EDITOR:

Wanna make some money? Wanna make that money without having to do much for it? Mortgage backed securities might be a good way to go. You know, like they did with the home loans that caused the 2008 stock market crash. How about massively overcharging for prescription drugs. Just like what people have done with some of the lifesaving drugs on the market. Or how about putting up an industrial solar installation at the expense of other people’s quality of life and physical well-being.

It’s being argued that in the case of the Escanaba Township/Chandler Solar Project it’s justifiable to do just that. That is of course if you’re one of the local farmers who’s having a hard time of things financially. Hawthorne wrote: Families are always rising and falling in America. He was right. It’s simply a natural part of capitalism in this country. I personally know this first hand, as the family I’m from lost a major business due to congressional deregulation. Please know that I feel for the local farmers and, as I’ve stated, I understand their feeling of loss in their financial stability.

Having said that I’d like to pose a question to you:

Let’s say that my wife and I found ourselves in a devastating financial situation that was ruining our entire way of life. But then we discovered there was something we could do to save ourselves. Conversely though, at the same time, even though we were being saved, it would adversely affect the entire rest of the community. So my question to you is. Should we do it? Should we save ourselves while blatantly ignoring the pain and suffering that our neighbors will endure?

If I may I would like to leave you all with this:

If there’s a 1 percent chance that a single one of us could be harmed in any way from the installation of the Escanaba Township/Chandler Solar Project it simply cannot be allowed to happen. Come on. Say it with me. It can’t be allowed to happen.

P.S. In conjunction with its Rockwellesque beauty the idea of destroying some of the most pristine farm land that God ever created while at the same time disrupting the movement patterns of the wildlife in this area is simply reprehensible and should be considered a crime against nature. “Of course that is in my most humble of opinions.”

Jeff Norton

Gladstone