Letters to the
E ditor Thank you donors:
A sincere thank you to the students of Colby High School, Colby National Honor Society advisor Brandon Homeyer, and the people of Colby / Abbotsford area who participated in the Red Cross Blood Drive held April 5 at the Colby Lions Pavilion The Colby Lions are pleased to support this drive.
A total of 25 pints of blood were collected. Each donor is a life giving person and assures success for the purpose of this event.
We look forward to seeing you and others at our next event.
The Struggles of a deer hunter (Wind Turbine Edition):
I am an avid deer hunter and I like to consider myself a quality management deer hunter. Although I probably don’t own enough land to properly manage the deer, I need to rely on my neighbors in order to manage the deer population.
I like to pass on shooting any small bucks, even if that means my neighbor may harvest them. If we all get greedy and harvest the small bucks because our neighbor will as soon as it jumps the fence, we might never get the chance to harvest a mature buck.
When I got a call from a wind energy company asking if I would like to sign up my land for some wind turbines to make some extra bucks, I honestly thought about it.
The wind turbine company already had some of my neighbors signed up and I thought if I have to look at them, I might as well be getting paid. But when I started to consider my stances on quality deer management, I quickly changed my mind.
I may not be able to control what others do on their land, but I can control what happens on my land and it’s going to stay that way. Just because my neighbor might harvest all the small bucks in the area doesn’t mean I have to.
If we all work together, we will be able to have a monster deer hanging on the wall and enjoy the beautiful way of life that we have in Central Wisconsin. A few small bucks aren’t worth it to me to give all that up.
Alex Pinter Dorchester
Turbines are bad news for all:
Clark and Marathon Counties are facing the prospect of numerous wind turbines destroying our landscape and the farming industry as we currently know it. At the Curtiss meeting on March 27, much information was given about the harmful effects of these massive 600’ (or higher) turbines: 1. Taking rich farmland out of production. At what point will we not have enough land to feed ourselves?
2. Tax credits for the rich and also China. Where do you think the batteries are produced that store the energy from the turbines?
3. Deleterious health effects on people and animals.
As critical as all that is, let’s talk economics. According to a Harvard study, wind and solar produce little or no energy 70% of the time. Therefore, we still have to pay for full time power- on-demand to keep our electricity on 24/7. And what is the cost for this part-time power? Using figures from the Brookings Institute and US Energy Information, coal costs 3.4 cents/ KWh, natural gas is 6.5 cents and wind is 13 cents.
Another hidden cost for the taxpayer is generous federal tax subsidies. I ran across an interesting article written by Isaac Orr and Mitch Rolling. They describe an incentive called the Production Tax Credit, which expires after the first 10 years of a project’s life. The PTC, a lucrative federal subsidy paid to wind turbine operators, is “creating a perverse incentive to prematurely refurbish or replace wind projects long before the end of their useful life.” I don’t know about you, but I can’t afford to have any more taxpayer dollars wasted.
These wind turbines have no place in Clark and Marathon Counties. They are a waste of money and will cost residents dearly in so many ways. They can be stopped. Please get informed, attend meetings, and contact your town chairman and state legislators. This is a battle we cannot afford to lose.
Pamela Jaffke Owen
