A blight on landscape

Lately I have been reading the Letters From the People and decided to take a scenic drive along the river in Cape Vincent. It was a nonwindy day and the sight of nonworking windmills was like looking at a bombed-out deserted town. It was a blighted landscape. The beautiful island that once was, was no more.

We travel the ferry every summer to spend time on Wolfe Island. It was a special place where my children and grandchildren would bike on weekends. It was.

They want to put windmills along the lake here in Chaumont. Our family has owned land here on the lake since the mid-1940s. We are not newcomers. We pay taxes. We are progressive thinkers, but why in the world would you want these wind turbines along this beautiful lake?

Contrary to popular belief, the wind does not blow 24/7 here on the lake. We have many beautiful calm days all summer. I presume our landscape would look as dreary and dejected as it does on Wolfe Island on the days when the wind is calm.

Surely New York state has land where the wind does blow and is not populated with campers, fishermen, summer people, etc.

Yes, there is land not being used here for farming as it was decades ago. Farming is hard work, so now we seem to get our produce from places like Chile, Peru, Mexico, etc. Our farms are abandoned, barns crumbling, fields overgrown. These sights plus the windmills will not help us to keep this the summer haven it has been.

One thing we do have is the beauty of the lake and the surrounding areas. Please do not take this away from us for the few that will be making big profits. There is no free ride for the rest of us who have lived here and loved this land and the lake for decades.

Lynne Martin

Chaumont