November 15, 2012
Massachusetts
Massachusetts
Sapir, citizens voice concern over wind turbines at assembly; Beaton calls meeting “not really legal”
by Bradford Randall | Kingston Journal | November 15, 2012 | kingstonjournal.com
by Bradford Randall | Kingston Journal | November 15, 2012 | kingstonjournal.com
KINGSTON – Dan Sapir, a long-time member of Kingston’s Board of Health, was blunt last night.
“I’m not doing this to gain points from anybody, I’m doing it because it’s right,” Sapir told citizens last night during a standing-room only assembly on the second floor of Kingston’s town house.
Sapir had called for a health board meeting for Wednesday of this week to field complaints about Kingston’s wind turbines but, Sapir’s request for a meeting was denied by the chairman of Kingston’s health board, Joe Casna.
Sapir still held a meeting last night in Room 203 of the Kingston Town House, telling attendees, “If I’m wrong, I can take it.”
Sapir was the only health board member in attendance.
Beaton, a member of Kingston’s Green Energy Committee, spoke briefly at the informal meeting but also stated that he didn’t feel comfortable answering questions because the meeting was “not really legal.”
The Board of Health has a meeting scheduled for November 28th to discuss legal options pursuant to better regulation of Kingston’s wind turbines.
Sapir has been on record saying the November 28 meeting was not acting quick enough on behalf of the citizens who claim to have been negatively impacted by Kingston’s wind turbines.
According to Sapir, fellow board member Bill Watson also refused to show up at last night’s meeting and told Sapir, “Because I think you’re wrong Dan.”
Complaints surrounding Kingston’s industrial-wind turbines range from infrasound noise to flickering of sunlight.
Beaton suggested that it would take time for the proper responses to citizen complaints to be determined, but maintained that state agencies are focusing on complaints surrounding wind turbines.
Doreen Reilly asked Beaton what her family should do in the meantime about the wind turbines.
“My family and I, we should just not sleep? And we should have a strobe light in our house every afternoon?” Reilly asked Beaton.
Reilly continued, asking Beaton, “Should I leave my home and bring my family somewhere else to sleep?”
Beaton responded to Reilly, “You can [leave] if you want. The bottom line is, the state is engaged.”
Readers can watch the full KingstonJournal.com video segment Beaton’s tense interaction with residents at Wednesday’s meeting below.
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Sapir believes Casna, who also serves on the Board of Selectmen, has the same conflict of interest as Jay Talerman, Kingston’s Town Counsel.
Talerman assisted in negotiating the contracts around Kingston’s wind turbines on behalf of the selectmen earlier this year.
Talerman provided a written statement before last night’s meeting saying, because of his initial involvement with the turbines, he must abstain himself from providing counsel to the Board of Health.
“The conflict with town counsel has got to be the same conflict as from the chair,” Sapir said.
The next scheduled meeting about the Kingston wind turbines for Kingston’s Board of Health is scheduled for November 28th at 6pm in the town house.
Sapir said, in a post-meeting interview, that he expects the numbers of engaged citizens to remain strong up until the next meeting.
Watch the exclusive KingstonJournal.com interview with Sapir below by pressing play.
Stay tuned to KingstonJournal.com for more updates on the complaints surrounding Kingston’s wind turbines.
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2012/11/15/sapir-citizens-voice-concern-over-wind-turbines-at-assembly-beaton-calls-meeting-not-really-legal/