I'm Not Afraid to Stammer for What I Believe In . . .

It's a brisk, September morning here at Legacy Park. Behind me looms the cell tower which is currently under construction at American Fork Junior High. In front of me, the camera is rolling, and KSL's John Hollenhorst is asking a question.

KSL: What do you feel the community should do about this cell tower?

Rodeback: There's enough debate in the scientific community to suggest a possible risk to the children at the schools. The decision should be made by the people who bear the risk. In this case, that's the parents of the children who attend the schools.

What happened here is that American Fork Junior High agreed with a cell phone provider to allow the tower to be erected on school property in exchange for a monthly lease of $1,000. The only trouble is that the parents were not informed before the decision took place.

KSL: So you believe the cell tower should not be placed in this location?

Rodeback: Er . . . um . . . this decision should be made by the people who bear the risk. In this case, that's the parents of the children who attend the schools.

For the record: I have no position either for or against cell phone towers. That's not why I'm here.

I came this morning to support the hard work and democratic values of two amazing women, Sherry Kramer and Wendy Hickman. Both carry and use cell phones. Both are parents of children at the schools here. Both read their school newsletters and scan the public notices in the local newspaper. But neither heard any advance notice of a possible cell tower until the crane came to set it up.

KSL: So if you had the opportunity to vote on this question, would you vote for or against the cell tower?

Rodeback: [Excruciating pause] This decision needs to be made by the people who bear the risk. In this case, that's the parents of the children who go to school here.

Well. There went my opportunity to explain how we faced the same issue five years ago when I served on the site council at Barratt Elementary. That time, I voted for the cell tower. But I felt the parents deserved to know what was happening, so I got the principal's permission to publish the meeting minutes in the school newsletter. The council was pretty angry with me for doing this, and in fact, I was out of order to act without their vote. But this generated so much outcry that the council eventually reversed its decision. To this day, there is no cell tower at Barratt Elementary.

Sheesh. I passed up the perfect opportunity to explain how the parents knew the right thing for their neighborhood when they lobbied the city to give them this park, the beautiful park where we're standing right now.

I could at least have explained that when a decision is controversial, the representative bears a greater burden of study, and would need good reason to vote against the majority viewpoint.

I could have done all this, if my brain hadn't switched off when the camera switched on.

Now I understand why Laura Bush was so gracious as to let Theresa Heinz-Kerry off the hook when she said, on TV, that Mrs. Bush had never held a real job. It's a jungle out there, journalistically speaking.

We can only hope it's true what they say, that there's no such thing as negative publicity.