We are writing to you to express our support for Lovel Pratt in the upcoming county council election.

In March 2012 we became aware that the proposed commercial cell tower ordinance included language which applied to some personal amateur radio antennas, thereby subjecting the individual amateur to the same costly approval process required of a cell phone company when putting up a new tower.

We felt that this would be burdensome, was outside the stated scope of the ordinance, could affect the ability of the amateur community to provide emergency communications, and appeared to be in conflict with existing state and federal regulations.

One of us, Mike Sear, wrote a letter to Lovel, his district’s county council person, asking for some time to discuss this issue. Three positive things occurred:

1. Lovel responded immediately, and quickly set up a time to meet with Mike.

2. At that meeting, she listened carefully to all he had to say.

3. She took the information to the council, who unanimously agreed to remove the objectionable language.

In our view, that’s how government is supposed to work. We think a good way to insure that it continues to do so is to elect Lovel Pratt to the new three member council. She has our votes!

Edward Kelm and Michael Sear

San Juan Island