Michael Ryan is reporting in the Windham Journal Greene County Administrator Shaun Groden has announced the extension of a grant deadline will allow for the construction of the Windham Mountain cell tower project to be extended until Labor Day. The tower will be used for emergency services, only. Funding for the project was provided by the division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services in light of the weaknesses exposed in the county's communication systems following Tropical Storm Irene in Aug. 2011. The new tower will be one of three linking Greene, Delaware and Schoharie counties and part of a long-term plan aimed at modernizing telecommunications. Greene County has also committed to investing $15 million to construct a series of 12 cell towers, countywide. The towers will eliminate gaps in cell phone coverage in the hamlets of Hensonville and Maplecrest in the town of Windham, virtually all of the town of Lexington and other remote areas. Read the full story in the Windham Journal.