Thursday, June 7, 2007

Time to stand up against the almighty dollar

The following letter was written by Mary Barnes of Hays, Kansas, June 2007

The wind farm issue has left me feeling, well, numb.

My husband and I have lived southwest of Hays for nearly 26 years. We have raised our four children in the country believing that this was the best atmosphere in which to nourish young children.

On summer evenings we sit on the swing and listen to the owls hooting, crickets chirping and the frogs croaking. No one needs to say a word; we are just letting each other enjoy the peacefulness of the night air. Every once in a while you can hear deer or the horses walking around behind our yard or maybe the dog barking at the coyotes that are howling in the distance. On blustery winter days, we look at the wonderful blanket of snow that seems to go on forever.

In the mornings as we drive the kids to school, I tell my kids to look at the wonderful artwork that the Good Lord has given to us with His majestic sunrises and sunsets as we are heading back home. We don’t hear cars drive by, there are no street lamps to light up the blackness of the night, and there is nobody nearby having a party and playing their music too loud disturbing the absolute quietness. This is the life that we chose when we decided to live in the country all those years ago. It is simply beautiful, peaceful and tranquil.

We are now being literally forced to give all of this up for the almighty dollar? The proposed area to place the industrial wind complex will certainly take all that we have known to love about our country living and throw it into the wind where it will be gone forever.

The people who are against the complex are not against green energy.

We simply are saying that there needs to be a better site - a site that will not take away what we cherish or cause so much anger and friction between what were once good friends, neighbors and even our own families.

If the zoning board and county commissioners pass this conditional use permit, it will open the door for Iberdrola of Spain to put these turbines up anywhere in the county. This zoning is county zoning, not just the zoning southwest of Hays.

Fellow Ellis County residents, please beware. If this permit is allowed to pass, there will no place in Ellis County that will be safe from these turbines. The “wind” is the limit.

We are all people of the land; whether all we have is chicken to pet or a pony to brush (or dreams of owning one). Is this really what we want for our beautiful Ellis County?

The good people of Beaumont, Spearville and Montezuma welcome these industrial wind complexes, I for one, say let them have them. The grids are already in place. I am sure that these towns would love to have additional 47 turbines each.

The wind still is blowing there last time I checked. Why then are the “wind people” so adamant about the turbines coming to Ellis County?

Why are they willing to pit neighbor against neighbor, friend against friend, family against family? Is it all in the name of being earth-friendly and wanting to lessen our dependency on fossil fuel? Or is it the almighty dollar rearing its ugly head speaking loudly and clearly? Sadly to say, I believe it is the latter.

Let the Ellis County community stand together and be able to say that we fought big corporate business and won.

Submitted by Ellis County Resident:
Mary Barnes
615 Munjor Road
Hays, Kansas


To Sign the Petition:
If you are an Ellis County, Kansas, resident and you wish to support a petition to prevent this wind farm from being constructed next to Hays, Kansas, you can follow this link and leave your name, real address, and a single comment about your support of this petition. Click here now!

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