It's time for the town of Lyme residents to compromise on the windmill issue. This feud between the Hatfields and McCoys has divided the residents on the east side of Route 12E and the waterfront property owners, respectively. The McCoys conceived a plan having a zoning law so restrictive no company would install wind farms in the community. They proceeded to intimidate the residents, saying the windmills will be the downfall of the town. The McCoys would have you believe the Town Council and Planning Board did an excellent job with the open forums, work sessions, survey and zoning law. All the Hatfields want is reduced restrictions for the east side of 12E.

First, Anne Harris's letter on Aug. 12, should be questioned. How many board members did all the things she wrote about and who were they? Council members Scott Aubertine and Michael Countryman and Planning Board member Donald Bourquin are the few I know who did their homework. I suspect others drove by windmills and surfed the Internet for their information. More than 30 residents made a bus trip to Maple Ridge and talked with Lewis County officials. They asked if any Lyme board members had made a similar visit. The answer was no.

Second, Mrs. Harris needs to review her numbers. Lyme's acreage is 37,000, not 50,000. The current law setbacks would allow only 3,700 acres for windmills. Her estimate of 40 percent or 20,000 acres is not valid. Third, question nine of this survey illustrates just how biased the boards were. The question dealt with noise and then added the clarifier, "In other words, for the next 20 years any time of the day, seven days of the week, 52 weeks a year to what noise level are you willing to have your current quiet rural ambient sound increased, with the installation of wind turbines?"

The McCoys' plan is apparent. Now they are defending their contributions. Last summer in the Lyme Central School gym there was a presentation. After several slides of damaged windmills, there was a noise demonstration of 50 dbl. You could hear a pin drop. Let us hear this demonstration outside. Talk of liberated ice from the blades, and blasting 18-feet-deep holes on bedrock for the tower bases, etc., is irresponsible rhetoric. Tie rods would be placed in the bedrock for anchors, and we have better odds with the Lotto than being injured by ice from a windmill.

I was embarrassed at the April work session when two Planning Board members were debating what color the towers should be painted. Millions of dollars are at stake. The industrial standard is white. Our representatives should not be making a joke about camouflaging the towers. Many of us questioned the survey and its results from the beginning. It took the Freedom of Information Act to get the original questionnaire released to the voters for wind. Now there are two interpretations of what the residents were trying to say with the survey.

Charles B. Kingsley

Three Mile Bay