Campaign Targets Officials In The Wrong Salem

SALEM, MA — There are 26 states with a town or city named Salem, so mix-ups are inevitable. The latest involved elected officials in Salem, Massachusetts, receiving threatening letters from a group opposing 5G networks. The group meant to send the letters to officials in Salem, Oregon. The letters, sent en masse, warn the officials they have been "under legal notice of liability" from the group, which is concerned about radio frequency pollution.

"I admit, since they aren't constituents (not even in the right Salem, for crying out loud) I'm being pretty blunt with them and telling them to go away since they aren't my constituents or even residents of my city," Ward 5 City Councilor Josh Turiel said in a Facebook post, which also included a mini-science lesson on radiation and the relative safety of 5G. "I've got zero patience for organized campaigns of derp from outside Salem and no apologies for it."

5G — short for Fifth Generation— is the next generation of cellular technology and companies are promising download speeds 10 to 100 times faster than the current 4G network. Mobile service providers are in the process of rolling it out in their biggest markets. Verizon and T-Mobile, for example, expect to have 5G up and running in 30 cities by the end of the year. AT&T will have 5G in 21 cities and Sprint will have it in nine cities by the end of the year.

Halfway between Portland and Eugene in Oregon, Salem,is on the lists of some of the companies as a place that will get 5G coverage this year. Salem, Massachusetts, will have to wait until 2020, when most of the major mobile phone services plan to roll 5G out nationwide.

"I think they have their Salems mixed up. As well as their science," Turiel said on Facebook.