Even I got in on the action. . .(Letter #5)

Thursday night we had gone to bed with the lights flashing brightly, and Thursday morning at about 2:30am Greg, (who has been focusing much energy on this whole lights thing) nudges me on the shoulder to wake me up.

"Christa?" he says.

I make a non-commital noise in reply.

"Am I dreaming, or are the lights a bit dimmer?"

And it was at that point that I decided something needed to be done about these lights as me waking up every few hours or so with Greg to judge the latest brightness wouldn't be helpful for my work career.

Or, for that matter, our marriage. So I wrote this letter to Clear Channel Communications after being given the run-around on their phone system as I tried to lodge a complaint:

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am writing to complain about the flashing lights just east of my home in Savannah subdivision in Frederick, Colorado. Since these lights have been changed a little over a week or so ago; their bright, strobe-like lights are keeping my husband and me awake at night as the light penetrates through our blinds and curtains. It is completely ridiculous how bright these lights are at night, and we've been forced to sleep in our guest bedroom on the western side of the house on workday nights to escape the 'disco fever' atmosphere created in our bedroom by this tower.

I would request that you do something about this immediately. I can't imagine that this is zone-compliant considering how close this tower is to residential property. The sooner these lights go back to being normal in the evening, the sooner I can sleep in my bedroom. If this were in your backyard, you'd be pretty inconvenienced as well.

Additionally, I tried to lodge a complaint via telephone, but was given the run-around twice by your automated voice system before being hung-up on. That is also ridiculous. I would suggest you change that system to be more customer-friendly for complaints that need to be lodged about your electronics.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Sincerely,


Christa

To which Greg, somewhat appeased, replied. . .(Letter #4)

I really appreciate it. Thank you so much for getting back to me.

They are pretty obnoxious. You think Flatirons is bad, I saw it from Surrey Ridge coming into South Denver on Saturday night. I was blown away.

I appreciate you and the town working towards a solution. That’s all I am looking for.

Thank you Mr. Mayor. I appreciate your attention in this matter.
Greg

To which the mayor replied. . .(Letter #3)

Greg,

I am sorry that you have felt that we are not responding appropriately. We have been told that the FCC is the body that should be contacted. I know staff is working on other angles to this problem. I too am bothered by it and observed the towers at Flatirons Mall on Friday night. I agree this is unacceptable and is a community issue as does the staff.

We will continue to look at how I and the town can respond and get help with this. I thank you for your interest and I will be in touch with you once I know more.

Eric E. Doering
Mayor, Frederick, Colorado

Letter #2 to the Mayor of our Town (Oct. 30th)

Greg wrote this after he saw a link on the town website about the towers that stated:

"The bright white strobe-like lights on the southern radio tower (located to the east of Frederick) have been the cause of many citizen complaints in Frederick and the surrounding areas. Town officials have contacted the Weld County Planning Department and several area communications companies regarding the problem, and all complaints should be directed to Clear Channel Communications, which owns the tower. The Town of Frederick is not responsible for the towers and has no control over their operation."

Which apparently, Greg didn't like. Thus this letter, to our mayor:

Subject: Flashing South Tower East of Town / Concerned Citizen of Savannah Subdivision - Please Help Us -
Hello Mayor Doering,

I am writing you today with great concern regarding the flashing towers east of town. I myself, being a resident of the Savannah Subdivision, east of CR15 and North of Hwy52, am fully impacted by these lights. Not only is this a huge intrusive nuisance to my home, homes of my neighbors, and my ability to sleep, It is now becoming a safety issue in our neighborhood as Halloween approaches, as you lose all nighttime vision when driving eastbound through the subdivision. I fear that if these lights are not detuned quickly, that a child will be struck, as this is a neighborhood full of children.

The note on the website that the town of Frederick is shrugging off the responsibility of these towers to the FCC is completely inappropriate, since our town and its citizens are DIRECTLY and NEGATIVELY impacted by these towers. Regardless of where the towers lie in regard to town limits, the town should be concerned with the well-being, and safety of all of its citizens. Please get involved with this issue, and use any and all influence that the town has in order to get this remedied quickly. There are many residents in Savannah that are counting on you.

I appreciate your time. Thank you

Greg

Letter #1 to ClearChannel Communications (Oct. 30th)

Clear Channel Tower at 6800 WCR 17 near the Intersection of WCR16 in Weld County Colorado - EXTREMELY BRIGHT LIGHTS - Safety Hazard & Nuisance


Good morning,

I am writing today to complain about the new lighting configuration that began Sunday, Oct 22, 2006. The south tower at this site, Clear Channel Communications, has been changed, and is now EXTREMELY bright day and night. This tower has become more than a nuisance, and is now a safety hazard. It is now difficult to drive eastbound on many different EB routes, including Colorado Highway 52, Main Street, Frederick, Colorado (5th Street), and many smaller residential roads. The tower lights are so bright that you lose visibility as your eyes cannot adequately adjust for nighttime driving. Safety for children in the area as well as wildlife and pedestrians is now a concern, especially with the onset of the holidays (Halloween). These lights need to be returned to their previous brightness ASAP before somebody gets hit.

For the neighborhoods that surround these towers, life has also become difficult. Sleeping with bright lights flashing all night is extremely difficult. It is painful to be outside in the evenings, as the brightness of these flashing white lights is extreme and dramatic. Please take action as soon as you can to remedy this situation, and have this tower repaired.

Please feel free to contact me regarding this issue. It is of the utmost importance to me, since I am directly impacted in a negative manner regarding this tower.


Greg

Explanation of Tower letters to be posted...

Recently, one of the large radio towers in the field behind our house had its light bulbs changed and its system updated. This would have been fine except the new bulbs are about 1,000 times brighter than the previous bulbs and they were cranked up all the way day and night.

It's hard to exaggerate how bright this made our neighborhood. Visualize lightning striking in the black of night every second or so and I suppose that's the closest picture I can paint you. It was aggravating, and though it bothered me. . .it nearly drove my husband insane.

What follows is the series of letters written from Greg to various officials as he tries desperately to get this fixed. . . and get some sleep. Because they are comical on their own, I'll post them, one at a time with little to no introduction.

Enjoy!

The Wobble of Death

Over a couple weeks in August, my brothers were able to come out and visit. One from North Carolina, one from Minnesota. The 4 (including my husband) of us are pretty close, and whenever the guys can come out - it's always a good time.

We went shopping at the mall one day. . . and about 2 hours before this photo was taken, Jeff (the one on the left) bought a longboard. It's something his friends are into. Basically a long, surfboard-shaped board that is similiar to a skateboard, but apparently different. And since Jeff enjoys tooling around on these things, he bought one on our shopping trip, along with a helmet.

About 1 hour before this photo was taken. . . Jeff didn't have that massive bandage on his arm.

We went from the mall to our parents house for dinner - around 50 minutes away. Jeff spent much of that time telling us all sorts of interesting facts about this style of boarding, along with things to watch out for. One of these things was 'The Wobble of Death' which he described as when the speed of the board gets to be so great that it starts to wobble first a little, and then with increasing frequency until the rider literally gets 'bucked off' his board.

So as we neared my parents house, we stopped at the the top of the sloping hilly road that they live on. . . and (as he was eager to try his new board out) let Jeff out to ride down on his own. We would follow behind just to make sure he was OK and to fend off any cars that may try to pass him, and we'd meet him at the house about a quarter mile down the hill.

So off Jeff went - new helmet, new board. His long locks waving in the wind. 5mph. . . 10mph. . . 15mph. . . 20mph! I was starting to get nervous at the speed; when John, Greg and I all noticed a bit of a . . . .Wobble.

Uh Oh.

Just as Jeff had - apparently prophetically - described; this slight wobble increased in momentum until it did, indeed look as if Jeff was riding some sort of crazed horse. His arms went out attempting to keep his balance, and then. . .like it was in slow motion. . . we watched him fly off the board, take two drunken high-speed steps (please remember his body was still going 20mph even if his legs weren't) and then fall and barrell roll down the street as his longboard shot off into the forest. Greg slammed on the brakes, we all ran out of the car to where Jeff was lying bloodied with torn jeans, shirt, and a scratched helmet. We were horrified.

Jeff had temporarily lost the ability to breathe and had also lost quite a bit of skin on the pavement. But though he was bloody and bruised, it didn't warrant a hospital visit, and so we gently helped him up and into the back of the car so he could catch his breath for a minute before we headed down the hill to scare my mother to death.

Jeff sat there gasping for air, and groaning in misery - and as he did my other brother John patted him reassuringly on the shoulder. "Yeah Jeff," he said contemplatively; "we see what you mean about that Wobble of Death."