LAGUNA BEACH : Parents Press Fight Over Phone Tower

A dispute over a 90-foot cellular transmission tower near the playground at El Morro Elementary School has angered parents so much that some have threatened to transfer their children to other schools.

Others are vowing to fight until the tower comes down, parents said.

“There’s going to be some bloody battles ahead,” said Doug Rowe, who has two sons at the school. “We will not take no for an answer. We’re very, very determined.”

AirTouch Cellular, previously PacTel, installed the tower and a microwave dish in August, according to an agreement with the Laguna Beach Unified School District.

The company made a concession to parents in January by removing the microwave satellite dish after parents complained that the electromagnetic radiation emissions could pose a health risk to children.

But parents have continued to lobby for the removal of the rest of the equipment, including the tower--which allows cellular telephones to operate in the area--underground radio equipment and an above-ground cooling system. They say the system is ugly and noisy, and that in leasing the land to AirTouch for $18,000 per year, the district has allowed the “commercialization” of school property.

After receiving notice from AirTouch Cellular this week that the tower will not be removed, parents said they would meet tonight at 7 p.m. at the Wells Fargo Bank Building in Laguna Beach to consider their next move.

“What happens if it gets hit by lightning? It’s the highest thing around,” Rowe said. “My phones have been ringing off the hook from people who are just furious. People are screaming they’re going to take their children out of school, which is the last thing we want to have happen.”

David Carroll, who also has two sons at El Morro, said some parents still fear that the equipment poses a possible health risk, but most dislike the transmitter for other reasons.

“It is ugly, it is inappropriate,” he said. “We don’t want the commercialization of the school grounds. . . . Why not put a McDonald’s there? Where’s it going to end?”

But Melissa May, a spokeswoman for AirTouch Cellular in Irvine, said the equipment provides a valuable service to thousands of their customers.

“There’s not going to be any damage to anyone or anything as a result of this,” she said, adding that the company has been “trying very hard to educate (the parents) about the tower and the radio transmission.”

School district Supt. Paul M. Possemato said he and school board members have met with parents and, essentially, agreed to disagree on the subject.

“Frankly, I can only tell them they’re on their own in pursuing this,” he said. “We will honor our contract.”