The history of progress in Jackson County covers a great many educational and business initiatives, but when you consider the really big moves forward you could do worse than focus on a handful of items:
The coming of the railroad;
The expansion of the highway system;
And the communications revolution.
The first opened up the mountains to the outside world. The second pushed the availability of electric power, once confined to cities, into rural and farming communities. The third opened up remote areas beyond the reach of the railroad.
The fourth is still a work in progress. The natural beauty of these mountains is something we’ll never take for granted, but those mountains also offer unique challenges in the “last mile” game of providing robust internet and communication access, two items that are absolutely vital for business, education and safety in today’s world.
The importance of that fourth step has long been recognized, but progress has been fitful, though it is gaining steam. One example of that progress moving forward is a step taken last week when the Webster Town Board signed off on a plan for siting a new cell tower on the campus of Southwestern Community College.
Vogue Tower Partners, LLC, based out of Chattanooga, Tennessee, applied to the town of Webster for three waivers to build the tower, which will have availability for three providers, Verizon being the first.
Motions passed on all three waivers and the tower moves on to the next step.
Now, cell towers aren’t the be-all and end-all solution to the fourth step, but they’re certainly an important element to it at least for the time being. There are plenty of legitimate complaints regarding cell towers, and in an area like this aesthetics can be among the top ones – taking in a scenic view of a Southern Appalachian ridgeline and coming across a cell tower can be like a poke in the eye if it’s not sited properly. The SCC locale is about as tucked away as a tower can get and still provide its function.
We mentioned safety as one of those functions earlier, and let’s return to that issue. A letter of support from the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office stressed the improvements in public safety the tower will provide, saying “We have experienced countless emergencies in that area in which cell phone coverage or improved coverage would have contributed to not only the emergency responder’s response time, but aid in assistance while help is in route to the scene. Cell phone coverage in and around this proposed area continues to be a challenge and something that we’ve worked with various cell phone providers to identify a solution. This tower will be an enormous step in that direction.”
So, another step has been taken toward progress on a vital element of this county’s future. We salute the public and private efforts that have gone toward making it a reality.
