THE HIGH COST OF EGGS CAN MAKE YOU SICK--LITERALLY

by L.A. McMahon

Inflation has pushed the price of basic food necessities into the stratosphere, and because of avian influenza, millions of chickens were euthanized this past year increasing the price of a dozen organic eggs to over $7.00. This caused many Gardiner residents to be motivated to try raising backyard poultry. Seriously, it seems like every other person you talk with has started or is starting to raise chickens, ducks, geese, guinea fowl, and sometimes, turkeys. When you think about it, with today’s prices, who wouldn’t want to raise a few chickens? There are many upsides to raising poultry, first of which is enjoyment; people enjoy raising baby chicks, ducklings, goslings, keets, and poults. They are adorable, soft, and fluffy, and eventually when they grow up, they give fresh eggs. In the last century when farming was the main pursuit in this area, the knowledge of how to manage livestock was handed down from generation to generation, but there’s been a gap since then and now, instead, there’s Google, YouTube and TikTok to educate the poultry naïve, and every year people are getting sick from bird-borne germs that can cause a variety of illnesses ranging from minor skin infections to serious illnesses that may cause death. Now, compared to COVID-19, getting sick from a chicken may seem almost ridiculous, but like COVID-19, the CDC2 has guidelines to prevent poultry-related infection, loosely summarized below:

• Don’t kiss backyard poultry or snuggle them and then touch your face or mouth. (This one is easy as I’ve never had a bird willing to kiss me, but it may be a hardship for those with affectionate birds.)

• Don’t let backyard poultry inside the house, especially in areas where food or drinks are prepared, served, or stored. (Only dead chickens are allowed in the kitchen, and no geese in the bed--there’s only room for the dogs.)

• Don’t eat or drink in areas where poultry live or roam. (Coop-side soirees, even socially distant ones, are out.)

• Set aside a pair of shoes to wear while taking care of poultry and keep those shoes outside of the house. (Alert to Gardiner inventors: I googled “outdoor shoe garage” and came up empty.)

• Stay outdoors when cleaning any equipment or materials used to raise or care for poultry, such as cages or food and water containers. (May be a challenge during a NY winter, but OK.)

• Safe egg handling is also important because eggshells may become contaminated with Salmonella and other germs from poultry droppings (poop) or the area where they are laid; CDC recommendations include:

• Keep a clean coop. The cleaner the coop, the cleaner the eggs.

• Collect eggs often. The longer they sit, the dirtier they get. Throw away cracked eggs; bacteria on the shell can more easily enter a cracked shell.

• Don’t wash warm, fresh eggs in water that is even 10-degrees colder than the temperature of the egg because doing so can pull bacteria into the egg. Eggs with dirt and debris can be cleaned carefully with fine sandpaper, a brush, or a cloth

• Refrigerate eggs after collection to maintain freshness and slow bacterial growth.

• As with all raw animal products, it is safest to cook eggs to an internal temperature of 160°F (71°C) or hotter to kill potentially harmful organisms.

For more info: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention www.cdc.gov❧

Cell Tower Recap

by Supervisor Marybeth Majestic

Questions have been raised about the Town Boards’ decision to honor a lease placing a Wireless Telecommunications Facility (WTF) at the Highway Garage on South Mountain Road. Here are some facts to help set the record straight.

The lease for the Highway property was signed by the Town Board in May 2011. There was no activity on this lease until September of 2021 when Wireless Edge submitted an application to build a tower. The Town Board held public hearings for 2 months, had 2 balloon tests performed, hired a radio frequency engineer and approved the application in August 2022.

The Cell Tower Background

Wireless Edge, demonstrated a capacity and coverage issue within town and reported that this project would remedy the gap. The radio frequency engineer hired by the town confirmed that, and also stated the area suffers from sector saturation; unreliable service would continue to be an issue if the proposed facility were not constructed, especially as demand continues to increase.

The Cell Tower Property

The location provides a natural buffer of trees along the road so the ground equipment will be concealed at the lower level. The project will have a limited impact on community-wide scenic views and is the least intrusive available site, from those submitted in 2010. The facility will be 1,200’ lower than the ridgeline.

Conditions Required by Town Board

This being a difficult decision to make, the current Town Board reviewed the comments from the public and placed additional conditions on the special use permit. These were: limit the height to 110’, provide annual rf emissions compliance reports, provide an acceptable decommissioning and removal agreement, provide a performance guaranty, paint the tower a mottled gray and brown to represent tree bark, install sound attenuating enclosure around the generator, provide details on ice management, prohibit illumination other than safety lights, require all utility wires be placed underground.

It is important to note that the Town Board was prohibited from considering alleged health impacts from the proposed tower by the US Telecommunications Act, which regulates the placement and construction of WTFs as well as the ability of local governments to enact their own regulations regarding towers. TCA§332 states local governments retain authority to make certain decisions regarding the development of WTFs subject to limitations in the TCA such as “no local government or instrumentality thereof may regulate the placement, construction and modification of personal wireless service facilities on the basis of the environmental effects of radio frequency emissions.” Courts have determined that “environmental effects include health concerns about biological effects of RF radiation.” (T-Mobile Northeast LLC v Town of Ramapo, SDNY 2009).

To address this concern, the Town Board suggested residents contact Congressman Pat Ryan to address the FCC regulations, since it is a federal, not a town regulation.

I hope this gives you a better understanding of the process. Please contact me if you would like to discuss this further at 845-255-9675 x101 or supervisor.tog@gmail.com. ❧

THE GARDINER GAZETTE

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