The Sauk County Communications Infrastructure Committee has voted to proceed with a NINE tower system that will only improve the performance of existing aging analog radios by 40%. They propose that this is the least expensive way to improve wireless emergency management communications. A county-wide nine tower system connected by a fiber optic loop is based on installing a 250 foot tower with a strobe light by day and a red beacon by night at Thuli Road. This location will violate the intent of a State of Wisconsin Law and desecrate an international landmark. Our children’s heritage of experiencing the natural landscape with no signs of development will be destroyed.

For a little more money… a county-wide TEN tower communications system will preserve the natural settings at White Mound County Park and the Lower Wisconsin State Riverway for future generations. The Lower Wisconsin State Riverway is one of the few remaining places in the world where people can still enjoy a wilderness setting. Tourism dollars coming into Sauk County will not be adversely affected. In order to help a new system pay for itself…ten towers are more inviting to other tower users such as cell phone companies, small businesses and farm operations with trunked radio systems. A “line of sight” wireless broadband internet service provider could offer high speed connections to a great many Sauk County residents with a ten tower system. The Village of Spring Green and the River Valley School District would have a convenient location to tap into the fiber optic loop with a tower located on the school property. There are other advantages too numerous to list here, please contact FLOW, (wisriverfriends@yahoo.com), for more information.

We request that the Sauk County Board of Supervisors consider the needs of the many over the cheaper initial cost of servicing the needs of a few. Voting to install a county-wide ten tower communications system for a little more money will protect our children’s heritage and improve wireless emergency management communications more than 40%. If only one extra life is saved by having less “dead spots”, the added expense is worth it!