Tower inferno blisters country-club manager.

• Position: Raintree Homeowners Assn.'s lawsuit against Raintree Country Club Inc.

Fences, not cellular-phone towers, make good neighbors, a fact Raintree Country Club's management company learned the hard way Sept. 1. The N.C. Court of Appeals upheld a ruling that the Charlotte club's homeowners could oust the company, in part because it let Bell-South Mobility DCS put up a tower on one of their golf courses in 1996.

Though the ruling left it little choice, Raintree Country Club Inc. announced in a press release three days later that it had "voluntarily initiated actions" to remove the 150-foot tower. "We have come to understand how important the tower issue is to this group," General Manager Richard Beetle says in the release.

But while publicly stating it was researching "just how quickly the tower can be taken down," the company was busy planning to fight the decision. "We have instructions to appeal, and we intend to do so," Rob Tiller, a Raleigh lawyer for the company, said in mid-September. Jack Steele, a Charlotte lawyer for BellSouth, says his client and the club operator are in sync over their stance. "We are not taking down the cell-phone tower until the appeals are exhausted." On Oct. 6, they petitioned the court to reconsider. If that doesn't work, they'll likely appeal to the N.C. Supreme Court.

"You mean they said something that's not true. I am shocked," drolls Dave Bland, a Matthews lawyer for the Raintree Homeowners...