Bob Bittner, an old-time and rather dedicated opponent who we recently haven't heard much from, was not at home when we visited his lovely farm house..also once his father's, now surrounded with 10 turbines within 4000 ft of his home, with one only 1300 ft away.  His neighbors told Sandy and I that they believe he spent over $250,000 in court battles and ended up signing a deal with the developers that basically said he would quit interfering in exchange for not being sued for all the lost income the company incurred over the 3 or 4 years of legal wrangling he brought.

I left a note in his door, and when I got home there was an e-mail from him for the first time in a very long while saying that since the turbines went up, he and his wife Sharon, for their peace of mind, bought a cabin in the woods about 7 miles away to escape the impacts.... noise, lights shadows...  People everywhere are being driven from their homes.

In the Mendota Hills wind farm, it's like the twilight zone. There is no life.  Almost every home within the boundaries of the wind farm is kept to look as if someone lives there...but on close inspection it's clear that no one does.  All the lawns are mowed perfectly...but most often no flowers are tended. Every house seems to have a chair or two outside in the front yards creating the appearance that people actually plunk their butts down in them to relax once in a while, but they're dirty and unused.  Every window and door is closed, with drapes and shades drawn at eye level.  There's cars and trucks with current licence plates parked outside of garages or with garage doors open so you can see them. We didn't check for cobwebs in the mailboxes, we wish we did, but they looked rusty and old.  Even dogs were kept on leashes in many of the side yards...animals that are evidently being visited once a day to be given food and water.  I know this all sounds crazy, but to prove it to ourselves, we went back after dark...thinking, well MAYBE everyone was just at work.  But inside these houses, only one light burned, shining through greasy grimy windows in spots where  curtains were left slightly open to reveal the condition of the glass, and revealing absolutely no movement whatsoever.

We heard about connectors that were not supposed to be used, but were indeed, and have since blown holes...small craters... in roads and fields. The stories we've been told all echo each other.  There are many children involved.  Some, such as in Lincoln township, have grown up knowing nothing but life with wind turbines.  People have been bought off where they're fighting, and where they're not, a family's teenage daughter totaled her car in an accident with wind equipment on a foggy day and then had to fight to get reimbursed!!  Another says that her little kids are terrified by the noise and can't fall asleep when conditions are bad, such as on rainy nights.  Their nearest turbine is 1000 feet from the bedroom window.  Another older women says, through tears, that her town that she was born and raised in and where her family farm still exists...has been ruined.  Story after story after story......

Lights, shadows, noise, TV and phone interruption, gawkers, accidents, lost views and plummeting property values...and more...all on tape, video, and in still shots.  We felt sick at the end of every day...like we had to get away and take a break from the twirling blades and the surreal atmosphere and our sadness for all these families.

It felt so good to get home and step out of the car into this beautiful environment that Sardinia still is, and hopefully will stay for years to come.  So...now we have to figure out how best to use all this information, and not let a smidgen go to waste, because all these families living in these inconceivable conditions deserve no less.