cell phone towers are not fully known, but initial data indicates cause for concern…
Thursday, February 16, 2012
State Rep. Karla Drenner hopes to introduce legislation banning the towers' construction due to radiation concerns.
It looks like the cell phone tower protestors' efforts are starting to gain some traction. From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: State Rep. Karla Drenner, D-Avondale Estates, said she plans to introduce legislation banning construction of the towers near schools because of concerns about radiation safety. The DeKalb County School District recently entered an agreement allowing T-Mobile to build towers at nine schools, eliciting an outcry from parents. The hearing is at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday in room 415 of the Coverdell Legislative Office Building, across the street from the Georgia State Capitol. I've got an interview with Drenner tomorrow about all this, and I'm expecting to cover this hearing. So, expect two stories: one about Drenner with…
Thursday, December 1, 2011
With the DeKalb County School System determined to let T-Mobile build a tower at Briarlake Elementary School, parents there aren't left with many options.
Parents at Briarlake Elementary School upset with the forthcoming construction of a cell phone tower on school property are unsure of their next move as the school system and T-Mobile move forward with their plans, a PTA board member said. "We had hoped that [DeKalb County School System Superintendent Cheryl Atkinson] would have given this issue some time," said Stephanie Byrne, a Briarlake Elementary PTA board member. "She has decided that this is not worth her time." Atkinson and a school system spokesman told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution last month that the deal between the system and T-Mobile was considered done, and the system was not open to challenges. "We respect the opinions about this," school spokesman Walter Woods said to …
Monday, September 19, 2011
Some parents plan to attend a Sept. 24 meeting in Clarkston regarding the T-Mobile cell towers, which were recently approved by the DeKalb County Board of Education.
Parents upset with an incoming cell phone tower at Briarlake Elementary School are putting together a protest campaign hoping the DeKalb County Board of Education reverses its July approval of the tower. PTA members plan to post signs around the school and surrounding neighborhood and have begun lobbying local General Assemby representatives, including Scott Holcomb, Steve Henson and Sen. Fran Millar, said Stephanie Byrne, a PTA board member. "Right now, we're really just trying to put pressure on the board of education," she said. "I don't think they have a lot of friends. At least in the political world." Some parents plan to attend a Sept. 24 meeting at the Clarkston Women's Club in Clarkston organized by two groups protesting the …
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Briarlake Elementary School
3590 Lavista Rd, Decatur, GA
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Knott Telling
2:12 pm on Saturday, August 25, 2012
So the ballot question was "written by the telcomm industry and its lobbyists" as part of a "plan to find out where the opposition might be located"...?! That would mean that Rep. Karla Drenner, who wrote the House Resolution authorizing the referendum and is a leading figure in the fight against cell towers, sought the advice of her nemeses in crafting the wording of the ballot question. Very … more ›