Page 4 - Sonoma County Gazette - June 2018

LETTERS cont’d from page 3
Counter Opinion to Cell Towers in Sebastopol
Silent Fireworks
usage: who will confirm or deny the accuracy of this? Who will pay for all of this oversight? I don’t see that they are paying for the water, so I seriously doubt anything will come of that.
Paul-André Schabracq makes
false a case for Sebastopol denying 4G and 5G cell towers because “This would increase by several orders
of magnitude the community’s exposure to toxic levels of microwave radiation.” He’s got it backwards. More towers means we are all exposed to less EMF.
Any large celebration that involves fireworks is fun, but while we enjoy the sounds and sights of colourful explosions overhead, our animals feel very differently.
Alexa questions the accuracy
of information being put forth by people who are objecting (mostly due to locations) , but doesn’t give any specifics. I know, for a certainty, that one person who has written about the amount of water required got her information from a cannabis industry spokesperson.
Just as everything is a poison with high enough exposures (high water exposure is called drowning), all EMF is deadly with high enough exposures (you would not want to put yourself inside a microwave oven). Which
The explosions caused by fireworks have been known to give some domestic pets heart problems, nausea, tremors, debilitating fears and light- headedness. We all know that animals have far more sensitive hearing so you won’t be surprised to read that firework displays can leave pets with “acoustic stress”.
Alexa seems to think that Environmental Policies will protect the fish and wildlife, but doesn’t address the millions of dollars spent by Fish and Wildlife, to protect certain species of fish in one of the areas where neighbors are fighting cannabis operations which will adversely affect the species. She also didn’t address the comments from neighbors about the issues they are already facing with traffic, smells, and other indignities.
is the biggest source, a cell tower or your phone?
During firework displays animals are often confused as to where the loud noises are coming from which makes them run frantically away. Unfortunately, this sometimes results in them being hit by a car. Other animals may be too close to the explosion and receive burns or eye damage as a result. If you keep chickens, you might find that they produce fewer eggs after a firework display.
When you whisper with someone right next to you, sound energy is at its minimum. When someone is far away, you have to yell at each other. The sound level you each hear is
still very low but, anyone standing next to you is going to get their ears blasted by your yelling. So too with cell towers and cell phones. Your phone power output is exactly the same as the cell tower it is talking with. You are right next to your phone absorbing its energy which is thousands of times greater than the energy you are getting from the cell tower.
People of the town of Collecchio
in the province of Parma in Italy are doing something about it. The local government has introduced new legislation forcing citizens to use silent fireworks as a way of respecting the animals and reducing the stress caused them.
One farmer I talked with at a Groundwater committee meeting told me that because of the amount of water required to grow cannabis, food farmers will be forced out of the marketplace as water is metered. He previously received recycled water on its way to the Geysers, but now is being charged for it.
Don’t take my word for it, test
it yourself. Stand someplace with
full signal strength, and make a five minute call. Notice what percentage of your battery was used up. Go out into the woods where your signal strength is its absolute minimum, and make another 5 minute call. Compare how much battery was used. All that energy used by your phone in the woods went through your body. You get a higher EMF exposure when you use your phone far away from a cell tower.
The company, Setti Fireworks make fireworks which produce a spectacular light show but without the deafening sounds normally associated with a firework display. They design their fireworks to fit the venue and event that they will be used for.
So, dear Vesta, I believe that you owe it to the residents of this county to do a better job of reporting the other side of the cannabis story.
Katy Byrne, MFT, Sonoma
I can answer the water-usage part because it’s part of the Basin Plan that makes it mandatory that all wells be monitored and that agricultural wells have meters so the county and state can control what is pulled from the groundwater system. Private wells are more challenging to monitor.
Thank you, as usual, for your attention to such matters.
Charlene Stone, fifth district
Paul-André got it wrong. To reduce the EMF you receive from your phone, you want more cell towers around town, not less. A little EMF sprinkled on you constantly from a cell tower is comparable
to a little water sprinkled on you constantly, your body handles it just fine. Your phone trying to reach a
far away cell tower is exactly like a person right next to your ear yelling at someone far away. It’ll hurt. More towers means lower power exposure from your cell phone.
I have met Alexa (Alexa Rae Wall, author of Cannabis article, May 2018 Gazette) at a CAG meeting. She is
a convincing representative for the cannabis industry. However, I believe that she takes liberties with her statements in the article you published recently.
Wells are all connected to underground aquifers and the state is monitoring water use to keep them from running too deep and/or dry.
CANNABIS - How Did We Get Here?
Kee Nethery
4 - www.sonomacountygazette.com - 6/18
She told me once that they would
be recycling the water usage; but doesn’t speak to that in the article. I actually suggested that she write an article for the Gazette explaining how that would work. She states that the California water resource board will be monitoring usage..and that growers will have to report to them about their
I did give Alexa a serious word count limit so there is no way she could cover all topics. This is an on- going conversation and since I have given a lot of space to irate neighbors, it was time to give space to a grower.
I Googled Luma California and
it says it is “closed”. She claims
that the growers will have meters on their water supply...but there is no explanation of how this will be controlled and how much water is allowed for how much production... that is a big issue.
Personally, I am grateful that recycled water is being sold instead of given away. It costs a small fortune to clean and local wastewater facilities need the income to keep ratepayers protected from costs they cannot afford.
I want to present both sides to
this story. The previous issues of the Gazette have a LOT of input from neighbors. You can go online to read
LETTERS cont’d on page 4