Tower riles Ehrhardt residents

Some residents of the small town of Ehrhardt in Bamberg County are upset because a 300-foot-tall cell phone tower was built recently near their houses.

Construction began Labor Day weekend and was finished last Monday, said Donna Rogers. The SCANA tower, about 100 yards from her front door, has significantly reduced the resale value of her home, she said.

"Why do we need a 315-foot cell phone tower in a town with less than 600 people? This has just been incredible to me that this could happen," Rogers said.

She said residents were aware that the tower would be built but didn't know where it would be located. "Had we ever had an inkling we would never have let this happen. Nobody at all knew that this site had been selected," she said.

Rogers, 59, contacted The Post and Courier in response to a recent story about some residents of the Candlewood subdivision in Mount Pleasant upset about a new SCANA-built 195-foot-tall cell phone tower there.

Rogers said she bought her 1907 house in Ehrhardt for $85,000 in 2005 because she felt safer than in Walterboro. She said she thinks her home is now devalued because of the tower. "There's such a stigma attached to cell phone towers," she said.

Judy and Russ Brown of Ehrhardt e-mailed a statement to The Post and Courier supporting Rogers. "The tower should have been put on the town's property outside of town, not in a residential area," they wrote. The Browns said they and other citizens will meet with Ehrhardt Mayor Bill Stanley to discuss the issue Dec. 1.

Verizon has leased space on the tower, SCANA Supervisor of Public Affairs Scott Grigg said. "This was discussed many times in open city council meetings in Ehrhardt."

City Councilman Bill Edinger said the town is practically a "dead zone" without cell phone service. He said that because of the new tower the town expects to have Verizon service by January or February.

In addition to providing cell phone service, he said, the tower also will improve police and fire communications.

"Now, after all the discussion, you've got two people who object. I don't know what to tell them. It wasn't kept secret," Edinger said. "The only reason we did it was to help the citizens of Ehrhardt."