Despite his often grumpy demeanor, Paige is obviously enjoying the notoriety brought to him by Horn -- and the show's profile is on the rise, thanks to the taping of special editions that Paige likens to "the nighttime version of The Price Is Right." The first of these efforts ran just prior to this month's ESPY Awards show, which was marked by Kobe Bryant's first public appearance after the sexual-assault allegations came to light, and the next will fill the hour just prior to the August 2 NFL pre-season opener between the New York Jets and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
With face time like that, Paige is likely to hear more observations like the one made to him by departed Colorado Rockies relief pitcher Todd Jones. As Paige relates it, Jones said, "I hate your column -- but I love you on TV."
Brett Amole
Say it loud: Woody Paige in a rage on Around the
Horn.
Brett Amole
Say it loud: Woody Paige in a rage on Around the
Horn.
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The stations strike back: On the surface, the July 22 decision by Jefferson County commissioners to allow construction of a 730-foot broadcast tower on Lookout Mountain ends a conflict whose roots stretch back two decades. However, odds are strong that the battle between the Lake Cedar Group, which represents channels 4, 7, 9 and 20, and Canyon Area Residents for the Environment (CARE), a consortium of homeowners associations, is simply entering a new phase.
Previous tower applications, including one in 1999 that was intended to make digital television available in Denver prior to 2006 (a date mandated by the Federal Communications Commission), failed for a slew of aesthetic and safety reasons; one proposition was rejected because the "fall radius" of the tower left other structures in potential jeopardy. These issues are important to CARE members, but of greater concern are the potential health effects of radiation from antennas on the tower. Most broadcasters believe there's no proof such emissions cause cancer and other ailments among residents in the line of fire. After all, a 1999 Colorado Department of Health and Environment study that found higher cancer rates in some Lookout Mountain enclaves didn't establish a causal link between cancer and radiation, and a separate survey being conducted by Colorado State University won't be finished until next year at the earliest.
Nonetheless, CARE spokeswoman Deb Carney believes the documentation argues strongly for caution. "We had a number of practicing physicians testify that the scientific evidence is accumulating to indicate adverse health consequences at the radiation levels we would be subjected to," she allows. "For physicians, the principle is 'Do no harm,' but the tack being taken here is, 'We're just going to keep increasing radiation until we see harm.' In our opinion, that's unethical and immoral."
Similar worries were voiced by hundreds of residents who attended a series of public hearings prior to the commissioners' ruling; only a relative handful of speakers were pro-tower. But Lake Cedar Group spokesman Fred Niehaus decries such rhetoric. "Deb and her group have done a disservice to people out there, and it's really troublesome and sad. They've incited a public outcry based on a fear factor they've helped create, and that's dead wrong." Niehaus emphasizes that the successful proposal addresses many of the concerns voiced by residents; it's not as tall as other models, won't contain FM antennas that sometimes create radiation "hot spots," will result in the removal of other towers currently on the mountain, and should lower overall radiation in the vast majority of locales.
Carney disputes this last claim and many others in terms that suggest CARE will file a lawsuit in Jefferson County District Court shortly after the formal tower resolution is drafted on August 19. Niehaus expects this action, but he says Lake Cedar will move forward with tower plans anyhow, even as it continues to counter what he sees as a disinformation campaign. "How many times did we hear people testify who said, 'We love Lookout Mountain; we moved there recently and had no concerns until we heard from CARE representatives, and now we're scared to death'?" he asks. "What they've done is unconscionable and disrespectful."
This rebuke doesn't seem to bother Carney. "We are not willing sacrificial victims," she says. "We will not go quietly."
