Reader: Vote a resounding no
Huron Daily Tribune | April 27, 2017 | www.michigansthumb.com
A lot of print has been spent on the issue of another group of turbines that will add to the profit margin of DTE. In my opinion and experience, residents have paid little attention to our collective past and have therefore failed to connect the dots.
I realize some change is inevitable as time moved on from my birth in Kinde in the mid 40s. Not wanting to spend too much time looking back on the beauty of what the Thumb was, especially having such a unique geographical quality, let me offer a few thoughts.
When I brought friends, home from the military, Chicago, and overseas, they were amazed at the unique beauty of the area and the idea of the “Bean Center of The World.”
In my case, I worked along with my mother and father on our farm. The family worked and developed the property over the years. That was then. Now, when my 90-year-old mother – who I remember walking for hours shaking rocks out of bean rows – steps out her front door, what does she see? No longer open agricultural fields, but rows of ugly industrial turbines.
She wanted to stay on the farm and avoid industrial areas and the problems brought with them. Yet the ugliness and problems came to her. This is what short-sighted greed has brought to the community.
Huron County has not stopped with the turbine cancer. You have allowed concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) to pollute your water and cause algae growth on your shoreline. You are toying with solar projects. Google an article in the Wall Street Journal from April 19. It is entitled “Thanks for giving me your tax money.” Try to connect some of these dots, which always includes someone else’s profit margin.
The future. Next month, you will have an opportunity to voice your opinion as to whether or not you want to allow these well-funded outsiders to cram in another group of turbines. While much damage has already been done, this is an opportunity to stand against this scourge and say “enough is enough.”
I have read so much on the issue in the past few weeks. One comment, which I am sure is sadly wrong, is that “this is positive for our children.” What? Folks, when your children see that they do not have to live with the obnoxious turbines, they will not live in the area in any event.
Residential property values are down. You have traded off small revenues from temporary cheap hotel rooms and meals in favor of people building homes and creating the revenue that a lifetime of residence would provide. Not a very good choice!
Begin to reverse this sad reality in the Thumb. Vote a resounding “no.”
Edward M. Korleski
Kinde native
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2017/04/27/reader-vote-a-resounding-no/