This Mother’s Day and Memorial Day, many in and around Hamilton will head across the Bitterroot River to the Riverview Cemetery and pay their respects to their loved ones. This peaceful, serene and beautifully maintained cemetery has picturesque views of the mountains and the river where you can reflect on the lives and love of those that are no longer with us. The Riverview Cemetery is the perfect example of what a cemetery should be.
I was very troubled to learn that the City of Hamilton is planning to permit Verizon Wireless to put a 65-foot cell phone tower, maintenance building, fencing and roadway in the northeast corner of Riverview cemetery. I think this is disrespectful to those buried there and disrespectful to the families with loved ones buried there. In my opinion this would ruin the cemetery and the view shed from in and out of town. Legal notices must have been published, however, I only read the paper online, making these unavailable. I doubt I am alone in this regard. The city was required to contact families within 300 feet of the cemetery but did not contact the families with the most vested interest in the cemetery – those with loved ones buried in the cemetery or those who own burial plots there. Having visited the cemetery several times in the last few months I’ve also never seen any posted notices there. I realize that Verizon would like to increase their data transfer speeds with this new tower and this may benefit some individuals, I just don’t think it should come at the cost of the Riverview cemetery. If you’d like to have your opinion heard on this issue please send a letter to Land Handsen, Zoning Administrator, 920 New York Ave, Hamilton MT and attend the Zoning board of Adjustment meeting on May22nd at 5:30. It’s your last chance to comment before the tower is built.
Dan Dulebohn
Hamilton