Dead zone stays alive

VillageSoup reports today that the view from Bald Rock will remain pristine, at least for the nonce. The local cellphone company in Lincolnville has been trying since 2005 to build a 190-foot tower in the middle of one of the grandest views on the coast. Horrors! Bald Rock seems to be a dead zone between Camden and Belfast! As far as I can tell, approval has been given and taken away several times already; fortunately, the company has only the Maine Supreme Court left (I rather doubt Roberts, Alito, Thomas and co. would be interested) for appeal.

It's a lovely, 2-mile hike up Bald Rock, most of which is a gently rising wide path through woods, and the last half-mile satisfyingly steep. The view from the top is spectacular: nearly all of Penobscot Bay is in view, and hawks soaring on the thermals, and the islands, and the sea traffic, and the peninsulas, and even Cadillac Mountain in Acadia. We've hiked it scores of times, and never tire of it. I'm very glad the citizen's group seems to have won. The thought not only of a "monopole" of steel mocking the trees around the base of the mountain, but also of punters at the top of Bald Rock, brandishing IPhones and demanding of their callees, "Where are you?" is not to be imagined, much less experienced.