architectural rendering of proposed cell tower/steeple
In cellular phone terms Wapatusset is in the proverbial DEAD ZONE. Residents might as well take their mobile electronics and skip them across Spritzing Rock Pond, counting how many times they hop – prior to smashing on the hard concrete pavement. You might as well carry a boat anchor around in your pocket. There is NO service.
To the youth of our fair town, this permanent state severely handicaps daily communication. “My texts just don’t go through,” stated 13 year-old Brittany Phipps of Boulder Street. “Taunting, provoking and demoralizing my peers through mobile Facebook has crippled my rise to ultimate power and popularity,” she quickly added.
To realtors, it is kept as a deep dark secret. “We make every attempt to accentuate the positive,” quips C. Hurmley Smythe, third generation realtor and president of Smythe & Spleen. “Wapatusset has the Center for Chardonnay Studies, the East Coast Yoga & Pilates Hall of Fame, the Independence Hall Mini-Mall and the headquarters for the Greyote Rescue and Outreach League (GROL) – but many sure sales turn to misses, when a perspective buyer attempts to make a cell phone call.”
Pines (file photo)
This is where the Reverend Torrie Pines, minister of the X-Treme Ultimate Universalist Congregational Church entered the scene. Rev. Pines a former V-Mobile executive in charge of cellular signal delivery, developed a plan to turn the (slightly leaning and difficult to maintain) spire of the XUUC Church into a cellular tower – with construction expenses picked up by V-Mobile in exchange for exclusive tower usage, and church naming rights.
The project was quickly sailing through the many town offices, committees, and boards – until Tuesday night when the “Good Ship Torrie-pop” struck an iceberg of titanic proportions. It was R. Cleaves Speakes, chairman of the Historical Preservation Society who threw out the first stone.
“That is the ugliest thing that I have ever see,” remarked a sneering Mr. Seakes, as members of the V-Mobile X-Treme Ultimate Universalist Congregational Church youth choir, circled the boardroom, clasping architectural renderings of the soon to be re-topped temple.
“To go through with this plan would be to ruin a perfectly good church!” –remarked hysterical board member Shirley Stemple-Frack. Following a deluge of negative remarks and grumbling rants, Rev. Pines and company, packed up the plans and quickly exited the building.
The group will reassemble again next month for another round. For now, continue to love your land line. Someday soon, Wapatusset will enjoy a cellular dawn.