Letter to the Editor - Luschas: YES means NO – A need for corrections

Although I had planned to refrain from writing any letters to the editor during my actively ongoing campaign for a seat in the State House of Representatives, I have to break with my commitment to issue the following corrections. We notified the Brandon Valley Journal of a mistake in the Oct. 7, 2026 issue and gave them a chance to correct it in the Oct. 14, 2026 issue. But having seen no correction, I decided I have to do it myself in the hope that any confused Brandon voter will read this.

The article “Brandon city voters to decide fate of cell tower near RBE” in the Oct. 7, 2026 issue of the Brandon Valley Journal closed by stating that a “No” vote on the Brandon Referendum is a vote against the rezoning and against the proposed construction of a 5G cell phone tower across from the Robert Bennis Elementary School. I have to agree that this causation would have made a lot of sense.

Unfortunately, the wording in the Referendum flips the context upside down and makes a “Yes” vote a vote against the rezoning and against the 5G tower. A “Yes” is officially a vote to keep the current Natural Resource Conservation zoning.

A “No” vote would let the Brandon City Council’s rezoning decision from Nov. 3, 2025 to General Business stand and pave the way for the construction of the 5G tower.

So, to be clear “YES” means “NO rezoning, NO 5G tower” and “NO” means “YES to the rezoning, YES to the 5G tower.”

While I am at it, another minor correction is due as well: The article gave me all the credit for the petition effort to get this Referendum on the ballot. In fact, this was a true community effort. Several families from different political affiliations, different fields of expertise, and different phases in their lives came together to work for what they believed would make their community a better place. We are blessed to live in a community where people work together towards common goals.

Manuel Luschas

Brandon

Editor’s note: The correction was immediatley made to the online version of the story.