OJAI : Council Joins in Urging Tower Delay

The Ojai City Council joined the Ventura County Board of Supervisors and key federal lawmakers in asking the government to delay turning on a microwave radar tower because they fear it will cause cancer or other diseases.

Council members voted unanimously to adopt a resolution urging the National Weather Service to postpone switching on the weather-tracking system until more studies on its health effects can be completed.

More than a dozen residents of the area packed the council chambers late Tuesday to urge the council to pass the resolution, which mirrors another resolution passed by county supervisors last week.

“There’s no question in my mind that we should pass the resolution,” Councilwoman Nina V. Shelley said.

The 98-foot weather station is scheduled to be turned on by Friday for initial tests, but will not be operable for several weeks, said Jerry McDuffie, who runs the Oxnard office of the National Weather Service.

“Maybe by the end of the month or the first of March we’ll start getting some usable data,” he said.

Meanwhile, plaintiffs suing the federal government over the tower said Wednesday they are not yet ready to appeal a ruling last week by a federal judge, who refused to issue an injunction stopping the project until further studies are performed.

“We’re getting a number of legal opinions,” plaintiff David Hedman said Wednesday.

“Based on the recommendation of the attorneys, we’ll make a decision in the next few days,” he said.