The battle was largely divided over lines of locals and newcomers. Locals who have lived in White Oak and Panther Creek all their lives said cell phone communication is desperately needed in the isolated communities to make their lives safer.

Communication is one of the best things that can happen to an outlying area, said J.B. Arrington, 73. I think this cell phone is a great thing.

Arrington drove a school bus for 30 years and when there was a break down, he would send an older kid walking down the road to call for help.

Those who have moved into the area fear the cell towers will ruin the unfettered views of the mountains and the feeling of tranquility, which is the whole reason they came here.

Silvia Tennison, one of the opponents, said she moved to Panther Creek after living in Washington, D.C., and Chicago because of the natural resources and views, and because her subdivision is largely surrounded by national forest.

The thought in my head was that nature was going to surround me, Tennison said.

Another opponent was so upset by the prospect of a cell tower ruining the highly valued rural setting with an industrial, man-made object that she broke down in tears, sobbing at the podium.

But Chris Burnette, a local to the area, pointed out that the newcomers have degraded the wilderness and views for those who were here before them.

The views that have been talked about, look at any mountain and show me where there's not a house. Look at any mountain and show me where there's not a road, Burnette said.

Burnette said snowstorms that knock out electricity and phones for days are common in that part of the county. Burnette also cited the floods of 2004, when he was trapped by flooded roads, had no phone and no electricity. Throw in an elderly relative with diabetes and a heart condition, and it can be scary, he said.

One family who is local to the White Oak community and also has an elderly relative with health concerns opposed the cell tower, however.

White Oak has survived without a cell phone tower for 150 years. I don't know why they can't survive another 150 or forever, said Suzanne Phillips, who would be right next door to the tower. Phillips is from a tiny community in Tennessee and her husband and father-in-law are from White Oak.

Phillips said a giant, super-rich corporation was running over the top of regular folks.

It may be legal but it's not right, Phillips said, whirling around to stare at the cell tower representatives seated on the front row of the public hearing. How do you know 30 years from now people around cell towers won't turn up with cancer? Several opponents expressed similar health concerns.

One of the cell towers would be adjacent to a protected subdivision with deed restrictions that ban things like junk yards, trailers and pig farms, according to Nancy Hoffman.

People bought with the understanding and feeling they have a protected subdivision, Hoffman said, adding that people paid more for lots because of that protection. The lot where the cell tower would be does not have those same deed restrictions, however.

Cingular representatives said the cell towers will fill in holes where there is no signal along sections of the Interstate 40 corridor as it snakes through the Pigeon River Gorge, a narrow, twisty, canyon-like stretch of I-40 prone to accidents.

Haywood County's cell tower ordinance is one of the toughest in the state. It requires cell phone companies to share cell towers instead of each company littering the landscape with a new tower. But in this case, existing towers don't provide adequate coverage, said Jonathan Yates, a Cingular representative.

The maximum height of a cell tower in Haywood County is contingent on several factors. One is the tree canopy, permitting the cell tower to sit no more than 60 feet above the treetops. Another is placement. The higher a cell tower is on a ridge, the shorter it must be, and towers are banned all together on higher ridges.

I'm not going to insult anyone's intelligence tonight and say you're not going to see the tower. You will, Yates said. But we have done our best possible job to blend in.

Yates said the number of cell phones in the country now exceeds regular land line phones. He said the whole world will be wireless one day and there will be no more telephone poles and wires strung up and down every road.