To the editor: Thanks to all who made Weston Town Green celebration a success
The Chester Telegraph | Oct 10, 2016 | Comments 1
Weston’s Town Green came alive on Sept. 4 with more than 200 people at its annual community picnic and concert, celebrating 130 years of the Town Green.
The “Ladies of the Green,” Trustees and maintainers of the park wish to thank the many people whose volunteer work made it such a success: The Blue Flames Steel Band, who donated their magic music; all the workers who organized and supervised the event; and the many community members and businesses whose generous donations created an exciting fund-raising raffle. The list is long and we thank you all.
Thanks to:
Carrie Chalmers, Woodcock Farm, Manchester Woodcraft, Clark’s IGA, Bobo’s Maple Syrup, the Vermont Country Store, Weston Village Store and Christmas Shop and
The Inn at Weston, the Downtown Grocery, Homestyle Hostel, Colonial House Inn, Landgrove Inn, Olive & Ives, the Grape Connection and
Vermont Butcher Shop, Swiss Inn, Plymouth Cheese, Weston Marketplace, Garden Restaurant, Main Street Hare, Gifted Nails, Seventh Heaven Salon, Peabody Mountain Apiaries, and
JJ Hapgood Market, Okemo Adventure Park; the Weston Playhouse Theatre Company, Bob Brandt and artists Nobushi Fuji’i; Diane Bell, Doris Ingrahm, Susan Leader and Dan Lasser.
Sincerely,
The Ladies of the Green
Weston
Filed Under: Commentary • Letters to the Editor
This letter is in response to one published in the Chester Telegraph 10/18/16.
Dear Process Group,
Most of us genuinely care about doing our part to counter the effects of co2 emissions. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize there are many more cost effective solutions than wind turbines in their present form, that generate billions in profits that go into deep pockets when it should go into real solutions.
This money comes out of our pockets and we need to be better stewards of it. I am no expert, but it would make sense to me that spending an excess of $160 million for the Lowell wind project that only avoids 74,000 tons of co2 per year is not an efficient use of our tax dollars.
New York City traffic alone produces that amount of co2 in 12 hours. Let’s use these huge financial resources to directly address the problem! Let’s remove the subsidies to encourage competition between wind developers bringing the cost down! Let’s place renewables properly for the true and commom good of all while preserving our environment and communities! There is a better way!
Windham’s Select Board is indeed representing the sentiment of the majority of its townspeople who elected them. Most residents oppose the proposed industrial wind project and do not want to negotiate with a foreign developer with a soiled reputation. In fact, wind developer Iberdrola has multiple lawsuits against them worldwide.
According to The Los Angeles Times in an article dated April 15 2016, a judge ruled that Iberdrola misled state officials and overcharged Californians $371 million. Maybe that’s why they can offer our little town so much bribe money, $500,000 to the town and another $500,000 to be split between the local school, fire department and full-time residents.
Don’t you see the wisdom of our Select Board for wanting to protect our town from the dealings of this shady foreign entity? The attorney you hired, with Iberdrola’s money, said; “It’s almost a sure thing that Iberdrola will flip the project after it’s built.” Your attorney also said that big companies look at Vermont as easy money and especially target sleepy little towns (like Windham) to make a quick buck.
How could you, the ones who claim to represent a minority of our townspeople, jeopardize your neighbors’ well-being in the hands of a developer such as this? It is truly all about big business making big money, irrespective of our community and our environment. How can you not see this? How can you not see the corruption, the injustice? How?
What kind of message does it send when a select few individuals undermine the authority of our elected officials, going against their conviction to promote the values of the town as a whole and to be a reflection of its very essence? Our select board does this with passion, conviction and many hours of research. You may cry ‘the tyranny of the majority,’ but like it or not this is life in a democracy, a democracy our forefathers gave their lives for.
For you to usurp the board’s authority may not be technically against the law, but it sure is wrong, dead wrong! You use your petition signed by 67 people as justification for your actions, when it would appear some of those who signed it, in your rush to collect signatures, did not fully understand what they were signing. Also, I have reason to believe some residents who initially signed now realize the facts and are against the project.
You wrote in your letter to The Chester Telegraph:
“We determined that the town would be further protected by the many requirements a wind energy developer must meet in Vermont’s permitting process in order to acquire a certificate of public good, such as detailed plans for building, limiting sound, containing storm water, protecting wetlands, limiting impact on wildlife, decommissioning, etc. All of these plans must be approved and are enforceable”.
“We determined that the town………”
Who gave you the authority to speak for me, or the town of Windham in which I live? The 67 signers of your petition? Your attorney who is being paid by Iberdrola? Or were you elected to office by a majority vote?
You also wrote;
“Their reports gave us no major quarrels with Iberdrola’s information, but we told them the concerns of wind farm opponents related to the number, location and sound of the turbines, and we recommended that they decrease the number and change the locations of those closest to homes.”
“Their reports gave us no major quarrels……..”
Again you are speaking for those you have no authority to speak for. I personally have many more concerns than you have stated above as I am sure others do as well. You three, or 67 if you wish, may not have any major quarrels but I sure do. I have many major quarrels based on volumes of concerning information I have personally researched over the past year.
I hope and pray, that we can once again embrace the democratic system of government our forefathers died for: “that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” –Abraham Lincoln Nov. 19, 1863
Mark Emmons
Windham, Vt.