March 19, 2005

Windmills? Maybe not

This week's Dryden Courier leads with an article on the windmills Cornell has proposed building on Mount Pleasant, which could provide 10-15% of the university's electricity. Neighbors are less than happy, and the Courier reports that 15 of them signed a petition opposing the windmills. The key paragraph on the windmills' future seems to be:

[Dryden Zoning Officer] Slater told a small group of residents that gathered at the Dryden Town Hall to protest the project that the zoning ordinances for the town, "do not recognize wind mills as a permitted use," and that the possibility of a variance was very slim.

An article later in the Courier (and available online through the Ithaca Times) looks at a different possibility for energy generation which Cornell is also exploring on Mount Pleasant, the use of grass pellets for heat. (I'll be reporting on this next week in greater depth.)

The Courier also reports on TC3 Professor and playwright Paul McCabe, whose play "Get Off" will be performed at the Kennedy Center in Washington after winning the Jean Kennedy Smith award, given to "the best college student-written script about the human experience of living with a disability."

The Courier's editiorial, "Let the Sun Shine In," celebrates Sunshine Week and freedom of information laws, saying:

At its heart this campaign shares these beliefs: Knowledge is the key to freedom; transparency is the enemy of tyranny; and an informed public will make intelligent decisions. Upon those concepts this nation has prospered. Each is now under assault. Their defense is our highest calling.

Posted by simon at March 19, 2005 8:46 AM in , , , ,
Note on photos