Editor:

One year ago today I was discharged, after a week’s stay, from the Rehab Unit at Medina Memorial Hospital. While there I received excellent care. Shortly after I came home I returned to the unit to thank the many individuals who helped me in my recovery.

I thought however, that in many ways my personal thanks was not enough. I am writing today not only to celebrate my recovery but to give credit where credit is due and to let the community know how strongly I feel about the care I received while at Medina Memorial Hospital.

I found the medical and nursing staff to always be available to help in making decisions about my treatment and monitoring my progress. I found the aides very helpful, friendly and kind in their support in whatever way I needed their assistance both day and night.

My daily routine included occupational and physical therapy, where in my experience most of the hard work of rehabilitation takes place. The staff was great. They were patient but persistent for which I am now thankful.

I went to the Rehab Unit following a long hospital stay at Gates Vascular Institute and Buffalo General Hospital where I received equally excellent care. I would not have reached the Buffalo hospitals or for that matter the Rehab Unit were it not for the emergency room staff at Medina Hospital and the EMT’s who transported me to Buffalo. Several weeks earlier I had a heart attack and went into cardiac arrest while in the emergency room. They saved my life!

I also stopped to thank the emergency room staff on the same day I visited the Rehab Unit. The doctor who was part of the team who saved my life said to me after I thanked him, “nice to see you vertical!” I agree. Thank you Medina Memorial Hospital.

Grateful for the excellent care,

Tom Gardner
Knowlesville

Editor:

This may be a little late in coming, but it is most sincere. The Orleans County Conservative Committee wants to thank everyone who was involved in the “Team” that was incidental in Randy Bower winning both the Republican Primary Election, and the General Election, for the position of sheriff in Orleans County.

The “Team” consisted of people who signed the petitions, those who allowed the use of their property for the campaign signs, those who took the time to put up and take down the signs, marched in various parades with the “Bower for Sheriff” Red Shirts, the unions that endorsed Randy, those who wrote supporting articles and talked positively about him, and everyone else who worked on his behalf that allowed him to take the reins as the “Top” law enforcement official to Constitutionally represent and protect all of the law-abiding people of Orleans County.

We also want to thank all of you regardless of your party affiliation, for your votes on the Conservative Line for all of our endorsed candidates!

That makes us the “Biggest Little Political Party in Orleans County, in my opinion! -Allen Lofthouse

If there are fiscally conservative-minded people out there who are considering a run for a political position in Orleans County in 2016, and would care to seek a Conservative endorsement, it is not too early to get started. Call 585-659-8382 between the hours of 5 and 7 p.m. days, and I will tell you the steps that we require.

Again, a big thanks from the Orleans County Conservative Party, and Committee!

Al Lofthouse, chairman
Paul Lauricella Jr., vice chairman
Orleans County Conservative Party

Editor:

If you live on the northern edges of Niagara and Orleans counties, you are used to seeing two C-130 cargo planes fly at low altitude every day around sunset.

These planes originate at the Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station about 25 miles southwest of our lake shore. These planes have now taken on an additional significance, as three retired Base Commanders from NFARS have written to Governor Cuomo and other officials, to warn that Apex’s plan to erect up to seventy 620-foot industrial wind turbines does not mix well with the training mission of this military base.

NFARS apparently has something going for it that many air bases in more populated areas cannot boast: a lack of airspace “encroachment.” In their letter these three former NFARS base commanders state that the base has scored highly on this attribute, as “the military is very cognizant of any civilian and/or commercial uses that might interfere (encroach) with the ‘Military Operating Area’ (MOA) surrounding all military facilities. In fact, there is an ongoing effort to coordinate the zoning codes of the communities with the MOA to ensure that those codes reflect the need to prevent any encroachment into the MOA that could jeopardize military operations and the future of the base.”

They continue, “The current C-130 operations maintain a number of low level training routes, generally 500 feet above ground level (AGL) but as low as 300 feet AGL, on some routes. These routes depart on a common departure path, in a northeasterly direction. In the area of the lake shore, east of Wilson, NY, the individual routes commence with a turn in various directions, as per the route’s design. Additionally, there is an established high speed route, established primarily for fighter aircraft, that is in the same general area, and it also cleared down to 300 feet AGL.”

The letter draws the conclusion that NFARS has been considered for closure twice by the Base Realignment and Closure commission in the last few years. If the base loses this valuable attribute, and suddenly finds its training airspace encroached upon by huge wind turbines, it gives BRAC a reason to downgrade its value, thereby giving the commission another reason to consider NFARS’s closure.

In addition, the base now provides 3,000 jobs. Can anyone weigh that against the five to ten jobs that might possibly come from wind turbines? It is easy to see another reason why erecting giant wind turbines in Somerset and Yates makes no sense.

Respectfully submitted,

Christine Bronson
Barker
Member of Save Ontario Shores

Editor:

I would like to take a minute of my time to recognize the men and women of the Orleans County Auxiliary Police.

This all-volunteer organization is one of the most neglected agencies in the county. You see them everywhere, County Fair, Strawberry Festival, Youth Football, High School Football, Festival of Lights and so many more that there is no way to mention all the details they cover.

They are requested by every law enforcement agency in the county to assist with traffic and crowd control. I think its about time the residents of Orleans County recognize these dedicated men and women for all the countless hours they put in to keep us safe sometimes during very stressful conditions. Thank You!

Jim Vale
Albion

Editor:

It seems to me to be kind of like jumping off a cliff. Once done, there is no going back, no pause, no rewind, that’s it – it is done. That is what the Industrial Wind Turbine Project is in my estimation.

We stand on the precipice of disrupting the fate of one of the greatest migratory bird routes in North America and we have the audacity to actually consider it when it is quite possibly an irreversible and unmitigated disaster.

If this worst case scenario occurs and this migratory route is destroyed, the Osprey and American Bald Eagle are killed off in the Town of Yates – then what? If the government steps in and shuts the turbines down, and I argue they will eventually because they will have to, what will happen to all of the dead rusting turbines?

Who will pay the untold millions to remove the behemoths and return the ecosystem to its original state? Do a quick Google search of dead turbines on the internet and you’ll get your answer.

Who will pay to repopulate the American Bald Eagle and other species? Everything has a cost.

I am fairly certain that Apex, or the unknown entity the turbines are sold to, will not. Well that leaves the tax payer on the hook. Even worse I am guessing there will not be pockets deep enough to pay such an astronomical cost, and these rotting six hundred foot giants will become Yates’ legacy. Everyone gone like rats from a sinking ship except for the poor folks of the Town of Yates and/or Orleans County.

I am not principally opposed to any form of alternate power, either proven or theoretical, including wind turbines. But, and this is a huge but, you cannot cut off your proverbial nose to spite your face. Is it justifiable to take such a catastrophic risk to potentially gain some “green or renewable energy”?

I will leave it to the experts to argue if wind turbines are actually truly “green” or not. To me it is simple math. Assuming if we will, that Apex senior management is in the wind business to produce green energy in order to better the planet, how in the day lights can they justify the slaughter of hundreds or thousands of birds that contribute to the exact ecosystem they are presumably trying to save?

Everything we do to produce energy on this planet has a cost including that to the environment – I accept that collateral damage is a cost of doing business – it’s unfortunate but a reality. Having said that, ethical energy producers have learned to limit this collateral damage and mitigate the losses as much as possible.

Ergo, when the cost outweighs the benefit, you walk away. Cost can mean many things. As I argued above, it can be the destruction of the environment, the rape of the town of Yates and Orleans County’s beauty, or the millions in damages carried on the backs of the taxpayers. What I can say with a great deal of certainty is it will not be borne by the executives of Apex as they will have made their profit and got the hell out of Dodge by the time all hell breaks loose.

In conclusion, these are my opinions and mine alone.

Respectfully,

Vincent Mulholland
Yates

Editor:

I have noticed several issues which involve ligation or proposed ligation by public entities. As a taxpayer, the public must be aware of what the cost burden will be.

Forensic accountants and lawyers are costly. I see these cases wind down and often wonder how much money is wasted. What did it cost a taxpayer to find out an employee miss-marked a day off or charged for an extra ten miles of travel? How much money did it take to fight Ag and Markets or Article Ten?

Public entities have deep pockets. The forensic accountants and lawyers know that before offering representation. The cases I was involved with as a Lyndonville school board member had only one winner and it wasn’t the parties involved in the case. One of the best moves the board made was to not pursue ligation for ferroresonance.

The school was having electric issues. The board’s attorney at the time had encouraged this suit. Try and explain that concept to a jury. The matter was fixed and I doubt it was ferroresonance. What would it have cost the district to move down that path?

Elected officials please use judgment when entering in ligation. Taxpayers also need to hold public officials accountable for their actions in these matters.

Edward Urbanik
Lyndonville
Urbanik is a former board member and president of the Lyndonville Board of Education

Editor:

The recent news story concerning the EDA grant for New York, and specifically Orleans County left some points out.

First, when the statement was made that the money was from the federal government through the New York state housing trust fund, the small matter of reminding people that this is taxpayer money was not mentioned.

Also, is anyone looking at the success rate of the businesses that shared the $20,000 in 2009? In addition it seems 20 percent “for delivery costs and administration expenses” is extremely high. On the surface it seems this agency is doing very well, at the taxpayers’ expense with very little, if any, accountability.

Ken Longer
Town of Kendall
Conservative Party committee

Editor:

I am writing in regard to Gary Kent’s letter on Dec. 15 regarding the industrial wind issue currently plaguing the area. With all due respect to Mr. Kent, ‘green’ energy is NOT a partisan issue. Frankly, I do not know a single person (Republican, Democrat, Independent, or otherwise) who is not all FOR protecting our environment.

According to Mr. Kent’s reasoning, wind turbines are OK sited elsewhere, blighting someone else’s horizons – just not ours. Those who support this kind of ‘NIMBY’ (Not In My Back Yard) reasoning unintentionally give undue credibility to the scam of industrial wind.

Fact is: Industrial wind is a NET LOSER: economically, technically, environmentally, and civilly – no matter where it is sited. Let’s consider how.

Economically:

New York State already has one of the highest electricity rates in the nation, in large part due to throwing $Billions of ratepayer dollars into the wind.

Why destroy entire towns when just one 450 MW gas-fired Combined Cycle Generating Unit, operating at a 60% Capacity Factor, located at New York City – where the power is needed in New York State (NYS), would provide more power than all of NYS’s installed wind factories combined, at about 1/4 of the capital costs – and would significantly reduce CO2 emissions and create far more jobs than all those wind factories – without all the negative civil, economic, environmental, human health and property value impacts that are a result of industrial wind factories, or all the additional transmission lines to New York City.

The Institute for Energy Research tallied the numbers and found that each wind job costs $11.45 million, plus more than four jobs lost elsewhere in the economy; and all while wind is subsidized over 52 times more than conventional fossil fuels on a unit of production basis.

Consider multi-Billionaire wind developer, Warren Buffett’s candid admission, “We get tax credits if we build ‘wind farms.’ That’s the only reason to build them. They don’t make sense without the tax credits.”

Technically:

Due to the unreliable, erratic, and volatile nature of wind, industrial wind turbines (IWTs) provide virtually NO Capacity Value, or firm capacity (specified amounts of power on demand). Therefore, wind needs constant “shadow capacity” from our reliable, dispatchable generators – that is, if you want to be sure the lights will come on when you flick the switch. Thus, as Big Wind CEO, Patrick Jenevein candidly admitted, “Consumers end up paying twice for the same product.”

The list of accidents, blade failures (throwing debris over ½ mile), fires (10X more than previous wind industry claims), and more, is updated quarterly at this website (click here).

This lengthy and growing list is evidence of why these giant, moving machines do not belong anywhere near where people live.

The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA – the wind industry’s lobbying group) admits that the life of IWTs is only 10 – 13 years (January, 2006, North American Wind Power) – substantiated by studies of these short-lived lemons.

Adding insult to injury, NYS’s wind factories have been averaging approximately 24% Capacity Factors (actual outputs) – many days providing nothing at all. Physicist and Malone Town Board member Jack Sullivan figures that NY wind factories are not even producing enough power to pay for themselves over their short life-spans.

Environmentally:

According to AWEA there are approximately 45,100 industrial wind turbines in the U.S. today. Most IWTs are remotely sited, far removed from urban centers where the power is needed. This necessitates the addition of a spider web of new transmission lines (at ratepayers’ expense), which exponentially adds to the needless bird deaths being caused by the IWTs themselves.

Studies show there are MILLIONS of birds and bats being slaughtered annually by these giant “Cuisinarts of the sky” (as a Sierra official dubbed wind turbines in a moment of candor), necessitating the passing of special 30-Year Eagle-KILL permits by President Obama for his favored wind industry.

Sprawling industrial wind factories cause massive habitat fragmentation, which is cited as one of the main reasons for species decline worldwide.

Civilly:

The only thing that has ever been reliably generated by industrial wind is complete and utter civil discord. Neighbor is pitted against neighbor, and even family member against family member, totally dividing communities (already apparent in Orleans and Niagara counties). It is the job of good government to foresee and prevent this kind of civil discord, not to promote it.

Don’t be a NIMBY! This partial list of the destructive NON-SOLUTION that is industrial wind energy is reason enough not to support the scam of industrial wind – no matter where it is sited.

Mary Kay Barton
Silver Lake, Wyoming County

Editor:

I think it is very interesting that only 45 percent of my fellow Yates residents returned the wind survey. I would think that those that feel strongly about this issue would be the ones most likely to return the survey. So from the 45 percent who returned the survey 65 percent oppose wind energy in the area and 30 percent support it (another 5 percent have no opinion).

So what happened to the other 55 percent that didn’t return the survey? Is it because they don’t care either way? Or maybe they feel nervous to form an opinion?

From my perspective, SOS is presenting a lot of confusing and fear-based information. I think this 55 percent is torn by what to think and whether or not they want to get involved with this “fight.”

SOS is making it very difficult for anyone to have an opinion other than anti-wind. SOS’s agenda is very strategic and is intimidating people from forming their own opinions. They have even gone so far as to sue a fellow resident and the Town Board over a test tower that was erected to collect information that will help to answer some of the “concerns” they say they have.

The anti-wind campaign SOS is parading around town is exactly why Article 10 is in place. I am so happy that rational people will be making the decision on whether or not to have a wind farm here.

This topic has become so controversial locally and our county and state officials have taken a stand without even waiting for the results of all of the studies that are being done and those still to be done.

How can they say that they have the ability to make rational decisions about the wind farm when they don’t have all the facts?

Susan Campbell
Lyndonville

Editor:

Citizens of Orleans County, do you know we are paying for a lobbying firm? When asked, at a recent meeting, what we were getting for our money the County Legislature could not, or would not answer.

The Conservative Party committee in Orleans County wants people to know this is an example of the things that are going on at the county level. The Conservative Party supports term limits so this kind of disconnect between politicians and the people they are supposed to represent is kept to a minimum.

It seems, looking at the national, state, and even the local political scene this is the only way to “fix” this problem. This apparent arrogance does not seem to be limited to any specific party but is real!

There were some surprises in the last election and some people in the “establishment” were not happy about this. These people are more concerned about their political party than the will of the people and, again, this is true of both Democrats and Republicans.

Please get involved, attending your town and county meetings. Ask questions and hold our elected officials accountable.

Ken Longer
Town of Kendall
Conservative party committee member