I, like many, was stunned by the results of last Monday’s hearing. I have been trying to piece together what happened. The petition supposedly was the determining factor. But that couldn’t be, this was a hearing not a place to deposit petitions. This does make me wonder about what the strategy behind this hearing was. It was Mr. Garretson’s job to keep to the guidelines of this hearing, to ensure an equal and non biased playing field and decline that petition. At the very least, everyone should have been informed that petitions would be accepted. I continue to hear the words of Mr. Garretson in one of his letters to the editor, “Get in line or get out of the way.” His words stayed with me during the weeks of waiting for the moratorium proposal to be approved by the town board and then finally the hearing. I was extremely skeptical of the motives behind this proposal and wondered why they would even bother with a hearing when it was very clear that the town supervisor and many members of the town boards wanted to move ahead with the wind project. Despite my skepticism, I began to hope that maybe we did have a voice and a moratorium could possibly be passed. Perhaps I thought Mr. Garretson had a change of heart, perhaps he and the other councilmen really were interested in a fair hearing for all citizens. But alas, that hope was squashed. What better way to get people in line or get them out of the way than to hold that carrot out, build up their hope, and then squash them like an invasive pest – a strategy used since time immemorial to keep the non existents in their place and sacrifice them for the greater good. (Which we all know means money in this case – $3 million per turbine multiplied by 24 turbines for Reunion Power and a substantial income for the landowners.) At any rate, we now have a new member on the town board, David Little, who will no doubt be able to dictate to the town what he wants and when he wants it. Interesting he’s not considered an outsider, isn’t it? Diana Wells Sharon Springs
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