Benji Carr's remarks to the Cohocton Planning Board - April 2, 2007

I moved onto Deusenbery rd. 20 years ago, Sept 1987. Actually I was looking for a place on the end of a dead end rd. My last two locations were in the town of Naples and the blacksmithing noises proved too much for a small community atmosphere. Another reason to locate myself remotely was to avoid traffic, industry, and housing developments. I really enjoy my morning exercise with the dogs to the top of Lent hill. There one can see horizon in all directions. This is such a picturesque and seemingly unscathed area here in the Finger Lakes, and we need to preserve our home frontier with carefully weighed thoughts and plans, but also employing new science, common sense, and wisdom to the best of our ability.

The proposed wind turbine project is a flying leap into a black hole. The fat cats that are funding this project are hoping that we field mice take the leap, waving old glory and screaming "save the planet" as we plummet into the abyss of big business side effects, such as environmental impacts, fuzzy math efficiency ratings, human and wildlife ill effects, property devaluation, liability....the list is lengthening daily. Seems to me just this much vague knowledge should be enough to halt this project, but apparently the allure of the “dangling carrot" is just too much for mules with blinders on.

There was a gentleman who lived on Lent Hill, I think we would call him a statesman. He was a farmer, a school teacher, a banker; he had his hand in many community functions. He loved his countryside. His name was Leo Stanton. I just missed meeting him in person. He died just as I was moving in here. Folks who knew him tell me he was quite a treasure. If I did believe in a life after this one Leo's knuckles would be bloodied from pounding at the lid of his coffin saying "let me out of here, someone is trying to profit from the desecration of my homeland!" I con not imagine his reaction when he comes to find that one of those is his own daughter and her money grubbing counterpart.

If a leaseholder's slant is that he needs the proceeds to patch his hemorrhaging business then perhaps he should downsize his operation, diversify, and plant some new and different seeds so to speak. The tendrils of sustainable progress climb the pole slowly. There is no slap and dash miracle drug or an easy button to push that fixes a problem that concerns the entire community. Before the advent of the aforesaid "dangling carrot", life was typically Cohocton. Work hard for the family and livelihood, take a couple of days off to breath in the freedom of a stress less lifestyle with no suicide car bombs to hear about. Some kids may knock off the local grocery store but that kind of event is to be expected.

The planting of vegetation for the production of green diesel to wean ourselves off of the foreign oil nipple will be a far more intelligent effort than erecting 500 foot Trojan horses that render sweeping radii around themselves useless to development, and there is a laundry list of negative stuff that comes along with that approach. We also need to put in place a diverse planning board with open doors and open minds to help grow a community where people can live safely. There may be a place for boomtown industry to bilge its waste material excess but our planning board will not exercise such thunder headed judgment. Sure we can name some groups that hold secret meetings. When I was a boy my friends and I built a tree fort, secret meetings, no girls allowed! There's the KKK, they have secret meetings....Then there's al-Qaida, they have them too....but we don't want to be like those groups.

I'm really trying to find some positive points for this project to be considered but I am having a hard time doing that. We did not build the turbines...we are not getting any of the electricity...they are going to scare the wildlife right off the hill...they are going to create a strobe effect in my house...they create an unnatural grey noise that has to be dealt with...the excavation and blasting is more than likely going to leave the ground water worse than it already is...and when lightning strikes the turbine and the stray voltage fries my appliances the insurance company is going to say "sorry sir but you have a lightning rod in your front yard." ....So what is the up side? The lease holders get their pockets lined and the rest of us just have to suck it up?...What happens when there is damage or injury or death caused by the turbines? Looks like the fat cats have their butts covered with fine print. That leaves our little town liable! If you think Cohocton is a ghost town now, I disagree.

In summary:

If we were so foolish as to squander our young people's future by investing in this kind of capitalist worship, Cohocton will be no more than place where a truck driver can sling out his excrement jug on the way to 390.

But we who are concerned are not going to let it get that far. If need be the forces of litigation will find that this half baked plan has found it's way before our chair persons by illicit means.

Then shortly following that we will see our used-to-be board members strolling along 390... In orange suits... picking up litter.

Benji Carr