BC town votes to ban cell phones

Looking for a nice quiet place to get away and unwind? The Village of New Denver in eastern British Columbia wants to make an unusual sales pitch:

Come, stay, and never hear the ring of a cell phone.

New Denver's citizens voted against the introduction of mobile phone service in a referendum in January. The vote was a close one -- 117 to 110 -- but the village council said before the referendum that it would live by the result. And it wants Telus to do the same.

New Denver (population about 600) is located in the Slocan Valley north of Nelson.

The issue has been passionately debated in the streets of New Denver and in the pages of the bi-weekly Valley Voice over the past few months. There are three reasons for the opposition: some citizens say radiation emitted by cellphone technology is a health hazard; others want to market the area to tourists and new residents as a tranquil cell-free sanctuary; and still others are just angry at Telus for what they see as its unwillingness to follow the community's wishes.