{"id":11764,"date":"2010-12-29T06:00:32","date_gmt":"2010-12-29T11:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/static\/?p=11764"},"modified":"2012-01-25T10:18:22","modified_gmt":"2012-01-25T15:18:22","slug":"what-do-you-say-when-you-find-him-hanging-on-the-turbine-fence-with-a-self-inflicted-357-round-in-his-head-massachusetts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/2010\/what-do-you-say-when-you-find-him-hanging-on-the-turbine-fence-with-a-self-inflicted-357-round-in-his-head-massachusetts\/","title":{"rendered":"“What do you say when you find him hanging on the turbine fence with a [self-inflicted] .357 round in his head?” (Massachusetts)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editor’s note<\/em>: \u00a0The following anguished letter was written Christmas Day by Barry Funfar<\/a> to the Falmouth, Massachusetts, Board of Health.<\/span><\/p>\n

December 25, 2010<\/p>\n

Dear Madam and Sirs,<\/p>\n

As I write this, sitting at my desk looking out over my snow-covered woodland garden in the rear of my property, I also have a clear view of Falmouth\u2019s Turbine #1 and the huge red crane that is assembling Wind Turbine #2. Every window on the back of my house has a great view of the Falmouth Industrial Park turbines.<\/p>\n

I have a feeling of being overwhelmed by these machines. Nobody deserves to be subjected to this torment. Nearly every waking hour is spent being aggravated by it or aggravating over what to do about it, or medical appointments because of it, or talking to people calling me about it or who come to my house to see it for themselves, or meetings to do with it, or Internet exchanges dealing with it, or seminars and symposiums on it, or reading articles and books about it. \u00a0All this on top of my investing nearly $7000 fighting my own town over it.<\/p>\n

I want my life back, and I am more than willing to fight for it. Persistence pays. The town sewage odor issue took 20 years. This is no less important to me. This is a matter of basic human rights. I learned one thing with the sewer issue: \u00a0that town officials are not forever. Replacements can be seated soon enough, and not all people are mindless.<\/p>\n

This is Christmas Day. What is so outrageous about wind turbine nuisance is that it continues each and every day. Christmas, Thanksgiving, every holiday, every special occasion. It takes zero time off from annoying people. It is a negative mood setter. Have friends over for a cook-out: \u00a0no one likes this noise. \u00a0Some of us are driven insane by it. What otherwise could be a perfect day in the garden becomes a day of resentment and anger towards the town and another fist full of pills taken for depression, anxieties, and hypertension.<\/p>\n

Thank you for the opportunity to speak at your Board of Health, December 20th, meeting. I do not agree with one board member\u2019s analogy of wind turbine noise vs. botulism, and how the one affecting everyone and the other only some people makes the wind turbine detriments more complex to deal with. \u00a0 What about blade and ice throw? \u00a0There is a proper, safe distance to setback even though the ice or blade would not hit everyone.<\/p>\n

Actually “the hit” of ice or blade would affect fewer people than the noise does. Just because the victim would bleed from the physical hit does not lesson the impact on the victim who is suffering from noise induced anxiety, depression, and pain.<\/p>\n

What do you say when you find him hanging on the turbine fence with a .357 round in his head?<\/p>\n

You are responsible for the the health of all the citizens of Falmouth, including the ones who are sensitive to the noise, shadow flicker, strobe lights, and whatever other annoyances are caused by wind turbines or anything else in Falmouth. Your list of duties clearly includes noise. The U.S Environmental Protection Agency says that \u201cnoise is a significant hazard to public health,\u201d and finds that an absolute noise limit fails to adequately protect the public health.<\/p>\n

Many communities have adopted a rule that adequately protects the public health by establishing a relative standard that limits the noise caused by the operation of a wind energy system to no more than 5dBA above the ambient noise level (as measured at any point on property adjacent to the parcel on which the wind energy system is located). The Falmouth boards should have been looking into this back in 2004 when the wind turbine was being proposed. There was plenty of information back then to realize the detrimental effects of industrial wind turbines when sited too close to populations. The wind industry disclosed only the bright side of the picture. \u00a0Town officials either had their eyes closed or outright just “hoped” that things would turn out okay.<\/p>\n

Not enough research was done, or at least not heeded. \u00a0The town took a huge risk, and now the consequences must be faced.<\/p>\n

You dither around wasting time. You do not need<\/span> peer reviewed studies from Canada or Denmark or Australia to prove to you the detrimental affects of industrial wind turbines on human beings. You have your own neighbors living right here, in Falmouth, whom you can speak to in person<\/span>.<\/p>\n