Public Hearing Scheduled ..

This week's edition of the Republican Newspaper reports that a public hearing has been scheduled at the request of those who have previously spoken out against the use of wind turbines in Garrett County. The editor of the paper even goes so far as to suggest that this hearing could possibly be one of the most important in the history of the county. Wow that is heavy stuff, and all on short notice.

Here's an idea, if this issue is so important why not use all these public hearings to formulate a Yay or Nay proposal on zoning and put it on the ballot for all 30,000 or so residents of the county to decide? This is afterall an election year. If I'm not mistaken we've never elected a President, a Governor or a County Commissioner based on who could make the most noise in a public forum, so why not let the people decide whether county-wide zoning is necessary, not the fractional few who feel most threatened.

I realize we elect leaders to make tough decisions on our behalf but a simple up or down vote could settle it and be inclusive of all residents, so why continue to have hearing after hearing where only a minority is heard? I suppose that makes too much sense and those most vocal few might still continue to press the issue. Finally, let me remind you that 300 people at a public hearing represents approximately 1% of Garrett County's population. I think it is clear that 1-2% are against wind turbines being built no matter what it takes to achieve their goal but what about the other 98%?

Don't forget to check back to Dan's Deep Creek Blog for future updates.