Driven from home by threat of turbines, family now broke (Indiana)

Dec 24, 2010

Facebooktwittermail

I am Misty Romack, mother of two. I currently am a MaryKay independent sales consultant and private baker. A little over two years ago we had to do an emergency remodel on our bathroom (single bathroom home) which caused us to refinance the home.

Approximately 6 months later, we were told that the surrounding farmers were going to “sandwhich” our home between two windmills and use the south end of our property as an access road. At this time our son was 4 almost 5, and daughter was 9.

This caused many fears and aggravations because of safety hazards and health and wellness issues that the windmill company & county commissioners could not guarantee us would not be a problem. Both children have problems with ADHD and with shadow flicker, that can cause seizures, and we were concerned about the 45 decibel noise, which can disturb sleep, and the fact that our daughter also had sleeping/anxiety issues.

I wrote the company explaining to them how much it would be to relocate our family.  After many communciations I had gotten nowhere. I wrote the Indiana governor, Mitch Daniels, and even wrote our own President, and all they told me was the project would “push forward.”

I wasn’t against the project; I was against it endangering the health and wellbeing of my family.

The farmer decided to purchase our property after he cut a deal with the windmill company. That gave us enough money to pay off our mortgage, but we had no surplus cash to help us relocate. We had a few dollars left from the refinance to make an offer and move.

Within only a few months of moving, however, we had again racked up credit card bills for the relocation, including for appliances which all died between November and January of moving in (water softener, stove, refrigerator).

Again, my children suffer from ADHD and our son goes to therapy (he is adopted and eventually will need this more than ever). We are trying to treat many different possible issues with him, and will be for awhile.

This forced move has put us far behind, financially. I don’t want to lose another home, and relocate once more. We continue to make payments on everything, but continually come up short, and now our maxed credit cards are all at interest rates of 29.9% because of late payments. We owe doctors’ bills that are behind, too. I have taken on becoming a private baker, and making cakes/cookies and also babysit to make up for the income I cannot make outside the home. If I did work outside the home, I would only gain approx $20 a week because of paying for daycare expenses. I’m doing everything I can to re-coup what we have lost, and restablish our home while my husband works.

It’s been a year since this forced move, and we are barely floating.  We’ve been late on our mortgage three months in a row.  (We get it paid, but by the end of the month when the next one is due.) Eventually the goal is to re-coup, and open the bakery that we so desperately dream of.

I’m in search of immediate assistance in “catching us up” and in hopes that eventaully I, too, can spread the word and help other families who have met our fate with the windmill companies.

Again, I’m not against the green energy movement. But when they take your homestead, what you’ve worked so hard to build, take your equity, and your home value and throw it away and raise your taxes because you now live in an industrial windfarm—I know so many more families who need assistance in regaining what is lost.

I was the first to begin to speak on this issue, and I again will fight for others’ rights.

They are moving the windmills into the county we moved to as we speak. Rest assured, I’m warning everyone I know of the effects it may have on their lives, their homes and the land around them

No comments yet

The comments are closed.