Harvey White

Published June 1, 2011 Thousand Islands Sun

Stay positive
As election season approaches, the Cape Vincent community hopes people wont resort to negative campaigning. We hope voters will be united in fighting against the closing of our elementary school. But already, we are being bombarded with negative campaigning from Capes anti- wind group trying to get votes for their anti- business candidates. These are the same people that viciously opposed the Cape Vincent correctional facility. Then once the facility was built, they got a job there. Now that wind development is proposed, they are back viciously opposing another business that will boost our economy. Yet they want your vote. Lets not forget that last town election when John DE Francisco, who lost several past attempts to get elected to the town board, went behind the backs of the republican chairs, and gave the county election office the names of his antiwind cronies for the Republican line on the ballot. Jefferson County Republican Chair Don Coon even wrote a letter verifying in that DE Francisco was wrong for going behind the backs of Capes republican chairs. Yet Capes anti- wind group complained loudly when Capes Republican chairs wouldnt endorse DeFranciscos anti- wind buddies. Clif Schneider claims he is a big supporter of Capes anti- wind group because he supposedly cares about ethics however it is well known that when he was employed at the cape DEC Fisheries Station, he told the wife of a retired DEC official that she and her husband werent welcome at the facility although he, after his retirement, continued to use the facility. I wouldnt want such a hypocritical person on my town board. While the potential closing of our elementary school is proving Cape desperately needs more year-round young families, and desperately needs more year round business, this one group still demands that Cape businesses look and act a certain way. If any business doesnt meet their extremely narrow criteria for what they think belongs in Cape, they will use all their time and money to kill it and bully anyone who supports it. They claim that tourism and wind development cant coexist, yet river, lake tourism and wind development have peacefully coexisted in many river, lake communities for many decades. If anyone doubts this, they should contact Wolfe Islands tourism bureau, real estate brokers and business owners. In fact, these Wolfe Island groups will likely tell you what a boost wind development has been to their economy. To Cape Voters: until November , stay positive through the anti- wind groups negative campaigning, and support our community and our school by voting for Marty mason and Don Mason

Harvey White
Cape Vincent

Harvey White
Published May 29, 2011 Page A6, Watertown Daily Times

Anti-wind group is playing political games

Recently I had the displeasure of attending a meeting that was supposed to be for Cape Vincent's Republican Committee, but instead the meeting was hijacked by the Cape's anti-wind group. Taking advice from their lawyers and not caring for our community's bigger concerns, the anti-wind group is once again playing games with our election process. I'm pretty sure the county and state Republican chairs wouldn't be keen on one township's Republican Party being hijacked by a special interest group. Cape's anti-wind people have so much contempt for the Cape community, they're banking on Cape voters blindly voting the Republican line, without checking who the candidates are. Anti-wind group members Clifford Schneider and John Byrne, self-proclaimed experts on all wind matters, declared their candidacies for town board seats. For years these two have bullied and harassed the Republican chairs for not being yes men to the anti-wind group, like current town board member Urban Hirschey has obediently been. How many town meetings have started with Urban reading a written request recently received from Clifford, then at the same meeting Urban makes Clifford's request a resolution to be voted on? The rest of the board hasn't even read Clifford's letter, yet Urban expects the board to vote yes on Clifford's resolution that night. Marty Mason has been a Republican his whole political life. Clifford has been a Republican for about five minutes, only because he lost his previous attempts to be elected as a candidate in other political parties. Let's not forget the last town election when wind opponents got onto the Republican line by subverting the Cape chairs and duping the county election board. And then these wind opponents complained loudly when the Cape chairs wouldn't endorse them. Why should they endorse them considering they weaseled their way onto the ballot, instead of involving the chairs in an open, transparent fashion? It's like how Urban keeps trying to spend our tax dollars on his pet projects with no input from the rest of the board. A survey is going around that didn't receive the entire board's authorization, but it's costing more than $10,000 of our tax dollars. Though all past county surveys have shown that 85 percent of county residents strongly support wind, Urban's anti-wind cronies keep telling him that Cape residents are gullible, and with all their anti-wind propaganda ads, manipulative mailers and tabloid blogs, their anti-wind agenda will slowly but surely catch on.

Harvey White
Cape Vincent

Harvey White
Published April 17, 2011 Page A6, Watertown Daily Times

ANTI-WIND GROUP DIVIDING CAPE COMMUNITY

It's good to see the Cape Vincent community coming together to support our elementary school. I was hoping we could move beyond the destructive divisiveness the Cape's anti-wind group has dragged our community through. But instead, they've stepped up their political games, trying to make people believe that the only thing that matters is banning renewable energy from our agricultural district. Just as we are rallying support for our community's school, local blogs are labeling our community members as Nazis and terrorists. I guess the anti-wind group feels threatened by Voters for Wind. Though many in Voters for Wind are our volunteer firefighters and emergency medical technicians, opponents of renewable energy can't stop writing about how much these community members are nothing but terrorists and thugs. While our community is going through a crisis of the possible school closing, the anti-wind preachers are doing all they can to distract people from the fact that wind revenue will benefit our school district. While we have a crisis of not enough young families living in the Cape year-round, local blogs are screaming that all focus must be on Cape's summer resort interests, and all potential year-round business development must be chased out of town. And while we are trying to unite our community, the blogs are trying to drive a wedge between year-round residents and seasonal residents, when I know that many seasonal residents When I know that many seasonal residents know wind revenue could reduce taxes and improve Cape's waterfront, and they support wind development for those reasons. Anti-wind group members target community members and make you feel like they're your best friend, when they are only using you for your vote. Will they stay your best friend after the next election? Wind opponents say they're not manipulative, but I've seen how they talk online and everything is all capital letters, all exclamation points, and everything is blown way out of proportion. First they say something is a certain number. A few months later, that number is doubled. A few months later, the number is tripled. No evidence is ever given to support their escalating numbers. When one fictitious number isn't scary enough anymore, they just come up with higher, scarier fictitious numbers. These are tactics of people who do not have facts on their side. The anti-wind group is just scaring our community members. And it's a shame they are doing this during these difficult times.

Harvey White
Cape Vincent

Harvey White
Published April 14, 2011 Thousand Islands Sun

A Scary distraction
Its good to see the Cape Vincent community coming together to support our elementary school I was hoping we could move beyond the destructive divisiveness Capes anti- wind group has dragged our community through. But just as we are rallying support for our communitys school, the anti- wind group goes online and labels our community members as Nazis and terrorists. Anti- wind blogs are no different than tabloids. Bloggers believe Cape is so full of gullible people that if they repeat ridiculous fictions over and over, they will eventually become true in the minds of people. First, they say something is a certain number, a few months later that number is double, a few months later the number is tripled. When one fictitious number isnt scary enough, they come up with a higher scarier fictitious numbers. Just recently, a blogger said the wind turbines proposed for Cape will be twice the size of the test tower near Route 12E. But its well known the test tower covers the full height of a turbines tower. Besides, why would a towers height anemometer be only at the half way mark of a turbines height? These are scare tactics of people who dont have facts on their side. Nothing could be more divisive than their recent mass mailer. They list names of community members, as if theyre enemies belonging on a hit list. The Mailer is full of the characteristics of Capes anti- wind group is known for: blowing things out of proportion, blatant inaccuracies and deliberately misleading graphics. The group doesnt even get their own name right on their mailer. They call themselves an energy group instead of an Ethics group. Did they lose their ethics? And the president of this group wants to run for our town board? While bloggers hide behind their fake names, they repeatedly smear the real names of our community members because of imagined crimes. Capes anti- wind group has sued our community members twice and lost twice. Both times the State Supreme Court confirmed the crimes were imagined by the anti- wind group. But does that stop bloggers from repeatedly smearing our innocent community members and calling them criminals? No. Bloggers care more about being popular than providing facts or helping a community. One Blogger boasts every day how many people hes lured to his tabloid- like blog. And one online anti- wind calls himself Pater, which means Holy Father. While our community is going through a crisis of the possible school closing, the anti-wind bloggers are doing all they can to distract people from the fact that wind revenue will benefit our school district. Capes anti- wind group is just scaring our community members. And its a shame they are doing this during difficult times.

Harvey White
Cape Vincent

Harvey White
Published May 29, 2011 Page A6, Watertown Daily Times

ANTI-WIND GROUP IS PLAYING POLITICAL GAMES

Recently I had the displeasure of attending a meeting that was supposed to be for Cape Vincent's Republican Committee, but instead the meeting was hijacked by the Cape's anti-wind group. Taking advice from their lawyers and not caring for our community's bigger concerns, the anti-wind group is once again playing games with our election process. I'm sure the county and state Republican chairs wouldn't be keen on one township's Republican Party being hijacked by a special interest group. Cape's anti-wind people have so much contempt for the Cape community, they're banking on Cape voters blindly voting the Republican line, without checking who the candidates are. Anti-wind group members Clifford Schneider and John Byrne, self-proclaimed experts on all wind matters, declared their candidacies for town board seats. For years these two have bullied and harassed the Republican chairs for not being yes men to the anti-wind group, like current town board member Urban Hirschey has obediently been. How many town meetings have started with Urban reading a written request recently received from Clifford, then at the same meeting Urban makes Clifford's request a resolution to be voted on? The rest of the board hasn't even read Clifford's letter, yet Urban expects the board to vote yes on Clifford's resolution that night. Marty Mason has been a Republican his whole political life. Clifford has been a Republican for about five minutes, only because he lost his previous attempts to be elected as a candidate in other political parties. Let's not forget the last town election when wind opponents got onto the Republican line by subverting the Cape chairs and duping the county election board. And then these wind opponents complained loudly when the Cape chairs wouldn't endorse them. Why should they endorse them considering they weaseled their way onto the ballot, instead of involving the chairs in an open, transparent fashion? It's like how Urban keeps trying to spend our tax dollars on his pet projects with no input from the rest of the board. A survey is going around that didn't receive the entire board's authorization, but it's costing more than $10,000 of our tax dollars. Though all past county surveys have shown that 85 percent of county residents strongly support wind, Urban's anti-wind cronies keep telling him that Cape residents are gullible, and with all their anti-wind propaganda ads, manipulative mailers and tabloid blogs, their anti-wind agenda will slowly but surely catch on.

Harvey White
Cape Vincent

Harvey White
Published February 10, 2011 Page A6, Watertown Daily Times HIRSCHEY MANIPULATED BY ANTI-WIND GROUP
At a recent town meeting, Cape Vincent residents asked town official Urban Hirschey to resign because he knowingly gave out confidential town documents, even after being told by the Planning Board's lawyer that giving out the confidential documents would be against town law. Since Urban is a puppet of Cape's anti-wind group, the anti-wind ringleaders accused the residents of being blindly prowind. But it's not an anti-wind or pro-wind issue. Urban did something he knew was wrong. The anti-wind ringleaders assured Urban he did nothing wrong, so Urban responded to the charges by saying he expected to be exonerated. The next day, New York State's Committee on Open Government publicly confirmed that Urban's actions were wrong. A wind company wrote a letter to the town saying they're concerned about Urban's unlawful actions. Anti-wind ringleaders want you to think the wind company is concerned about the public reading the documents. But the wind company has made it clear what the documents say isn't the issue. In fact, the wind company shows zero concern with people reading the files. It's Urban's unlawful actions that concerns them. There are individuals on the town board who do not share the anti-wind views of the anti-wind ringleaders, and just because of this, the anti-wind have made it their mission to drag these individuals through hell until they resign. For five years, these individuals have been harassed, bullied and accused of corruption. The anti-wind ringleaders tried suing them for corruption, but no corruption was found, so their lawsuit failed. They demanded the attorney general investigate the individuals for corruption. The investigation was conducted, and no corruption has been found. Yet within 11 months of the anti-wind's puppet being on the town board, he was caught engaged in conduct that a state official without hesitation recognized as wrong. And the anti-wind ringleaders are crying foul and screaming "no fair." The anti-wind ringleaders aren't good at recognizing what's truly fair and unfair.

If Urban refuses to resign, will he recuse himself from future votes? It all depends on what his anti-wind puppet masters tell him. Urban probably regrets trusting the anti-wind ringleaders and being manipulated by them. The Cape community could be discussing how revenue and jobs from wind development would prevent the potential closing of the Cape elementary school, but we can't, because we're too busy dealing with the nonstop drama the antiwind ringleaders are dragging this community through.

Harvey White
Cape Vincent

Harvey White
Published October 31, 2010 Page A6, Watertown Daily Times ANTI-WIND GOP SLANDERING AUBERTINE
I used to be proud to be a Cape Vincent Republican, but when I attended the last meeting for the Cape Republicans, I was surprised to find it being controlled by the local anti-wind ringleaders. Apparently, in their latest scheme, the antiwind ringleaders have shoved aside the fair, reasonable and levelheaded Cape Republicans and bullied their way onto the ballot. So Cape Republicans and other voters should think twice before voting for a Republican on the local ticket. I have known Sen. Darrel Aubertine since we were both 5, and I've never known a more honest, fair and reasonable person. Darrel's done so much for our district, and he's acquired the clout to make more good things happen for our district, but he's become the target of the anti-wind ringleaders, because he doesn't kowtow to special interest groups. That's all the anti-wind ringleaders are, a moneyed special interest group. They deliberately manipulate voters into basing their vote on just one issue, and they put out propaganda to manipulate voters into seeing only one side of the issue. Anti-wind ringleaders are slandering Darrel's name and campaigning for his opponent, Patty Ritchie. They don't care if she has nothing to offer or it she makes things worse. What makes them think Ritchie wouldn't make things worse? Most important, it'll be disastrous for democracy and our community if voters base their vote on just one issue, especially when their knowledge on that issue comes from manipulative, conniving ringleaders and their propaganda.

Harvey White
Cape Vincent

Harvey White
Published August 11, 2010 Page A6, Watertown Daily Times

Anti-wind minority using insidious methods

A recent survey showed that 84 percent of county residents support wind energy. This pro-wind majority needs to keep an eye out for the anti-wind sneaking around in county committees trying to push through their anti-wind agendas. Take, for example, Urban Hirschey, who for some reason was recently appointed chair of the Jefferson County Industrial Development Agency. Urban also appointed himself chair of Cape Vincent's anti-wind group. Adding more of a conflict of interest, he's also the town supervisor. But most Cape residents know Urban received more votes than his incumbent only because anti-wind groups registered nonresident family members to their Cape addresses. As chair of the JCIDA, it seems Urban is being coached by the anti-wind groups to push through an anti-wind agenda, undermining the IDA's real purpose. JCIDA member Kent Burto could see through all this. Burto's quote in the newspaper: "What I see is a town that doesn't have control because of the mix of the board and because of that, there are fears and because of those fears, they are looking to the IDA board to resolve them." Why are certain people in the anti-wind minority so committed to undermining the county's pro-wind majority? Because they don't like things that are new and different. They don't like all taxpaying county residents benefiting equally from wind development. They only like things that exclusively fatten their already fat wallets. anti-wind love to call the pro-wind majority ignorant, but notice the ads the anti-wind groups put out. The anti-wind never suggest you go to the library and talk to a librarian about how to find unbiased research. Instead the anti-wind say the only research you should do is visiting certain websites, and these websites are just anti-wind bloggers with zero credentials in any of the things they are talking about. So who are the ignorant ones here? On the blogs, all the anti-wind talk about is who they hate for being a renewable energy supporter, and how they can get others to hate these people too. The renewable energy supporters are decent hard-working people, but the antiwind just talk about how they can ruin their lives. Right now, the main goal of the anti-wind is wearing down the decent, hard-working community-minded pro-renewable energy people to the point of giving in. But they won't succeed.

Harvey White
Cape Vincent

Harvey White
Published July 8, 2010 Page A6, Watertown Daily Times

A CONFLICT OF INTEREST WITH ANTI-WIND GROUP

Clif Schneider wrote an angry response to my letter, claiming I supposedly "denigrated" seasonal Cape Vincent residents, when in fact, I was pointing out how it seems anti-wind groups are always trying to sucker seasonal folks out of their money. People are noticing the money is being wasted on anti-wind schemes that either backfire or make things worse. The anti-wind groups suckered seasonal folks for campaign funds to elect Urban Hirschey, because Urban would have a wind law in place within three months. So Urban wins by 20 votes, and at his first wind law meeting, Urban admits that since he's a member of an anti-wind group that accepts donations to stop wind development, he has just as much a conflict of interest as the town board members with wind leases. If he's allowed to vote, then they are allowed to vote. There's still no wind law. Now that seasonal people are back and seeing things are no different than before the election, the anti-wind group members on the town board are trying to deliver the proof of corruption they promised to deliver. Yet their audit came up with nothing. Clif suggested I talk to my neighbors about sound levels, but he should know my neighbors are either wind leaseholders or pro-wind family members. Maybe Clif should publicly admit he's a member of the anti-wind group that tried to sue the town and failed, costing the taxpayers thousands to fend off the lawsuit. Then there's Clif's survey asking Tibbetts Point residents how they feel about wind turbines on Wolfe Island. He must've only surveyed people he knew would give him the result he wanted, because I know people on Tibbetts who didn't get his survey. I think the real reason for Clif's angry response was because I called him out as a self-appointed expert in real estate, acoustics, whatever, without any credentials or background in these areas. To show that he's a sound expert, Clif gave a sound demonstration recently by playing the sound of turbines on a tape recorder in a room with 8-foot ceilings. Just like being outdoors. Finally, Cliff showed complete lack of class by having his letter attacking me appear during a difficult time with my family. He could've called and asked that his letter not appear while I was going through this difficult time. He has real class.

Harvey White
Cape Vincent

Harvey White
Published June 3, 2010 Page A6, Watertown Daily Times

Cape wind opponents silence other opinions WDT

Why don't the anti-wind people want you to hear from all sides and draw your own conclusions? Whenever a Cape Vincent resident asks for more unity and dialogue, the anti-wind tells that resident to shut up. When wind companies say they're opening an informational office, the anti-wind says these offices aren't welcome. If you're a respected community member and you're outspoken pro-wind, the anti-wind will make your life a living hell. In the anti-wind world, actual experts are not to be trusted, but a Department of Environmental Conservation retiree is an expert in real estate, acoustics, whatever, and he's the only person you should see to learn about wind power. Online anti-wind like Windy, Outlaw, Jefferson-Leaning-Left, etc., devote every day of their lives glued to their computers, stirring up anger through lies and telling you if you live in certain areas of the Cape, you're to view wind power only one way, and you're to vote only one way. That's all seasonal people are to the anti-wind: to squeeze for money and a means of electing incompetent puppets into office. There's also money in being online anti-wind. On the anti-wind coalition's website, they're selling anti-wind merchandise. Plus, there's a huge "donate" box. Easy cash, if no one's paying attention to where donations are going. These online anti-wind rant about hating foreign energy companies and wind power. Do they realize computer use is a big drain on Northern New York's energy grid? Unless Windy, Outlaw, Jefferson-Leaning-Left, etc., are using their computers 100 percent off the grid, they're actually increasing profits for a foreign energy company (National Grid) and fueling demand for wind power.

Harvey White
Cape Vincent

Harvey White
Published March 5, 2010 Page A6, Watertown Daily Times

Anti-wind folks hide beyond anonymity

One of our local newspapers gives people the opportunity to respond online to letters people have mailed in. Whenever someone writes a logical, rational, pro-wind letter, you can expect anti-wind folks will attack the writer online with name-calling and personal threats. This is funny because people who mail in letters have the courage to include their names, but the online anti-wind writers choose to be anonymous and give themselves cute names like Outlaw and Windless. People should look closely at the anti-wind responses, not because they're rational because they're not, but because it's interesting to see what the anti-wind don't try to deny. My son Cory wrote a letter, and he pointed out that the voter list from the November 2009 election proves that the Cape's anti-wind registered family members to their residences so that these family members who've never lived in the Cape could vote in our election. What's interesting is that in the 20 or so responses to Cory's letter, not a single anti-wind denied this. So if no one's denying this was done, is Urban Hirschey the legitimate supervisor? It's like how the anti-wind brag they have a petition with signatures from 800 Cape residents asking for a wind moratorium. I'd like them to prove all 800 signatures are from Cape residents. Urban wants the town to hire an accountant because he "doesn't have the time" to do the town's accounting. He doesn't have the time? Isn't Urban retired? Not only did the anti-wind run a negative campaign, they said Urban would be a good town supervisor because he ran a company and has an MBA from Dartmouth. Well, why is he wasting our tax dollars hiring an accountant? All our previous supervisors easily managed the town's accounting, and they were farmers and mechanics who worked more than 40 hours a week while they were supervisors. Then Urban sent a letter on town letterhead to the attorney general without consulting our town's attorney and the rest of the town board. Instead of finding out the right way to do things, like most anti-wind he lives in his own little world and doesn't care what's going on outside that world. That's just the tip of the iceberg. Has Urban been in the town offices at least 20 hours every week like previous supervisors? No. The minority who voted for Urban should come to the town board meetings and watch him in action.

Harvey White
Cape Vincent

Harvey White
Published January14, 2010 Page A6, Watertown Daily Times

Hold Hirschey to his campaign promises

I appreciate Tom Rienbeck for his 10 years of dedicated service as Cape Vincent town supervisor. But as most Cape residents now know, Tom would still be supervisor if it weren't for the Cape's unethical anti-wind group going through loopholes in New York election law. I don't' see how the anti-wind group can see the election as a victory. Since the 2007 election, they spent who knows how much money on full-page newspaper ads and anti-wind events with expensive guest speakers. Then they bend the rules with who knows how many voters. The board of elections says 200-plus voters were registered in Cape since 2007. And Urban only gets 20 more votes than Tom. I wonder how Mr. Hirschey feels knowing that his anti-wind group had to be so unethical to get him elected for only 20 more votes than Tom? How does he expect to get anything done when the Cape residents he'll be dealing with year-round know what his group did? The Cape anti-wind group won't admit this but they were actually defeated in the election. The clean sweep they wanted and expected never happened. In fact, the candidate most known for being anti-wind, John Byrne, came in dead last. He didn't even get 25 percent of the votes from all Cape's registered voters. And there's the fact that, after the election, I heard some voters saying they didn't know Urban was in an anti-wind group. But they remembered when he said "wind turbines are majestic" in a 2006 public hearing. After the election, I read in the newspaper that Mr. Byrne's response to losing the election was filing another lawsuit against the town that will only waste more of our taxpayer money. And there's no point for Mr. Byrne's lawsuit since it's only copying the attorney general's code of conduct. Cape residents should make sure Urban doesn't dodge his campaign promises. Town board meetings should be in a place with lots of seats, so we can all watch him acting as supervisor. Urban should also try to match Tom's office hours. Cape residents should expect Urban in town offices no less than 20 hours every single week.

Harvey White
Cape Vincent

Harvey White
Published November 1, 2009 Page A7, Watertown Daily Times

DISHONEST BEHAVIOR BY ANTI-WIND GROUP

I'm a Republican, and I'm proud my fellow Cape Vincent Republicans Marty Mason and Bob Chapman endorsed Tom Rienbeck. Former Cape Republican Committee Chairman John DeFrancesco never mentioned to us his intention of putting Urban Hirschey's name on the ballot. He didn't allow us to caucus. He avoided us altogether and went straight to the county Board of Election with his nomination. And to me, it's dishonest that John Byrne had to make up his own political party to get on the ballot, and then had his campaign signs made up so they're identical to the signs for the Republican candidates. I hope Cape Vincent voters see the three anti-wind candidates for what they are. Urban Hirschey, John Byrne and Brooks Bragdon belong to a group that has engaged in the sneakiest and most dishonest behavior this small town has ever seen. How can we trust Hirschey? Before appointing himself chair of the anti-wind group, he called the Maple Ridge windmills "majestic." And don't forget he had a 200-foot high windmill on his property. Also, it's odd the anti-wind chairman recently bought 33.79 acres of land in the middle of a proposed wind farm. Last summer, Byrne brought a video camera to Cape board meetings, claiming he wanted to record the entirety of each meeting and make it available online for his seasonal out-of-state associates. If Byrne is telling the truth, how come the complete meetings were never made available online? Instead, only certain parts from Byrne's recordings were put online, and they were only intended to humiliate our town officials. Notice how Byrne never positioned the camera so that all five board members were visible. Each meeting, he'd focus on certain individuals while members of his anti-wind group antagonized these individuals, calling them names like "rotten human being." Also, Byrne admitted to paying sound consultants to come with biased results, because he didn't like the results of the town's acoustics experts. His exact quote was, "He who pays the piper picks the tune."

Harvey White
Cape Vincent

Harvey White
Published September 11, 2009 Page A6, Watertown Daily Times

CAPE ANTI-WIND BACKERS CAUSE DISRUPTIONS

The unethical anti-wind group in Cape Vincent obviously planned the disruptive performance the town board had to endure at their Aug. 13 meeting. They knew Supervisor Thomas Rienbeck was going to ask for the camera to be removed. They knew this because all summer long they have been causing meeting disruptions with their video camera by antagonizing and mocking town board members until they exhibit frustration, and then posting only their frustration on YouTube. Cape town boards have always allowed video cameras at meetings, but all summer long videos intended only to humiliate town board members have been popping up online. At the Aug. 13 meeting, the anti-wind person responsible for posting videos sat front and center and made sure his camera was visible to the town board. Then, he zooms in on Supervisor Rienbeck's face as the anti-wind person next to him calls Rienbeck a "rotten human being" and tries to provoke him. Only problem is Tom, much to the surprise of the unethical anti-wind people, kept his cool the whole time. For the record, Tom never said the word "arrest." Not a single member of the town board said the word "arrest." It was the disruptive anti-wind people putting themselves in front of the camera screaming about being arrested. Tom wanted police presence only because he wanted the anti-wind people to know that if the camera is only intended to show humiliating videos of the town board members, then it is a disruption to the board's proceedings, and therefore not allowed in the building. To the disrespectful anti-wind person who referred to our supervisor as a "rotten human being," has he given more than 35 years of his life as a volunteer firefighter for Cape Vincent? Has he served as a Cape Vincent official for 18 years? For the last five elections, the community of Cape Vincent has elected Tom Rienbeck to serve them. That includes eight years at village trustee and almost 10 years as town supervisor. I have known Tom Rienbeck for over 40 years, and the Cape Vincent community has known the Rienbeck family for several generations. He has earned this community's respect, and he deserves respect. He and this community have had to endure such disrespectful and disgusting treatment from the anti-wind folks. If the anti-wind group's goal was to unite this community in support of our town supervisor and town board members, then they've succeeded.

Harvey White
Cape Vincent

Harvey White
Published July 5, 2009 Page A6, Watertown Daily Times

COMMENT ABOUT 'PIPER PICKING TUNE' SHOWS ANTI-WIND BIAS

In the June 23 Times article "New study disputes Cape noise levels," John Byrne says, "He who pays the piper picks the tune," to criticize a sound study completed by accredited sound consultants hired by a wind company. That's his exact quote: "He who pays the piper picks the tune." John Byrne must realize this quote applies to him and the anti-wind group of which he's a member. By using this quote, he's admitting his anti-wind group paid for a biased sound study. The anti-wind group may try to say one sound consultant's accreditation is better or different than another consultant's accreditation. But none of that matters. Based on John Byrne's quote, it stands to reason, if you don't like the "tunes" a "piper" is playing, you don't hire him. You'd only hire a "piper " to play the "tunes" that are more in line with your musical tastes. Therefore, John Byrne is admitting his anti-wind group paid for a sound study that was more in line with their point of view than a previous report. There's only one reason an anti-wind group would pay so much money for an admittedly anti-wind sound study. When an anti-wind group can't find a consensus of experts to support their point of view, they'll pay someone to have a different point of view.

Harvey White
Cape Vincent

Harvey White
Published May 10, 2009 Page A6, Watertown Daily Times

Attacks Dont Keep Officials From Doing Jobs

There have been recent letters in this newspaper from Cape Vincent's anti-wind group, mostly seasonal residents, who want you to believe that Cape Vincent is run by irresponsible elected officials. Even though our elected officials have put a lot of effort into following the correct legal procedures and respectfully addressing the concerns of the community, the anti-wind group continues to disrespectfully drag their names through the mud. There's no real need for me to show how the anti-wind group's assessment of our local officials is totally wrong. I know most Cape residents either ignore the anti-wind group's letters or read them to see how low the group will stoop. Sometimes you have to laugh at how ignorant the self-righteous anti-wind group is. In a recent letter, the group claims that the town board votes on the Environmental Impact Statement, when most people know the town board doesn't even vote on the EIS. And yet they claim the town supervisor doesn't know what he's doing. And enough with the conflicts-of-interest accusations. First, it's not illegal for a board member to be related to someone with a wind lease. Second, any board member with such a relation consistently and ethically recused themselves from voting Third, the voters of Cape Vincent have clearly shown they don't care about conflicts of interest by repeatedly electing the candidates with supposed "conflicts of interest The anti-wind group is just getting bitter because they haven't made the wind projects go away. They've tried lawsuits. They've tried campaigning to get anti-wind people into elected positions. They've tried malicious attack ads. They've even tried sneaking video cameras into board meetings, putting the videos online and disrespectfully making fun of the board members. To their disappointment, all the money they've spent has not stopped our local officials from performing their duties efficiently, wisely and responsibly. Don't let these anti-wind rants tarnish your view of Cape Vincent. When you visit Cape Vincent this summer, as long as you avoid the handful of anti-wind folks, you'll see that most Cape Vincent residents are friendly, respectful and rational people.

Harvey White
Cape Vince

Harvey White
Published February 24, 2009 Page A6, Watertown Daily Times

ANTI-WIND FOLKS MAKING FALSE ACCUSATIONS

The Cape Vincent community must feel lucky to have anti-wind people telling us how we're so unethical. Once again, some anti-wind people are criticizing our board members. Most anti-wind folks are just bitter about not owning enough property for a turbine of their own. So just because they won't directly benefit from a turbine on their property, they'll do everything they can to make sure Cape Vincent residents don't benefit in any way from the wind farm. Anti-wind folks will probably try to block hundreds of thousands dollars of annual wind farm revenue that could go to the town, county and school district through the PILOT agreement. I know they're trying to play down the amount of money in the PILOT. And so they make personal attacks and false accusations about our board members. All while assuming that if one Cape resident has the same last name as another resident, they must be related. Maybe if these anti-wind people lived in our community for more than two months a year, they'd have a better idea of who is related to whom. In their disrespect and ignorance, they can't even spell the names of our community members correctly. Where in the United States are these anti-wind people going to find a small town where board members aren't related in some way to their constituents? Many Cape Vincent families have chosen to live here for many generations because they're surrounded by people they know and trust. And when these anti-wind groups try to sue the town, thousands of dollars of Cape Vincent taxpayer money has to be allocated for legal fees. And then a New York Supreme Court judge will end up invalidating the anti-wind group's claims. So it all ends up being a huge waste of Cape Vincent taxpayer money. Not only are our board members being antagonized by anti-wind people, but I also know for a fact that anti-wind people have told some local businesses that, since the business owner is a vocal supporter of wind farms, they won't patronize their business. I could name some local business owners who are at risk of going out of business because their wealthiest customers, some anti-wind people, are boycotting them because they had a pro-wind sign in their yard. Wind turbines are now up on Wolfe Island. Most Cape residents have already gotten used to them, some hardly notice them.

Harvey White
Cape Vincent

Harvey White
Published November 24, 2008 Page A6, Watertown Daily Times

CAPE HAS RESPONSIBLE LEADER WITH REINBECK

I'm responding to Cicero resident, Noel Bonvouloir, writing in our local newspaper to complain about decisions made by Cape Vincent's zoning committee. The Cicero resident complains about the "way things are handled" in Cape Vincent. The writer complains that Cape Vincent Town Supervisor Tom Rienbeck organized the zoning committee and appointed its members all by himself. Maybe he didn't hear, but Mr. Rienbeck has been elected by the Cape Vincent community in a series of landslide victories since 2000. The Cape Vincent community has elected Mr. Rienbeck to be a leader, and by organizing and appointing members to the committee, he is responsibly acting as a leader. Were the committee members supposed to appoint themselves? And Mr. Rienbeck wasn't asked to organize this committee. No one forced him to organize the committee. He could have made a unilateral move to establish the zoning laws however he wanted. But instead, Mr. Rienbeck wanted to be fair to all members of the Cape Vincent community, so he organized this committee. The majority of the Cape community feels Mr. Rienbeck made admirable efforts to include wide-ranging members of this community for the committee. The Cicero resident acknowledges that the zoning committee members agreed to compromise. He appears furious that the members have been conciliatory with each other. He appears furious certain members are not stonewalling or bringing the discussion to a halt. As most of the Cape knows, if the local anti-wind group didn't threaten to sue the town board, we would've already had a wind law. I'm glad the Cicero resident praises Section 115 of Cape Vincent's current zoning law since having a wind farm in the Cape directly addresses Section 115's aim to conserve the Cape's agricultural resources. Farms in the Cape have been diminishing for the last few decades, and with turbine leases on agricultural land, there will be substantial conservation of farms and agricultural land. Maybe the Cicero resident doesn't realize that a large majority of the Cape Vincent community is very proud of our town supervisor. Many of us feel Mr. Rienbeck, along with all of our current town board members and Planning Board members, deserve to be treated with respect, whether you're a year-round resident or a seasonal resident. The Cicero resident praises "our forefathers" for what they intended when they originally zoned Cape Vincent. Which forefathers is he praising? The forefathers of Cape Vincent or the forefathers of Cicero?

Harvey White
Cape Vincent

Harvey White
Published July 13, 2008 Page A9, Watertown Daily Times

Cape anti-wind group avoids public dialogue

In a June 28 article about an anti-wind turbine speaker addressing Cape Vincent's anti-wind group and "the public," why was there no public announcement of this meeting? I've talked to several residents in the Cape Vincent area, town and village representatives, and no one knew about this meeting. Apparently, this was an exclusive meeting, with the anti-wind group inviting only the press and probably a select group of policymakers who they felt would help their cause. Why was the wider public not invited to this exclusive meeting? I can think of some reasons: First, despite all of the money and rumor-spreading the anti-wind group has devoted to their misinformation campaign, the wider public of Cape Vincent has not proven to be as gullible as the anti-wind group first assumed. After more than three years of the anti-wind group's moneyed efforts to increase their numbers beyond the couple dozen core members, they have not persuaded the wider public to swallow their misinformation. The anti-wind group probably didn't invite the wider public to their meeting because they didn't want their expensive anti-wind speaker and the press to see how small the anti-wind minority in Cape Vincent really is. If select policymakers were invited, I hope they realize that no dissenting voices were allowed at this meeting. The majority of Cape Vincent has remained pro-wind because, with all the anti-wind group's propaganda and hired speakers, it's been easy to recognize the inaccuracy and shortsightedness in their rumors and research. Secondly, I've noticed when discussing wind energy, the anti-wind group's preferred mode of communication is not two-way conversation. The anti-wind group avoids face-to-face dialogue altogether. They do not want their opinions challenged. They especially do not want the accuracy of their research challenged. The anti-wind group does not want to be asked whether they've thoroughly weighed all the pros and cons in allowing wind turbines in Cape Vincent. Whenever you disprove the anti-wind group's arguments with indisputable facts, or ask them for the source of their supposed facts, they will change the subject. The anti-wind group wants to be able to present one supposed "expert" that denounces wind energy, but they do not want to be questioned about the financial compensation they've provided the supposed expert. They especially don't want to be asked to present a consensus of experts that all unanimously denounce wind energy.

Harvey White
Cape Vincent

Harvey White
Published April 15, 2008 Page A9, Watertown Daily Times

MISLEADING CLAIMS BY CAPE WIND OPPONENTS

I'm responding to Mariana Reinhart's letter on April 2. The Wind Power Ethics Group (WPEG) believes the majority of Cape Vincent residents aren't intelligent enough to understand all the factors involved in developing a wind farm in this area. WPEG apparently doesn't understand the meaning of the word "draft" in Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS). We should ask WPEG if they know the difference between a draft EIS and a final EIS, and which one is intended to be a rough outline of a wind farm's impact, and which one is intended to be complete description of the impact. Also, the WPEG claims there's a "gag order" in the wind company contracts. If that's true, then why was Paul Mason in his letter on March 27 encouraging Cape Vincent's anti-wind minority to listen to the pro-wind majority's side of the story? The WPEG claims that landowners sign away their rights to their land when they sign a wind company contract. They must not realize that the contracts are for the wind rights to the property. The WPEG only believes rumors about the wind power contracts. Since they avoid talking to people who know the factual benefits of turbines, they refuse to listen to your side of the story if you've signed a contract. The WPEG believes it has the right to interfere in business transactions between private landowners and private companies. Having a contract with a wind company is a choice a landowner is allowed to make. After all, it's the landowner's property. Landowners have the right to choose what they do with their property. If WPEG is supposed to be so "ethical," why wasn't it revealed that the anti-wind turbine spokesman the WPEG brought to the January BP public hearing is an employee of the WPEG chairman? The WPEG also claims that wind farms will stop people from wanting to live in Cape Vincent. They should tell that to the owners of the dozen or so new houses being built in the area. We're seeing some beautiful houses being built on the river and along the lake. I'm pretty sure these homeowners are aware there will be turbines in the area, yet they still seem willing to invest in these million dollar homes. The results of the recent local election would seem to indicate that the majority of the residents of Cape Vincent in fact support wind farms.

Harvey White
Cape Vincent

Harvey White
October 31, 2007, Page A9, Watertown Daily Times

A HYPOCRITICAL OPPOSITION TO OVERSEAS OWNERS

Its totally hypocritical and inaccurate for people to complain that wind farms generate money that goes to foreign countries. You shop at Wal-Mart, youre sending American dollars to China. You fuel up your car, youre sending American dollars to a Middle Eastern country. China is one of the worlds biggest polluters, and most 9-11 terrorists were from Saudi Arabia, from which the U.S. imports oil. Yet people are furious some wind farm companies have headquarters in Europe? Do your research. While AES and Acciona are international engery companies, AES is heaquartered in Arlington, Va., and Acciona Energy NA is headquartered in Chicago. Plus, turbine parts are produced in the U.S. and the green energy boom is giving hope and revitalized industry to many Upstate New York cities and rural areas that have been struggling for decades. Its easy to see through the misinformation the Wind Power Ethics Group is trying to sell. For example, the 20-year life span of turbines myth. If a company yields revenue from a certain resource, theyll stay where that resource is inexhaustible. Cape has had an inexhaustible wind resource for centuries, yet WPEG wants you to believe a wind company will just up and leave within 20 years? Its true that generators on some turbines have the potential to decrease efficiency, but swapping out generators, even swapping whole turbine structures, wold not be a big deal for wind companies. This would work to our advantage. Turbines are ever evolving into quieter, more environmentally harmonious structures. If a turbine put in next year needs to be replaced 20 years from now, it would be replaced with a quieter, more environmentally harmonious turbine. Gerald Aubertine recently wrote a letter blaming our incumbents for no zoning for wind farms. Actually, Supervisor Thomas Rienbeck and other councilment voted to implement zoning, but Councilman Cliff Schneider voted no, and stopped the zoning from going into effect. People complain about our officials not being able to vote because they have family with property in Cape Vincent wind projects. We all know Supervisor Rienbeck has no family in the AES, Acciona or BP project, but what about John DeFrancesco? DeFransecos brother-in-law is signed up in the BP project. He wont be able to vote on the BP project for the zoning for either project. Also, I recommend all voters in Cape ask DeFransesco about his underhanded conduct at the 2005 Republican caucus, and why village sidewalks were removed from his property.

Harvey White
Cape Vincent