Lisa Newell

There was only one public hearing on the Wind Turbine - in November. I couldn't go because I worked that evening at the library. I read that Aldridge wanted to put up the wind turbine and that's all I heard until it went up in April. I did not expect it to be as big as it was. I saw it and said - oh well, it went through (the Village passed it). It went on and it was noisy and Gary came home and he couldn't believe how big it was. We were in shock for awhile. We had just gotten back from Colorado where you see wind farms in the middle of nowhere. It's a totally different thing when it's in your backyard.

At night it's hard to fall asleep. If you do, you wake up in the middle of the night and can't fall back asleep. Even our kid's have trouble sleeping, mainly Sara. I went into the bathroom to escape it. It is the most central room in our home. The noise invaded through the fan vent. It interrupts our normal routines. We don't stay outside anymore. I find myself on edge waiting for it to go off. When the washing machine runs, I wait for it to go off to put clothes in the dryer. My brain tells me the wind turbine will go off in a half hour like the washing machine. But it never does.

When the wind slows you hear it it clunk three times: clunk, clunk...pause...clunk, as the brakes finally halt the turbine. There's no peace of mind because as soon as it's off you begin to anticipate it coming back on. You never know when it will pick up again. I became obsessed watching for signs of wind. Winds are supposed to reach 9 mph for it to come on. I check the trees - is the wind strong enough to start it up? I watch the flag poles at Aldridge's offices. The flags are flying - will the turbine start up? I monitor the weather on the internet - looking for wind speeds. I caught myself always staring at the turbine - waiting for it to awaken.

Shadow flicker invaded our home twice - through the windows. You could see it on the wall in the kitchen and the bedroom too. It was flashing like you wouldn't believe (because there were no clouds) at 7AM on Saturday April 4. I was folding laundry but I thought, if I were reading, I couldn't. Sun glint hit us a couple times - a great flash of light flooded the wall in the same place as the shadow flicker.

Gary said let's give it a year and if its still here, we'll move. But I said no. My Dad was in the Navy and we moved so many times, I said I am not moving again. I want to raise my kids here. I watched as Gary wore his ear muffs while painting the garage outside; and, when he got up at 2 AM because he couldn't sleep to get a fan to drown out the noise. No, we are going to fight this.