by Dave Gram, Associated Press / Miami Herald, 13 December 2013
MONTPELIER, Vt. -- A Russian immigrant couple who said they were forced from their Vermont home because of the construction of a utility communications tower was awarded $1 million by a jury on Friday.
Olga Julinska and Felix Kniasev said they were forced to abandon their $425,000 home atop Northeast Mountain in Wells by a communications tower built on their property by the Vermont Electric Power Corp., known as VELCO.
Vermont's Public Service Board, which regulates utilities, awarded the couple less than $26,000, nearly 40 times less than the Rutland County jury said their claim was worth. The board said the value of the couple's property was only partially diminished by the project.
The two said they moved in part because they worried about the health effects on them and their four young children of living so close to the antenna. They said their property was disturbed by a new power line to the project and VELCO had the right to put other communications companies' antennas on the tower.