Samm the Ham Hero Faces Fight Over Radio Tower

MOUNT PLEASANT, Wis. (April 22) -- Ten-year-old Samm Markstrom is a ham radio operator who picked up a "Heroic Award" from his county's volunteer center for his work alerting the local National Weather Service to a tornado in a nearby city.

Now, the fourth-grader -- who has cerebral palsy and whose parents say the hobby has improved his speech and fine motor skills and boosted his confidence -- is defending his backyard radio tower from village officials who have ordered his family to remove it.

The Mount Pleasant village zoning board voted Wednesday to delay its decision on the tower, giving Markstrom's family 60 days to prove the tower is safe on their small, suburban lot near the southeastern Wisconsin city of Racine.

"We're just really happy we didn't get an absolute no," his mother, Cathy Markstrom, told the Racine Journal-Times after the hearing. "That's what we were expecting."

The boy, dubbed Samm the Ham by local media, was a little less guarded in his comments, saying the commissioners "would understand this better if they'd get the manuals."

"It's stupid," he told television reporters after the hearing. "We have an inch-and-a-half stack of paperwork."

The radio tower stands 62 feet tall in the family's backyard, and Samm's father, Jim Markstrom, says the contractor who built it in 2007 apparently failed to get the proper permits. Village officials have said neighbors complained that the tower interfered with television or telephone reception, prompting them to look into the matter and determine the Markstroms' never received zoning approval.

At the hearing, Markstrom, a professor and engineer who is also a radio hobbyist, agreed to bring back a report on the safety of the tower's base. He previously gave the village an engineer's report on the safety of the tower itself. Markstrom also noted that the tower fits within Federal Communications Commission guidelines that typically govern them.

For the family, the issue is mainly about Samm, who has cerebral palsy and has speech and fine motor difficulties. The boy received his ham radio operator license last year; since then, his mother said, "He's just blossomed."

The Racine County Volunteer Center gave Samm its annual "Heroic Award" last week, noting that the boy volunteers more than 20 hours a month, working during disasters, giving weather reports and assisting 911 operators. The center took particular note of the boy's ham radio dispatches that resulted in a warning to residents to seek shelter after a tornado was spotted in nearby Kenosha in June.

During a rare winter tornado in Kenosha the previous January, Samm and his father helped out with their radios, coordinating relief efforts for nonprofit organizations. Samm's mother coordinates local disaster volunteer training programs for the county. The boy described his work during disasters as "kind of fun. And kind of interesting."

In typical 10-year-old style during an interview with the Journal-Times, Samm described his work during the tornado like this: "I issued a tornado warning for Kenosha County, relaying to Sullivan weather which they told the, well, basically, you can get the rest," he said, referring to the National Weather Service's station in the town of Sullivan.

Samm's fight to save his tower also has a Facebook fan page, run by his family, which provides updates on the boy's efforts.

"Samm decided to celebrate his reprieve with rootbeer floats. Now he's back home, and acting like a typical 10-year old again," read his update after the village zoning decision. Before the decision? "Samm is so nervous he insisted on washing his face twice to make sure he was clean. :)" And: "Tomorrow is the big day. Samm thought it was so important he insisted on taking a bath tonight. A 10-year old has got to have priorities!"

For now, Samm is simply moving on with his hobby. The boy is scheduled to help teach a "Ham Cram" technician class at the Volunteer Center of Racine County next month.