The petition to stop a cellphone tower from being located in Snows Hill Valley near Dowelltown has now passed 500 and is rising.

Dowelltown citizens are up at arms after they discovered a communications firm quietly laid plans to erect a 200-foot-tall cell tower in the middle of the historic Snows Hill Battlefield while circumventing the process to allow concerned citizens to voice their opinions on the impact of the project.

Concerned residents of DeKalb County are circulating and signing petitions to relocate a proposed 200 foot cell tower beyond Dowelltown, away from the Snows Hill Battlefield, the county’s most historic site, and out of the valley from Snows Hill, a local scenic landmark. The petition had over 500 signatures as of Monday, a number organizers say is climbing daily. The petitions are circulating and one can be found at Bert Driver Nursery where he has posted a sign urging people to “Save the Valley” by signing the petition and speaking out.

The discovery of the clandestine cell tower project came when an alert citizen saw sections of the Dowelltown tower on site. He then asked when and where the required public notice and invitation for comments had appeared. He learned the engineering firm had run that notice in the Carthage newspaper, rather than the Smithville Review, DeKalb County’s paper of record.

He immediately contacted the Federal Communications Commission, asserting citizens here were being denied their right to know and weigh in on a project which would impact their lives, as required in the application process. The agency agreed, put the project temporarily on hold and opened up the comment period. The public notice appeared in the classified section of this week’s Smithville Review, page 5C and the delivery deadline for comments is Nov. 28, just one week away

Anyone interested in signing or obtaining a paper petition can text Amy Potter for Dowelltown (615 418-6220), or Lucas Antoniak (754 227-3064) for the battlefield/scenic landmark petition. You can also sign a digital petition by visiting www.tinyurl.com/savethevalley. At the time of this writing, the petition has already been signed by more than 370 individuals, including visitors to our area from around the nation and the world.

   A similar round about strategy was used in the building of a tower at Old Liberty Road in Alexandria. However, it was already up and operating before it was discovered the required public notice ran in Carthage, rather than the Smithville Review. Opponents of the placement of the tower pointed out the Alexandria project, in essence, denied the citizens there the right to comment on the building of the tower.

It was also pointed out that public notice for a third tower from the same company, NTCH-West, appeared in this week’s paper. It is planned for Choctaw Ridge Road near the intersection of Highways 70 and 53 and Liberty’s Historic District, listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Anyone concerned about these projects is encouraged to check the public notices and comment within the deadline period.