April 4, 2019
Iowa

Supreme Court visits Forest City for hearing

Posted By: Kaleb Gillock | KIMT | Apr. 3, 2019 | www.kimt.com

FOREST CITY, Iowa – It is not something you see every day. Tuesday night in Forest City, the Iowa Supreme Court heard oral arguments in two companion cases at the Boman Fine Arts Center. Companion cases are those that involve similar parties, common facts, and questions of law that are related.

The Mathis v. Iowa Utilities Board, et al. and Mathis, et al. v. Palo Alto County Board of Supervisors, et al. hearing was just what the new building in Forest City was intended for as it was open to the public. These particular cases hit close to home for all Iowans.

“In 2017, we found out that they were going to put up a few wind turbines,” said Bertha Mathis. “Then we found out it was going to be 170 of them.”

Mathis and her husband are up in arms, standing ground for Iowans who do not want wind turbines near their homes – or at least a large quantity of them – calling it a failure on the Iowa Utilities Board.

“The vision statement says that they are the expert in utilities and they have abdicated their responsibility to 99 county supervisors throughout Iowa who are not experts in energy,” Mathis told KIMT.

While the court will continue to deliberate and attempt to resolve the issue in the coming months, Tuesday night was a valuable learning experience for the community.

“I hope they understand constitutionally, especially in America today…we really need to support our constitutions.”

Bertha can rest assured that those in attendance took something away from watching the hearing as many were talking about it when exiting the building.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2019/04/04/supreme-court-visits-forest-city-for-hearing/