September 15, 2011
New York

Wind-power foes win the night

By BRIAN AMARAL, STEVE VIRKLER, JAEGUN LEE & SARAH HAASE, TIMES STAFF WRITERS, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2011, watertowndailytimes.com

[excerpt]

Opponents of wind-power development came out on top after Tuesday’s Cape Vincent primary, a battle at the polls that largely boiled down to that one swirling issue.

Wind-power foe Urban C. Hirschey beat wind-power supporter Harvey J. White, 277-99.

The fight is not over, though. Mr. White secured the Conservative Party line, so this race turned out to be only a preview of the Nov. 8 general election, when the two men will face off once again.

“I think the results are fairly definitive. It was very decisive, more so than I anticipated,” Mr. Hirschey said Tuesday night.

The Jefferson County Board of Elections still must sift through stacks of absentee ballots. By Tuesday, a total of 238 were cast in the Cape Vincent election – of 342 absentees countywide.

The Board of Elections will continue receiving the ballots until Sept. 20.

Mr. Hirschey, though, should fare well in the count. Seasonal residents – the target of an anti-wind-power voter registration drive – likely account for many of those absentee ballots.

Mr. White acknowledged the improbability of a comeback via absentee ballots.

“Urban’s already pretty well-known. And it’s pretty hard to beat an incumbent anyway,” Mr. White said, adding that anti-wind blogs have done a lot of damage to his and other candidates’ images by posting what he calls lies online, constantly attacking those with whom they disagree.

In the race for Cape Vincent Town Council, John L. Byrne III and Clifford P. Schneider, who oppose wind-power development, had wide leads in the Republican primary, while Marty T. Mason was the odd man out. Mr. Mason favors wind-power development.

Mr. Schneider received 289 votes, Mr. Byrne 266 and Mr. Mason 112 in the race that sends the top two candidates on to the general election.

John D. Blodgett and Colleen M. Knuth had leads over Kirk E. Grant in the race for town justice that will send two Republicans to the general election. Mr. Blodgett had 275 votes; Ms. Knuth had 220; Mr. Grant had 186.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2011/09/15/wind-power-foes-win-the-night/