June 20, 2006
Councilman Joe Dyckman
Cohocton Town Board
Cohocton, NY 14826
Mr. Dyckman:
My recent letter dated June 19th included the question "Are any of you successful business men?" Joe, I apologize to you for this question. When I think of this wind turbine issue and the Town Board, you do not come to mind to me because you abstain from voting on points surrounding it.
This was an ignorant oversight on my part. I was in no way questioning you as to your caliber as a businessman, you simply did not come to mind when I was making this point. Please accept my apology, no insult intended.
When I saw you tonight the blunder came to my mind. I do watch your farming operation and admire what you do. We may not agree on the issues surrounding these turbines, but there is nothing personal in my heart against you or any of the Town Board members. I am adamant in my opinion that this project as proposed is wrong for Cohocton, but it is not the personalities involved, it is the issues.
I am sure you have family that have been wounded or killed in wars wherein they served to defend our way of life. It offends me greatly when I see government sponsored programs tramping on the rights that my family went to war and died to defend. I have no problem with a landowner making money from a program inside the confines of his or her property lines, but we all have property rights and each landowners' rights stop where his or her neighbors' start.
This program as proposed includes a blatant disrespect of what we are as Americans. We in America are private landowners with deeds that say we have the right to quietly enjoy our property. This program as proposed is a violation of those rights. Local Law #2 is nothing short of a dictatorial document which is the gateway for the gathering and redistribution of wealth from poor communities and taxpayers to a chosen few. (I am not talking about the amount offered to the leaseholders; I am talking strictly about corporate enrichment)
All this propaganda about it being our patriotic duty to support this "green energy" for the good of the Country does not fly with me, the facts do not support that this should be a united effort amongst Americans to help our Country. This is a corporate (some of them foreign) fostered scam to bilk Americans of our money and our rights, supported by our local, State and Federal governments, all on the back of an energy need that this effort does not even offer a significant contribution to.
This is not a N.I.M.B.Y. issue. This is about heartfelt conviction to resist a deception of the worst kind. This is a deception against simple uneducated Americans who do not have a clue what is being done to them. When I drive through Town and see all these "we support clean safe power" signs in the yards of people that I thought were free independent educated people who were somewhat privy to the level of corruption in our governments, a cringe goes through my body. Not to get sidetracked, but this is how America was defeated in Vietnam. Communists are masters at spin, so are greedy Corporations and politicians. Fine upstanding people have bought into this hoax. Those green signs for supposed clean power are a testament to how people can be easily misled.
The saddest truth about this whole affair is the fact that some have willfully joined in this deception. I may get chided by the "yes wind" people for being rude or impolite and I have even been accused of being a liar, but no matter … this issue is to important to let go by without a fight. I have only suffered a little chiding; others have given their lives to defend these principles that have made America strong. What concerns me the most is when I present these violations of what used to be cherished rights and my government calls my efforts noisemaking and baloney. God be merciful to the ignorant. We are talking about much more than ice throw and noise. We are talking about the continued deterioration of the American principles that have made us strong in the past.
The Bible is often misquoted as saying that "money is the root of all evil" This is a misquote. The Bible says it is the "love" of money that is the root of all evil. Joe, don't let the money blind you. You have been offered only enough to help these Corporations bilk your neighbors. Separate yourself from this scam. Joe, from what I can tell, they are only offering Cohocton 6/10ths of 1% of their revenue. You are a businessman; can you justify support of this?
Scrap this plan as it is, resolve to work to get a better one in which the impact of these turbines is contained within the leaseholders property, choose a company to deal with that offers you as a leaseholder and our Town, a sufficient fair compensation plan that is worthy of the trust you have been given. Rewrite the zoning law so it protects us better than the one that simply calls for a letter of credit as surety. Based on the letter that the "yes wind" people put into today's Valley News, they do not understand what this means. A letter of credit is a worthless document for a program with the liability this offers.
Stop the money grab that UPC has started Joe, get a handle on this and defend our Town. No one on the Town Board wants to sit down with me in open public debate about this. I am not interested in a shouting match, I want to sit down with our government and dialog on a point by point basis, respectfully, rationally and democratically.
Sincerely,
Robert C. Strasburg II
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