Apparently, the Dixfield town officials have no respect or interest in our town's history. If they did, they wouldn't support the desecration of the memory of Col. Jonathan Holman, who served in the French and Indian wars and was a colonel in the American Revolution.
After the evacuation of Boston, battles at Long Island and White Plains, Col. Holman was ordered to Bennington, Vt., where his regiment guarded the country against the English.
Col. Holman next joined the army of Gen. Gates near Saratoga. In that battle the troops acquitted themselves bravely and took possession of Fort Edward.
The record of Holman and his "farmer boys” shines bright in history and his sterling character is often mentioned.
In 1789, George Washington was elected as the first president, Congress first met, the Constitution became the law of the land, the U.S Army was established and Dixfield was founded by Col. Holman. It was called Holmantown until 1803. Mexico was also called Holmantown until 1818.
Col. Holman was also the great-great-grandfather of President William Howard Taft.
Building a wind farm on Col. Holman Mountain is like desecration of a grave — a slap in the face of that great man’s memory and of the town's history.
The selectmen and other town officials say that what we locals call the "sugarloafs" are what give the town its character. Have they ever even heard the history of the town they profess to represent?
People from away don’t realize what this place means to many of us.
Norman Mitchell, Dixfield
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As someone currently researching Dixfield's unique history
I could not agree with you more.
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intent was to educate about the history of the town and the man who founded it and that the mountain was named in his honor and why!!! I was just trying to make people understand what this place means to us its not just real estate !! Like I said people from away dont get it !! would you build them on Mt Rushmore or Mount Washington !!
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.Funny you mention Mt Rushmore....
The Lakota and other Native American tribes say that Mt Rushmore is a desecration of their lands. Quoting Wikipedia:
"The monument also provokes controversy, because some allege that underlying it is the theme of racial superiority legitimized by the idea of Manifest Destiny. The four presidents chosen by Borglum were all active during the period when the United States was annexing Native American land. Gutzon Borglum himself excites controversy, because he was an active member of the Ku Klux Klan."
So one person's desecration is another's monument. Which is why I advise you take the emotion out of your argument. You'll have a much better time convincing me that Wind power is the wrong choice when you can show me facts and figures without the specter of emotions clouding them. Because I have no emotional attachment to the mountain, and all I see is money and jobs being turned away.
So until you can convince me that turning away that money and those jobs is in our best interests, I'm going to side on wind power.
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subsidy money from the Obama stimulis package went overseas to the turbine builders.
The Production Tax Credit at the tune of $22.00 a MW. the Renewable Energy Credits at the tune of $30.00 a MW.
Electricity is now $33.00 a MW thanks to natural Gas. add 22 + 30 =$52.00 + $33.00 = $85 a MW to you the ratepayer.
Yep rates go up because of mandates for renewables. No saving of the earth one iota.
Jobs, please Jason, you know they are temporary and the crews tend to follow the next job.....not enough sustainable jobs.
Now medicanl marijuana is growing state wide.....jobs, jobs and more jobs mostly funded privately by NBA players....
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One - I'll take temporary jobs over no jobs.
Two - $33 per MW/h? Just checked my CMP bill, $70 per Mw/h.
Is that above the costs of wind power? Yes. According to the EIA, the cost of wind power WITHOUT subsidies is 97 per Mw/H, which is above natural gas and hydro. But if the price of NG goes up, Wind will catch up price wise.
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yes its desecration of the mans memory to destroy the mountain that was named in his honor !!! to blow the top of the mountain off and destroy the views how is this not desecration ??? Tourism is Maine’s number one industry. Wind power will kill tourism in Maine’s mountains. How will people make a living when the tourists stop coming? On April 24 2012 the annual report from the Institute of Economics and Peace ranked Maine as the most peaceful state for the 11th consecutive year, how does Maine do so well when gun ownership is so high? Maine average household income is about 90% of the average in the U. S. Maine’s average education level is slightly below the national average. There must be other reasons why Maine is such a peaceful state. Could it be the natural beauty of our state? This will all end!!! Wind power will change Maine’s Landscape forever!! as well as for iconic companies such as L.L. Bean and Poland Spring.: mountain blasting, trout and eagle kills, noise and light pollution, and clear-cuts for roads and transmission. There is no shortage of Electricity! Maine has 4300 Megawatts of Electric generation Capacity we only use 1500 Megawatts if fact wind power cost as much as 3 times current power your electric rate will likely increase! Wind power will not get us off oil or coal less than 2% of electricity in Maine and the US is from Oil Natural gas provides about 50% of Maine’s electricity with no particulate emissions and half the CO2 of coal. Coal is only ½ of 1 % of Maine Electric Power Wind Power in Maine will have no impact on CO2 windmills built on 300 miles of Maine Mountain’s would only reduce co2 output in US by less than Four one hundredths of one percent 0.04% Wind developments create notoriously few jobs. mostly construction jobs lasting less than 6 months. Wind projects are NOT long-term investments in jobs., state mandates to purchase higher priced wind-generated electricity could lead to lost jobs or fewer available jobs in Maine. as Electric cost is a big deterrent to doing business in Maine !!! also if you bring on line a windfarm other power generation sites that actually employ people like Bio mass will have to lay off workers !!! Most of a wind project’s expenditures leave Maine – primarily overseas., Property valu ations of most new wind developments in Maine are sheltered by tax increment financing and accelerated depreciation. Under the terms of these deals, Mainers’ tax savings are diverted to developers to help finance wind projects.About 70% of the cost of a wind project is sent overseas where the turbines are built. If $4.3 billion was instead directed to conservation and efficiency programs it would equal more than $10,000 per residential structure in Maine !!! get an education
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.The case against windpower....
The case against windpower could not be made any more clearer than what you have stated, Mr. Mitchell. Sometimes I think that those who are for it have not studied it, are just plain stubborn, or are paid shills for the windpower companies.
The fact is, with windpower, we all lose.
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.The problem with both of your arguments
The problem with both of your arguments is emotion.
See, you don't want wind power as your don't want it in your back yard. Which is valid. However, you then went looking for arguments to support your position, and while there are some valid arguments in there, you have emotional appeals mixed in as well. It's hard to take the numbers seriously when then you say stuff like this:
"This will all end!!! Wind power will change Maine’s Landscape forever!! as well as for iconic companies such as L.L. Bean and Poland Spring.: mountain blasting, trout and eagle kills, noise and light pollution, and clear-cuts for roads and transmission. There is no shortage of Electricity! Maine has 4300 Megawatts of Electric generation Capacity we only use 1500 Megawatts if fact wind power cost as much as 3 times current power your electric rate will likely increase!"
The first three sentences are emotional and really undermine the next few sentences. If you want to argue facts, or convince open minded people, you need to be calm and rational. Claiming that Maine's natural beauty will be forever destroyed by the windmills is hyperbole, and think that your numbers are inflated too and that you wouldn't be open to evidence of the contrary. In which case I will stop trying to have a rational conversation with you, and just mock you.
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.Very well said.
There are people, sorry to say, in our local governments who care nothing about the land or people they are elected to represent. To many of them, nothing is of value unless there is a profit to be made. One wonders what their motivation is in the mountaintop removal and utter destruction of some of the most pristine sites in our fair state. They seem to listen to the wind company sharks much more than their own constituents. That begs the question, are they doing it for $$$$$$$$??????
Vote them out of office. And remember that one of the most shameful representatives of big wind is running for U.S.Senate. Do we, as Mainers want to reward this man with a chance to do more destruction in his quest to turn Maine into another West Virginia?
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.Hmmmm
West Virginia unemployment = 6.7%
Oxford county could use to be ALOT like West Virginia
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First off, Get to the point. 70% of your letter is a history lesson without a point.
Then , you state your point:
"Building a wind farm on Col. Holman Mountain is like desecration of a grave — a slap in the face of that great man’s memory and of the town's history. "
How is it a desecration?
Also , I know those "Sugarloafs" give your region character. You know what else does? Unemployment.
Oxford county is at 9.6%. The State is at 7.2%. And you can't just keep building Casinos.
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http://www.mainebiz.biz/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20120328%2FNEWS0101...
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another NIMBY letter...
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.Who are you to criticize
Who are you to criticize anyone else's opinion? It's his opinion, he's entitled to it.
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.I wasn't criticizing, it's
I wasn't criticizing, it's acceptable for people to not want things built in their back yards, like hotels for example.
I would like to hear an alternative proposal though, perhaps the letter writer would rather they strip mine the mountain for coal? or inject the earth with unknown chemicals to retrieve natural gas. I'd rather have a windmill in my backyard.
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.Who are you to criticize
Who are you to criticize anyone else's opinion of another's opinion? It's his opinion, he's entitled to it.
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selectmen and Wind developers, including King Angus, seem to forget who fought for this state and the descendants who still pay taxes to keep the homesteads.
We may not be millionaires but we know our state is worth so much more as country side and not an industrial park.
Thank you Norman for your time to remind us.
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by the light of her kerosene lamp if need be........
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