These hills will soon be covered with these grotesque towers; ruining the landscape that created a vision of what life was like on the prairie many years ago. Along these Benton County highways there were only telephone poles, barns, homes, and an occasional wooded area; thus allowing an unobstructed view of the horizon in all directions.

Rich Porter of rural Paxton said he believes that Ford County, like other counties, has relied too much on information supplied by wind energy representatives. Porter is convinced that wind farms could have a negative impact on the county land values, taxes and zoning issues. "Wind farms are not what they look like on the surface; they have many twists and turns," he warned during the public comment period at the board's Monday meeting.

A meeting to gauge public opposition to wind farms in Boone County is scheduled for 7 p.m. Feb. 19 at the Boone County Farm Bureau Community Building at the 4-H Fairgrounds, 1300 East County Road 100 South, Lebanon.

Within the next few years, dozens of wind turbines could be erected in Randolph County ... Indianapolis attorney Christopher (Kit) Earle, of Bose McKinney & Evans, advised farmers attending the meeting that land lease payments were just one issue they should address in a contract with energy companies. Other issues include access roads to the wind turbine for construction, operation and maintenance; soil compaction; escalation of lease payments to take inflation into account during the 20- to 40-year life span of the wind farm; underground electrical cables and their impact on cultivation and drainage tiles; fixed payments versus royalties or percentage of revenues from a wind farm; negotiating as a group because of safety-in-numbers advantages; and decommissioning turbines when they are no longer useful.

Over the last several months, extensive arrays of thousands of windmills have been placed throughout the landscape of northwestern Indiana. Once located quite a far distance away from the roads , these windmill fields are now prominently visible along several highways just north of Lafayette. Along with the intense search for alternative sources for fuel currently being undertaken by several companies in the state, Indiana is beginning to do its part ...Unfortunately, the rush to place windmills throughout the corn fields along Indiana highways is not as innocent as it might first appear.

Even if Virginia-based AES or Oregon-based PPM Energy secures enough land to make the project feasible, the project could take years to complete - if ever. But there's no doubt wind power is increasingly practical - and that officials would like Allen County to jump on the bandwagon. "Hopefully the people out there will accept it," said Commissioner Bill Brown. "This could provide $1 million of income (for landowners) every year, increase assessed value and help the community. Wind farms also tend to generate plenty in property taxes, Burdick said. The question is: Will Coomer and other landowners conclude the benefits outweigh the drawbacks? And even if they do, would such a huge and potentially controversial project be approved by government regulators?