Crimewatch
EDENTON POLICE
DEPARTMENT
ARRESTS
■ Sept. 22 - Corey
Scott Venters, 26, of Icar
ia Road, was arrested on
one misdemeanor count
of larceny and one misde
meanor count of posses
sion of stolen property.
INCIDENTS
■ Sept 22 - Larceny at
Dollar General on North
Broad Street.
■ Sept. 21 - Obtaining
property by false pre
tense at the Duck Thru on
Virginia Road.
■ Sept. 20 - Breaking
and entering and larceny
on East Queen Street
■ Sept 13 - Injury to
personal property on
Wedgewood Apts.
CHOWAN COUNTY
SHERIFF’S OFFICE
ARRESTS
■ Sept. 22 - Malik
Davon Mabine, 20, of
Greenhall Road, was ar
rested on one felony
count of statutory sex of
fense with a child under
the age of 15.
INCIDENTS
■ None reported.
Peeler recused from Perquimans vote on wind energy
BY PETER WILLIAMS
The Perquimans Weekly
When the Perquimans
Board of Commission
ers makes its decision on
whether to grant a condi
tional use permit for the
Apex Clean Energy project,
it will be without Commis
sioner Matt Peeler.
The board voted 3-2
Wednesday night to recuse
Peeler from any vote on the
/ 11 nun /ii pi ujrv i.
The board's decision
follows release of emails
by Peeler including one
to state Sen. Bill Cook. R
Beaufort They appear to
show Peeler's desire to stop
or severely limit wind pow
er in the state.
“1 will admit now and
in the fuhire 1 will oppose
these things on their health
and welfare impacts,” Peel
er said in one e-mail. “
Voting for recusal were
board Chairwoman Janice
Cole and Commissioners
Fondella Leigh and Ed Muz
zulin. Voting against recu
sal were Commissioners
Wallace Nelson and Kyle
Jones.
The emails were brought
to the board’s attention by
Henry Campen, the lead
attorney for Apex. He said
they showed Peeler could
not make an objective de
cision on Apex’s permit
request, even though that’s
what Peeler agreed to do
during the board’s first
quasi-judicial hearing on
the request Campen asked
the Perquimans Board of
Commissioners to recuse
Peeler from the permitting
decision.
Cole asked the other com
missioners if they wanted
to comment on the request
from Campen. After about
two minutes of silence, Cole
said she’d start
Cole said while it was
possible for Peeler to sepa
rate his legislative role from
his role as an impartial de
cider in the permit request,
Peeler has consistently
fought wind development,
even the Desert Wind proj
ect which the board of com
missioners had already ap
proved.
“He took a position that
he wanted to do anything
he could do to stop the proj
ect, vole .said.
Leigh said she was both
ered by the email in which
Peeler said, “I will admit
now and in the future I will
oppose these things on
their health and welfare im
pacts.”
Muzzulin pointed out that
all six commissioners at
tended a workshop in May
where lawyers explained
the quasi-judicial hearing
process and were advised
not to have contact with
anyone involved in matters
being considered at those
hearings.
Jones said Peeler’s emails
help erode the public’s trust
in elected officials and the
email to Sen. Cook was par
ticularly troubling.
“It was a poor decision to
do that,” Jones said.
For his part, Peeler re
sponded that he could be
objective on the Apex re
quest when he was asked
if he could be by Nelson.
Peeler pointed out that,
while he’s opposed to so
lar projects because he be
lieves they don’t really fit
in a rural area, he did vote
for one of the four projects
that have come before the
board during his tenure as
a commissioner.
“I couldn’t say no to it
because the evidence said I
had to say, ‘yes.” he said.
Following the vote, Peel
er left his seat on the stage
at the historic Perquimans
County Courthouse where
the board was meeting and
took a seat in the audience.
Leary Winslow, one of
the group that is fighting the
Apex project, was critical
of Wednesday’s decision.
“Commissioners have
their mind made up,” Win
slow said. “I’ve been told
this for the past 10 months
but it was ever so prevalent
last night. The disresoect
and bias from the chair was
completely unprofessional.
It has become extremely
obvious she has an immov
able bias in favor of the
Timbermill project. Com
missioner Peeler actually
did a great deal of research
on the pros and cons of
wind energy and formed an
educated opinion. For that
he was recused.”
The county commission
has scheduled two more
hearings on the Apex proj
ect for Oct 17-18.
The fact that Peeler can't
vote on the project elimi
nates the chance there will
be a tie vote.
With some elected bod
ies, there is an odd number
of members and the chair
man can vote to break a
tie. The Perquimans board
has six members, including
the chairman. With Peeler
recused, there are five that
can vote.
Tie votes are rare, but
there was one in February.
The board was consider
ing increasing the setback
between wind turbines
and homes to one half
mile (2,640 feet). Peeler
was among three com
missioners that supported
the larger setback but the
other three opposed so the
vote ended three-to-three.
As a result, the motion
died and setback wasn’t
increased.
Apex presents testimony on safety, appearance
BY REGGIE PONDER
Editor
The company applying
for a local permit to build
the Timbemiill Wind Proj
ect presented evidence
Monday on the safety and
visual impact of the 48 wind
turbines proposed for the
Chowan County portion of
the project.
Apex Clean Energy Inc.,
lilt*
v n<ti iiit*. \a.,
company that has applied
for conditional use permits
with Chowan and Perqui
mans counties for a 300
megawatt wind energy gen
eration facility in the Bear
Swamp and Center Hill
areas of the two counties,
presented a number of wit
nesses at a hearing Monday
night before the Chowan
County Board of Commis
sioners.
Tracy Butler, an engineer
responsible for project de
sign for Apex, was accepted
by the board as an expert in
civil engineering.
Butler testified that the
project would comply with
the requirements of the
county ordinance. He said
the wind turbines were
designed to withstand hur
ricane force winds and that
in his professional opinion
the project would not ma
terially endanger public
()nee it’s up and running
the project will have a local
staff of about a dozen peo
ple. mostly turbine techni
cians, and a site manager
who w ill be on call 24 hours
a day to ensure proper op
eration, Butler said.
In addition, the facility
will send data to the remote
operations control center,
which is staffed 24 hours a
day, Butler said.
Bill Bryan, an attorney
representing opponents
of the project in Chowan
County, pressed Butler
on the turbines’ ability to
withstand hurricane force
winds. Butler stood by the
statement.
Bryan asked Butler what
would be the maximum
wind speed a turbine would
be able to withstand. Butler
said he didn’t know but
added the turbine manufac
turer would have that infor
mauon.
Asked about the collapse
of turbines, Butler said a
handful had collapsed out
of tens of thousands that
had been installed.
Butler testified that the
turbines are grounded for
protection from lightning
strikes. The blades also
are designed to stop rotat
ing in extremely high wind
- what is known as a “cut
out speed,” Butler said.
John Hecklau of the firm
Environmental Design and
Research testified about
the project’s visual impact.
Under cross-examination
by Bryan, Hecklau said the
farthest away he had been
able to document a clear
open view of the turbines
was three and a half miles.
Hecklau testified that in
many instances the view
of the turbines would be
srrppnpH hv trpp<* nr huilH
mgs in the foreground. He
acknowledged under cross
examination that the de
gree of the visual screening
could be diminished if the
trees were cut down.
Hecklau defended the
methodology used in the vi
sual simulations under vig
orous cross-examination.
Robert O’Neal, a certified
consulting meteorologist,
testified about ice drop,
ice throw, blade drop and
blade throw.
Testifying that the maxi
mum distances based on
dimensions in the Apex
plan had been calculated at
1,235 feet for ice throw and
905 feet for ice drop, and
.225 feet for blade drop and
742 feet for blade throw,
O'Neal said that even under
worst case conditions the
blade drop, blade throw, ice
drop and ice throw should
be less than the distances
from the nearest occupied
1/ UUU11 Igk}.
For that reason, O’Neal
said, ice throw, ice drop,
blade throw and blade drop
should not be considered
to pose a threat to public
safety in Chowan County.
Noting the focus on
distances from occupied
buildings, Bryan asked
O’Neal if it wasn’t possible
that someone could be
working in a field near a
turbine and be endangered
by ice throw or blade throw
because of proximity to the
turbine.
O'Neal acknowledged
that was “theoretically pos
sible" but said an occupied
structure is where you are
most likely to find people.
David Phillips, Apex’s
director of environmental
permitting, said the proj
ect does not at this time
require an Environmental
Assessment as defined in
the cnnntv nrrlinnnr'p Rut
he said numerous other
environmental approvals
would be required, includ
ing requirements under
the Clean Water Act and
review by the N.C. Wildlife
Resources Commission
and U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service.
Phillips said the compa
ny is working especially to
minimize the project’s im
pact on birds and bats. He
said he met most recently
with the N.C. Wildlife Re
sources Commission on
Sept. 7.
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FILE PHOTO
The Elizabeth City State University Planetarium will host
a series of Halloween shows on Monday, Oct. 31 from
4-6:45 p.m.
[MiMEOIMKTll
T-T771
MWTEO KOTWCY '
CASE PHIZES, MB, lit, FOOD t SUM Ml
Under the tent at the Martkne Museum ‘tn Downtown Manteo!
REGISTRATION BEGINS OCT 7th AT 4PM
WWW.ROCKFISHRODEO.COM
FOR MORE INFO & REGISTRATION
OrctflloMy Hirrefl, tSf-441-7117, or Skip Moreau. !5Mi«Wi
Halloween show
slated for Oct. 31
at Planetarium
From staff reports
Khan Planetarium at Eliza
beth City State University will
celebrate Halloween on Mon
day, Oct 31 from 4-6:45 p.m.
The Planetarium will pres
ent Moon Witch (star show), a
Halloween Laser Light Show,
The Halloween Show (star
show) and October Night
Skies.
All shows are free and by
reservation only. For specific
show times and to make reser
vations, call (252) 335-3SKY.
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(USPS 106-380) Vol. 81, No. 38
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