The idea of looking out onto the foothills of the Blue Mountains from Highway 11 or Milton-Freewater and seeing wind turbines sounds like a nightmare for some people who look at that view every day.

But not many of those people have had much of a chance to express their frustration.

Citizen Richard Jolly hosted a meeting Thursday in Milton-Freewater where many people got a chance to vet their frustrations and discuss their concerns. More than 50 people crowded into the American Legion Hall, the majority of which seemed to oppose wind turbines.

"I called this meeting to see who was interested, if there was an interest period," Jolly said. "That's why we're here we're all concerned citizens on both sides."

He also encouraged those who are concerned to get involved.

"It is a community effort of what we want our whole valley to look like," Jolly continued. "People say this is subjective, well, I think wind generation is subjective. ... I don't dislike wind generation. I actually think that we ought to take a look at it and decide and plan it a little bit better so we have better use of it."

Let's protect the view

More people spoke against wind turbines than for them - speaking about not wanting to ruin the view of the Blue Mountains, something the Milton-Freewater area sees as a staple of its community.

Arla Ruthven, who said she's lived in the area her whole life, likened the wind turbines to oil rigs in California and expressed how she didn't want to spoil the Blues the way California's orange groves were spoiled.

"We have a view of the Blue Mountains. We have a whole state of Oregon for these wind machines to go on. And we have to keep our beauty. We've got to keep our land up unless you want to put the wind machines up and decorate them as trees," she said. "We've only got a little piece of land up here, it's all we've got. There's tons of land all over Oregon that have ups and downs ... Once you open this up here it's gonna go."

Robert Klein lives below windmills and gave a little perspective on what it's like. He said there are blinking red lights at night and it's never really quiet. He also said there was a lot of disturbance during construction as trucks drove over a rock road near his property. There's also been lots of maintenance, which means continued disturbance and continued noise, he said.

"At my house if the wind's blowing above you have this constant rumble of noise," he said. "It's a fairly major deal for these things to go in."

He's a mechanical engineering degree. He said compared to dams, the wind turbines are not efficient.

"Those dams hold back water and they run 24-7, unlike those windmills," he said. "The windmills run when they want to run. ... My personal bias is I'd rather have the dams produce my power.

It's my land

Dan Gannaway, who's been approached about putting wind turbines on his property, advocated for his personal rights.

"What I don't like is these people telling me what to do with my own land," he said. "If this don't go through I will not be able to send my five grandkids to college because I won't have the money. I won't be able to retire because I won't have the money. These windmills is what Umatilla County needs for tax revenues. It's going to bring money in. It's not going to cost you money. I don't know where this concept comes from that it's gonna cost you money - it's not."

Remember, we're all neighbors here

While voices often raised during the meeting and arguments sometimes broke out, people remained civil. Whenever a voice raised in anger, another voice called to let other speak. And after each person stood up to speak to the whole group, he or she was thanked with applause.

Brad Humbert, who was often the one saying "let 'em speak" no matter which side the person was advocating for said he's torn on the issue. He supports people's rights to do what they want on their land, but he's concerned about how turbines may raise energy rates.

"Do I want to put windmills up there? Not really," he said. "Do I think the property owners have the right to put 'em up there? Yeah - until it becomes a point to where it hurts the greater good of the community. And I think wind generation being required by the state of Oregon to be purchased is going to hurt everybody that's in our utility."

Ed Chesnut, who is on the city council with Humbert, also spoke as a citizen.

"I think it's really important to keep in mind that reasonable people can disagree on what ought to be done," he said. "... certainly a landowner has the primary right on what he does on his land. It is, however, not an absolute right and never has been. ... Us as viewers of the viewshed have to weigh when does my involvement trump that property right and it ought to be a pretty high bar."