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Stay positive
As election season approaches, the Cape Vincent community hopes people wont resort to negative campaigning. We hope voters will be united in fighting against the closing of our elementary school. But already, we are being bombarded with negative campaigning from Capes anti- wind group trying to get votes for their anti- business candidates. These are the same people that viciously opposed the Cape Vincent correctional facility. Then once the facility was built, they got a job there. Now that wind development is proposed, they are back viciously opposing another business that will boost our economy. Yet they want your vote. Lets not forget that last town election when John DE Francisco, who lost several past attempts to get elected to the town board, went behind the backs of the republican chairs, and gave the county election office the names of his antiwind cronies for the Republican line on the ballot. Jefferson County Republican Chair Don Coon even wrote a letter verifying in that DE Francisco was wrong for going behind the backs of Capes republican chairs. Yet Capes anti- wind group complained loudly when Capes Republican chairs wouldnt endorse DeFranciscos anti- wind buddies. Clif Schneider claims he is a big supporter of Capes anti- wind group because he supposedly cares about ethics however it is well known that when he was employed at the cape DEC Fisheries Station, he told the wife of a retired DEC official that she and her husband werent welcome at the facility although he, after his retirement, continued to use the facility. I wouldnt want such a hypocritical person on my town board. While the potential closing of our elementary school is proving Cape desperately needs more year-round young families, and desperately needs more year round business, this one group still demands that Cape businesses look and act a certain way. If any business doesnt meet their extremely narrow criteria for what they think belongs in Cape, they will use all their time and money to kill it and bully anyone who supports it. They claim that tourism and wind development cant coexist, yet river, lake tourism and wind development have peacefully coexisted in many river, lake communities for many decades. If anyone doubts this, they should contact Wolfe Islands tourism bureau, real estate brokers and business owners. In fact, these Wolfe Island groups will likely tell you what a boost wind development has been to their economy. To Cape Voters: until November , stay positive through the anti- wind groups negative campaigning, and support our community and our school by voting for Marty mason and Don Mason
Harvey White
Cape Vincent
Harvey White
Published May 29, 2011 Page A6, Watertown Daily Times
Harvey White
Cape Vincent
Harvey White
Published April 17, 2011 Page A6, Watertown Daily Times
Harvey White
Cape Vincent
Harvey White
Published April 14, 2011 Thousand Islands Sun
A Scary distraction
Its good to see the Cape Vincent community coming together to support our elementary school I was hoping we could move beyond the destructive divisiveness Capes anti- wind group has dragged our community through. But just as we are rallying support for our communitys school, the anti- wind group goes online and labels our community members as Nazis and terrorists. Anti- wind blogs are no different than tabloids. Bloggers believe Cape is so full of gullible people that if they repeat ridiculous fictions over and over, they will eventually become true in the minds of people. First, they say something is a certain number, a few months later that number is double, a few months later the number is tripled. When one fictitious number isnt scary enough, they come up with a higher scarier fictitious numbers. Just recently, a blogger said the wind turbines proposed for Cape will be twice the size of the test tower near Route 12E. But its well known the test tower covers the full height of a turbines tower. Besides, why would a towers height anemometer be only at the half way mark of a turbines height? These are scare tactics of people who dont have facts on their side. Nothing could be more divisive than their recent mass mailer. They list names of community members, as if theyre enemies belonging on a hit list. The Mailer is full of the characteristics of Capes anti- wind group is known for: blowing things out of proportion, blatant inaccuracies and deliberately misleading graphics. The group doesnt even get their own name right on their mailer. They call themselves an energy group instead of an Ethics group. Did they lose their ethics? And the president of this group wants to run for our town board? While bloggers hide behind their fake names, they repeatedly smear the real names of our community members because of imagined crimes. Capes anti- wind group has sued our community members twice and lost twice. Both times the State Supreme Court confirmed the crimes were imagined by the anti- wind group. But does that stop bloggers from repeatedly smearing our innocent community members and calling them criminals? No. Bloggers care more about being popular than providing facts or helping a community. One Blogger boasts every day how many people hes lured to his tabloid- like blog. And one online anti- wind calls himself Pater, which means Holy Father. While our community is going through a crisis of the possible school closing, the anti-wind bloggers are doing all they can to distract people from the fact that wind revenue will benefit our school district. Capes anti- wind group is just scaring our community members. And its a shame they are doing this during difficult times.
Harvey White
Cape Vincent
Harvey White
Published May 29, 2011 Page A6, Watertown Daily Times
Harvey White
Cape Vincent
Harvey White
Published February 10, 2011 Page A6, Watertown Daily Times HIRSCHEY MANIPULATED BY ANTI-WIND GROUP
At a recent town meeting, Cape Vincent residents asked town official Urban Hirschey to resign because he knowingly gave out confidential town documents, even after being told by the Planning Board's lawyer that giving out the confidential documents would be against town law. Since Urban is a puppet of Cape's anti-wind group, the anti-wind ringleaders accused the residents of being blindly prowind. But it's not an anti-wind or pro-wind issue. Urban did something he knew was wrong. The anti-wind ringleaders assured Urban he did nothing wrong, so Urban responded to the charges by saying he expected to be exonerated. The next day, New York State's Committee on Open Government publicly confirmed that Urban's actions were wrong. A wind company wrote a letter to the town saying they're concerned about Urban's unlawful actions. Anti-wind ringleaders want you to think the wind company is concerned about the public reading the documents. But the wind company has made it clear what the documents say isn't the issue. In fact, the wind company shows zero concern with people reading the files. It's Urban's unlawful actions that concerns them. There are individuals on the town board who do not share the anti-wind views of the anti-wind ringleaders, and just because of this, the anti-wind have made it their mission to drag these individuals through hell until they resign. For five years, these individuals have been harassed, bullied and accused of corruption. The anti-wind ringleaders tried suing them for corruption, but no corruption was found, so their lawsuit failed. They demanded the attorney general investigate the individuals for corruption. The investigation was conducted, and no corruption has been found. Yet within 11 months of the anti-wind's puppet being on the town board, he was caught engaged in conduct that a state official without hesitation recognized as wrong. And the anti-wind ringleaders are crying foul and screaming "no fair." The anti-wind ringleaders aren't good at recognizing what's truly fair and unfair.
If Urban refuses to resign, will he recuse himself from future votes? It all depends on what his anti-wind puppet masters tell him. Urban probably regrets trusting the anti-wind ringleaders and being manipulated by them. The Cape community could be discussing how revenue and jobs from wind development would prevent the potential closing of the Cape elementary school, but we can't, because we're too busy dealing with the nonstop drama the antiwind ringleaders are dragging this community through.
Harvey White
Cape Vincent
Harvey White
Published October 31, 2010 Page A6, Watertown Daily Times ANTI-WIND GOP SLANDERING AUBERTINE
I used to be proud to be a Cape Vincent Republican, but when I attended the last meeting for the Cape Republicans, I was surprised to find it being controlled by the local anti-wind ringleaders. Apparently, in their latest scheme, the antiwind ringleaders have shoved aside the fair, reasonable and levelheaded Cape Republicans and bullied their way onto the ballot. So Cape Republicans and other voters should think twice before voting for a Republican on the local ticket. I have known Sen. Darrel Aubertine since we were both 5, and I've never known a more honest, fair and reasonable person. Darrel's done so much for our district, and he's acquired the clout to make more good things happen for our district, but he's become the target of the anti-wind ringleaders, because he doesn't kowtow to special interest groups. That's all the anti-wind ringleaders are, a moneyed special interest group. They deliberately manipulate voters into basing their vote on just one issue, and they put out propaganda to manipulate voters into seeing only one side of the issue. Anti-wind ringleaders are slandering Darrel's name and campaigning for his opponent, Patty Ritchie. They don't care if she has nothing to offer or it she makes things worse. What makes them think Ritchie wouldn't make things worse? Most important, it'll be disastrous for democracy and our community if voters base their vote on just one issue, especially when their knowledge on that issue comes from manipulative, conniving ringleaders and their propaganda.
Harvey White
Cape Vincent
Harvey White
Published August 11, 2010 Page A6, Watertown Daily Times
A recent survey showed that 84 percent of county residents support wind energy. This pro-wind majority needs to keep an eye out for the anti-wind sneaking around in county committees trying to push through their anti-wind agendas. Take, for example, Urban Hirschey, who for some reason was recently appointed chair of the Jefferson County Industrial Development Agency. Urban also appointed himself chair of Cape Vincent's anti-wind group. Adding more of a conflict of interest, he's also the town supervisor. But most Cape residents know Urban received more votes than his incumbent only because anti-wind groups registered nonresident family members to their Cape addresses. As chair of the JCIDA, it seems Urban is being coached by the anti-wind groups to push through an anti-wind agenda, undermining the IDA's real purpose. JCIDA member Kent Burto could see through all this. Burto's quote in the newspaper: "What I see is a town that doesn't have control because of the mix of the board and because of that, there are fears and because of those fears, they are looking to the IDA board to resolve them." Why are certain people in the anti-wind minority so committed to undermining the county's pro-wind majority? Because they don't like things that are new and different. They don't like all taxpaying county residents benefiting equally from wind development. They only like things that exclusively fatten their already fat wallets. anti-wind love to call the pro-wind majority ignorant, but notice the ads the anti-wind groups put out. The anti-wind never suggest you go to the library and talk to a librarian about how to find unbiased research. Instead the anti-wind say the only research you should do is visiting certain websites, and these websites are just anti-wind bloggers with zero credentials in any of the things they are talking about. So who are the ignorant ones here? On the blogs, all the anti-wind talk about is who they hate for being a renewable energy supporter, and how they can get others to hate these people too. The renewable energy supporters are decent hard-working people, but the antiwind just talk about how they can ruin their lives. Right now, the main goal of the anti-wind is wearing down the decent, hard-working community-minded pro-renewable energy people to the point of giving in. But they won't succeed.
Harvey White
Cape Vincent
Harvey White
Published July 8, 2010 Page A6, Watertown Daily Times
Harvey White
Cape Vincent
Harvey White
Published June 3, 2010 Page A6, Watertown Daily Times
Why don't the anti-wind people want you to hear from all sides and draw your own conclusions? Whenever a Cape Vincent resident asks for more unity and dialogue, the anti-wind tells that resident to shut up. When wind companies say they're opening an informational office, the anti-wind says these offices aren't welcome. If you're a respected community member and you're outspoken pro-wind, the anti-wind will make your life a living hell. In the anti-wind world, actual experts are not to be trusted, but a Department of Environmental Conservation retiree is an expert in real estate, acoustics, whatever, and he's the only person you should see to learn about wind power. Online anti-wind like Windy, Outlaw, Jefferson-Leaning-Left, etc., devote every day of their lives glued to their computers, stirring up anger through lies and telling you if you live in certain areas of the Cape, you're to view wind power only one way, and you're to vote only one way. That's all seasonal people are to the anti-wind: to squeeze for money and a means of electing incompetent puppets into office. There's also money in being online anti-wind. On the anti-wind coalition's website, they're selling anti-wind merchandise. Plus, there's a huge "donate" box. Easy cash, if no one's paying attention to where donations are going. These online anti-wind rant about hating foreign energy companies and wind power. Do they realize computer use is a big drain on Northern New York's energy grid? Unless Windy, Outlaw, Jefferson-Leaning-Left, etc., are using their computers 100 percent off the grid, they're actually increasing profits for a foreign energy company (National Grid) and fueling demand for wind power.
Harvey White
Cape Vincent
Harvey White
Published March 5, 2010 Page A6, Watertown Daily Times
Harvey White
Cape Vincent
Harvey White
Published January14, 2010 Page A6, Watertown Daily Times
Harvey White
Cape Vincent
Harvey White
Published November 1, 2009 Page A7, Watertown Daily Times
I'm a Republican, and I'm proud my fellow Cape Vincent Republicans Marty Mason and Bob Chapman endorsed Tom Rienbeck. Former Cape Republican Committee Chairman John DeFrancesco never mentioned to us his intention of putting Urban Hirschey's name on the ballot. He didn't allow us to caucus. He avoided us altogether and went straight to the county Board of Election with his nomination. And to me, it's dishonest that John Byrne had to make up his own political party to get on the ballot, and then had his campaign signs made up so they're identical to the signs for the Republican candidates. I hope Cape Vincent voters see the three anti-wind candidates for what they are. Urban Hirschey, John Byrne and Brooks Bragdon belong to a group that has engaged in the sneakiest and most dishonest behavior this small town has ever seen. How can we trust Hirschey? Before appointing himself chair of the anti-wind group, he called the Maple Ridge windmills "majestic." And don't forget he had a 200-foot high windmill on his property. Also, it's odd the anti-wind chairman recently bought 33.79 acres of land in the middle of a proposed wind farm. Last summer, Byrne brought a video camera to Cape board meetings, claiming he wanted to record the entirety of each meeting and make it available online for his seasonal out-of-state associates. If Byrne is telling the truth, how come the complete meetings were never made available online? Instead, only certain parts from Byrne's recordings were put online, and they were only intended to humiliate our town officials. Notice how Byrne never positioned the camera so that all five board members were visible. Each meeting, he'd focus on certain individuals while members of his anti-wind group antagonized these individuals, calling them names like "rotten human being." Also, Byrne admitted to paying sound consultants to come with biased results, because he didn't like the results of the town's acoustics experts. His exact quote was, "He who pays the piper picks the tune."
Harvey White
Cape Vincent
Harvey White
Published September 11, 2009 Page A6, Watertown Daily Times
Harvey White
Cape Vincent
Harvey White
Published July 5, 2009 Page A6, Watertown Daily Times
Harvey White
Cape Vincent
Harvey White
Published May 10, 2009 Page A6, Watertown Daily Times
Harvey White
Cape Vince
Harvey White
Published February 24, 2009 Page A6, Watertown Daily Times
The Cape Vincent community must feel lucky to have anti-wind people telling us how we're so unethical. Once again, some anti-wind people are criticizing our board members. Most anti-wind folks are just bitter about not owning enough property for a turbine of their own. So just because they won't directly benefit from a turbine on their property, they'll do everything they can to make sure Cape Vincent residents don't benefit in any way from the wind farm. Anti-wind folks will probably try to block hundreds of thousands dollars of annual wind farm revenue that could go to the town, county and school district through the PILOT agreement. I know they're trying to play down the amount of money in the PILOT. And so they make personal attacks and false accusations about our board members. All while assuming that if one Cape resident has the same last name as another resident, they must be related. Maybe if these anti-wind people lived in our community for more than two months a year, they'd have a better idea of who is related to whom. In their disrespect and ignorance, they can't even spell the names of our community members correctly. Where in the United States are these anti-wind people going to find a small town where board members aren't related in some way to their constituents? Many Cape Vincent families have chosen to live here for many generations because they're surrounded by people they know and trust. And when these anti-wind groups try to sue the town, thousands of dollars of Cape Vincent taxpayer money has to be allocated for legal fees. And then a New York Supreme Court judge will end up invalidating the anti-wind group's claims. So it all ends up being a huge waste of Cape Vincent taxpayer money. Not only are our board members being antagonized by anti-wind people, but I also know for a fact that anti-wind people have told some local businesses that, since the business owner is a vocal supporter of wind farms, they won't patronize their business. I could name some local business owners who are at risk of going out of business because their wealthiest customers, some anti-wind people, are boycotting them because they had a pro-wind sign in their yard. Wind turbines are now up on Wolfe Island. Most Cape residents have already gotten used to them, some hardly notice them.
Harvey White
Cape Vincent
Harvey White
Published November 24, 2008 Page A6, Watertown Daily Times
Harvey White
Cape Vincent
Harvey White
Published July 13, 2008 Page A9, Watertown Daily Times
Harvey White
Cape Vincent
Harvey White
Published April 15, 2008 Page A9, Watertown Daily Times
Harvey White
Cape Vincent
Harvey White
October 31, 2007, Page A9, Watertown Daily Times
Harvey White
Cape Vincent