<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN"> <HTML> <HEAD> <META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=us-ascii"> <META NAME="Generator" CONTENT="MS Exchange Server version 6.0.6617.58"> <TITLE>OF Cell Tower to be shortened & washed (AP)</TITLE> </HEAD> <BODY>  Yellowstone phone tower to be shortened, hidden Associated Press A 100-foot cellular phone tower near the Old Faithful geyser in Yellowstone National Park will be shortened and camouflaged next week, but a government watchdog group says that's not good enough. Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, based in Washington, D.C., wants the tower removed completely. They and other critics say it spoils the flavor of the area and isn't needed for communication like park officials claim. "The towers are being put up for commercial reasons, not for public safety," said Jeff Ruch, PEER's executive director. Next week, crews will knock 20 feet off the top of the cell phone tower and coat it with vinegar and water to reduce its silver shine, park spokeswoman Cheryl Matthews said Thursday. The tower, owned by Western Wireless of Bellevue, Wash., stands to the south of Old Faithful shops and government housing but was erected in an area badly scorched by the wildfires of 1988. The surrounding trees are falling down, leaving the tower more fully exposed, park officials said. Decreasing its size will reduce its visibility and bring the tower into compliance with a 1999 environmental assessment of the area, Yellowstone Superintendent Suzanne Lewis wrote in a memo earlier this year. She wrote she ordered the changes because of "negative visual impacts and comments from the public." The height and location of the cell phone tower raised concerns last year and touched off a debate about cellular phone towers in other national parks. Yellowstone currently has five towers, all in developed areas, and companies have applied to install three more. Ruch said his group plans to sue sometime this summer to force the Park Service to write a detailed plan of where such towers should be allowed in national parks. The Park Service urges people to commune with nature, he said, "but they're making it impossible to escape the modern world. We think they're taking away peace and quiet." Matthews said cell phone use is an important safety feature for park visitors and employees, but Ruch argued rangers already have radios that reach everywhere in the park and cell phones only further clutter up the air waves. Radio traffic, however, can be hard to break through in busy summer months, Matthews said, and federal laws prohibit some medical information from being sent via radio. Thanks, Udo Freund </BODY> </HTML>