AUG. 21, 2009: Like Brigadoon, they suddenly appear out of nowhere. Well, actually they appear out of Canada. And it's not just once a year -- it is several times a week.

The wind turbines on Wolfe Island in the St. Lawrence River are 27 to 32 miles away from Thompson Park in Watertown. But there they are, big as life when the sun goes down and the air is clear.

While the turbines have been there for months, they had a coming out party July 6 during the Syracuse Symphony and fireworks show at Thompson Park. Thousands of people sat on the hill enjoying the music and watching the sun go down when -- ta da -- there they were.

Much will be made about this picture, and not all of it good. We occasionally are accused by anonymous bloggers on fly-by-night Web sites of doctoring photos showing wind turbines. So the following is a public service announcement for those who know what an f-stop is:

This image was taken by our staff photographer Colleen White at approximately 7:45 p.m., just seconds after sunset on Wednesday. She shot it using a Nikon D2H with a 300mm lens. Aperture at 2.8, shutter 1/1500 at ISO 200.

The fact that you can see turbines from 30 miles away is no reason to support or oppose such utilities, or whatever they are being called in Cape Vincent these days.

Instead, it should be a reminder that the issue isn't one that should be decided by as few people as possible.

The scene from Thompson Park can't be any clearer: we are all in this together.