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North Carolina Town Defeats Big Solar's Plan To Suck Up the Sun (arstechnica.com)

Posted by timothy on from the doesn't-work-quite-that-way dept.

mdsolar writes with this excerpt from Ars Technica: The citizens of Woodland, N.C. have spoken loud and clear: They don't want none of them highfalutin solar panels in their good town. They scare off the kids. "All the young people are going to move out," warned Bobby Mann, a local resident concerned about the future of his burg. Worse, Mann said, the solar panels would suck up all the energy from the Sun. Another resident -- a retired science teacher, no less -- expressed concern that a proposed solar farm would block photosynthesis, and prevent nearby plants from growing. Jane Mann then went on to add that there seemed to have been a lot of cancer deaths in the area, and that no one could tell her solar panels didn't cause cancer. "I want information," Mann said. "Enough is enough."

29 of 760 comments (clear)

  1. Well that's a town to avoid. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Srsly, I'm amazed that some people are clever enough to breathe.

    1. Re: Well that's a town to avoid. by silentcoder · · Score: 4, Funny

      Im ready to call an outcome: Trump wins that town in the primaries.
      If he gets the nomination he wins that town in the general too.

      --
      Unicode killed the ASCII-art *
    2. Re: Well that's a town to avoid. by Sobakus · · Score: 4, Funny

      Did you say "in the primaries" or "with the primates"?

    3. Re: Well that's a town to avoid. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      That ex science teacher could probably do with a kick in the primaries.

    4. Re:Well that's a town to avoid. by Mr+D+from+63 · · Score: 5, Informative

      If one looks deeper, they'll find that this is really a zoning decision and has nothing to do with fear of solar. The town already has approved other solar farms which are actively being built, but they don't want another one in this particular area. The writer of an article chose to ignore the entirety of the panel discussion and select a few ignorant and irrelevant statements made during the proceedings just to give the people a rise.

      And thus the reaction we see here. It looks like there are more ignorant folks out there than just the few in this town.

    5. Re:Well that's a town to avoid. by tchdab1 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Maybe you can bottle some Canadian sunshine for them - to have handy if solar panels suck all theirs up.

    6. Re:Well that's a town to avoid. by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The writer of an article chose to ignore the entirety of the panel discussion and select a few ignorant and irrelevant statements made during the proceedings just to give the people a rise. And thus the reaction we see here. It looks like there are more ignorant folks out there than just the few in this town.

      Nice cherry picking. The reaction is to the people making those statements - and a State where these people vote, and prove their stupidity often. After all, y'all had a Governor by name of Mark Sanford, who was using State money to travel to South America to get a little regular on the side poontang. Then after that y'all elected him to th eHouse of Representatives. I'll bet he's gettin' regular strange in DC. Stupid people, KKK homeland, and people who can be outraged over a presidential blowjob, but rewarding of using guvmint money to facilitate dippin yer wick to a feriner, and then rewarding it.

      Forgive us - for we only make fun of North Carolina because they've worked so hard to deserve it.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
  2. Scary... by muffen · · Score: 4, Funny

    Finally someone stands up to these big energy companies, the co2 emissions from the sun far exceeds anything produced by burning oil, and the radiation have caused massive problems with equipment!

    The sun is dangerous, we need to stop using it!

    1. Re:Scary... by jandersen · · Score: 5, Funny

      Well, I'm worried about the fact that nobody can say for sure that solar panels don't cause cancer. What other things are they hiding from us? Like, nobody has assured us that solar panel aren't causing tsunamis or earthquakes, or price increases on beer.

    2. Re:Scary... by U2xhc2hkb3QgU3Vja3M · · Score: 4, Funny

      Damn right stop Sun! Java exploits have been a problem for over a decade!

  3. Young people moving away? by tomknight · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I think there might be other reasons for young people moving away. Their narrow-minded elders, a town council willing to be swayed by nonsensical arguments, the simple pure idiocy that seems to prevail. The people who stay are happy with the situation (or just can't get out).

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    Oh arse
  4. Piling on by Mycroft-X · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I appreciate that the summary and associated news stories are presenting a fair, unbiased view of the situation, free from ridicule and sarcasm (SWIDT?).

    This would have been the THIRD solar farm approved in the vicinity of the town -- there are already two solar projects underway.

    The solar farm would not have increased tax revenues or added value to the town. It would not likely employ any of the town's residents.

    Yes, the town residents are poorly informed about solar -- they have two projects underway and haven't seen the results of them yet.

    The town council did what the town council is supposed to do -- represent the will of their constituents. The solar company seeking the zoning change would have been well advised to work on communicating and educating the town they needed permission from. Why would the town council overrule their voters in exchange for...nothing?

    There's quite a double standard when it comes to education -- take someone in an urban environment who can't name their state capital or point to the United States on a map, and it's the fault of the school system and their environment. Take a similarly ignorant person for a rural environment and suddenly they become a willfully hick and fully at fault for not seeking out and drinking deep of the cup of knowledge.

    1. Re:Piling on by Vlad_the_Inhaler · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I also thought it was too insane to be true and looked up the local rag. Jane Mann really does come across as being utterly demented, her husband only marginally less so.

      --
      Mielipiteet omiani - Opinions personal, facts suspect.
    2. Re:Piling on by amiga3D · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Every community has these kooks. I've had the sad misfortune to be on a jury with one. It took all my willpower not to choke the ignorant bitch. We had a case where a car put on their turn indicator and stopped to let traffic go by before turning. The car behind them stopped and so did 3 others but one girl, very cute and sweet looking, plowed into the back of an elderly couple's car. She stated that she felt it wasn't the girl's fault because she probably wasn't looking. She said that shit completely sincere. It went on like that all day.

  5. Re:These people by war4peace · · Score: 4, Informative

    More than 50%.
    100 on the IQ scale is not an average. It's a standard.
    http://www.photius.com/ranking...

    --
    ...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
  6. Re:These people by Coisiche · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Some day dumb people should be just set up to vote in fake elections. They won't know.

    They already are. Not caught on to that yet?

  7. Re:These people by turbidostato · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "I said we should set up fake elections for the dumb people, so our elections WORK."

    If your surname happens to be Rockefeller or something like that then you don't need to ask. That's been already the case for ages now.

  8. Slashdot: full of bigotry by m0s3m8n · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I see bigotry for the southern US is alive and well here on Slashdot. Why look into all the facts when you can parrot this juicy headline.

    --
    Conservative, mod down for violating /. political norms.
  9. Re:Blotting out the sun by silentcoder · · Score: 5, Funny

    How goes the joke...
    A UN poll asked the question "What, in your opinion, would be the best solution the problem of food shortages in the the rest of the world ?"

    The poll was a miserable failure:
    People in China, Russia, and North Korea didn't understand the word "opinion."
    People in Canada and Western Europe didn't understand the word "shortages".
    People in South America didn't understand the word "solution".
    People in Australia didn't understand the word "problem".
    People in Africa didn't understand the word "food"

    And people in America didn't understand the phrase: "the rest of the world"

    --
    Unicode killed the ASCII-art *
  10. Don't judge us by this place by duckintheface · · Score: 5, Informative

    Please, please don't judge North Carolina by these rubes. This dumb little town is about 100 miles from Research Triangle Park, the largest concentration of PhDs in the world. North Carolina is a progressive and beautiful state with the best climate in the eastern US. It has traditionally had the best public education system in the South.

    Yes, we are currently in the clutches of a backwards Republican state government so there are lots of headlines about regressive policies. But this is an aberration ( the first Republican government in over 100 years) and it will not last long.

    --
    "He took a duck in the face at 250 knots." -- William Gibson, Pattern Recognition
    1. Re:Don't judge us by this place by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      "This dumb little town is about 100 miles from Research Triangle Park, the largest concentration of PhDs in the world." - oh, they sucked all the brain powers from those rural people! Ban PhDs!

    2. Re:Don't judge us by this place by ShadowRangerRIT · · Score: 5, Funny

      the best public education system in the South.

      Setting the bar real high there, ain'tcha?

      --
      $_ = "wftedskaebjgdpjgidbsmnjgcdwatb"; tr/a-z/oh, turtleneck Phrase Jar!/; print
    3. Re:Don't judge us by this place by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Please, please don't judge North Carolina by these rubes. This dumb little town is about 100 miles from Research Triangle Park, the largest concentration of PhDs in the world. North Carolina is a progressive and beautiful state with the best climate in the eastern US. It has traditionally had the best public education system in the South.

      Yes, we are currently in the clutches of a backwards Republican state government so there are lots of headlines about regressive policies. But this is an aberration ( the first Republican government in over 100 years) and it will not last long.

      Actually, the rubes are a perfect way to judge North Carolina, because over 95% of the population of North Carolina IS rubes like the ones
      mentioned in the article.

      North Carolina is progressive ? That's utter bullshit. North Carolina is the most backward state I've ever lived in by a huge margin. I've been visiting
      North Carolina since the mid 1970s, and I have lived in North Carolina for the past 14 years ( extended family needed my help and I chose to sacrifice my own happiness for a while in order to do what I thought was right ). I am leaving North Carolina soon, for good, and other than brief visits to family I will never return to the state. I certainly won't live in North Carolina again.

      The original poster is a myopic clueless fool. North Carolina is a backward shithole filled with awful ignorant hateful rednecks. Eric Rudolph and that idiot who shot up the Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado were both from North Carolina. Trust me, North Carolina is a state that you'd only like
      if you are yourself a clueless idiot.

      Lastly, North Carolina has consistently placed in the BOTTOM 40 of all 50 states, in public school test scores.

      By the way, the high concentration of people with doctorates in RTP doesn't mean anything with respect to quality of life. Most of these people are in "work and raise a family" mode, and they don't tend to enhance the social scene.

      Frankly, I'd bitch slap the original poster if I could. He is an idiot who is spewing misinformation and NEEDS a bitch slap.

    4. Re:Don't judge us by this place by Fire_Wraith · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Yes, we are currently in the clutches of a backwards Republican state government so there are lots of headlines about regressive policies. But this is an aberration ( the first Republican government in over 100 years) and it will not last long.

      This is just it though. Those "rubes" also vote, and you're going to have to deal with the fact that they will vote for people that will sell them all sorts of snake oil on behalf of rich benefactors, whether it's voting against solar development, or the state passing laws (at the behest of the telecoms) against municipal broadband, or installing their compatriots in charge of one of the state's flagship universities: http://www.newsobserver.com/ne...

      As for it being an aberration - I have some bad news for you, it's not. It's part of the realignment of politics in the South. Small-c conservative Democrats have almost universally been replaced by Republicans. There are a lot of reasons behind this, but it's highly unlikely to reverse itself, partly because they've gerrymandered themselves into an entrenched position. Take a look at Virginia to your north - it's much the same way, although there at least the Republicans have a less slightly strong grip. At best it's going to be something you are constantly fighting, especially on off-year elections when the turnout is low.

    5. Re:Don't judge us by this place by Critical+Facilities · · Score: 4, Informative

      You might wanna check out that teeny little town, Charlotte. I mean, I know it's only bigger than Pittsburgh, Raleigh, Cleveland and other small cities, but you'd be surprised at how things are coming together there.

      Also, while not a big town, you're not going to get much more progressive than Asheville. It's a great town, and I recommend checking it out if you get the chance.

    6. Re: Don't judge us by this place by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Bottom 40 of 50? So they are 11th?

    7. Re:Don't judge us by this place by mr_mischief · · Score: 4, Interesting

      In Missouri the courts told the state they couldn't keep a local chapter of the KKK from adopting a section of highway for trash removal. The courts said that unpopular speech was still protected speech, and putting up a sign saying who was part of the program didn't openly and directly endorse racial violence. The state could end the program, stop putting up signs thanking people, or give the KKK their sign.

      The state legislature came to the rescue, though, with another sign. That whole section adopted by the KKK was designated an honorific route. They found themselves in charge of volunteer trash cleanup of the Rosa Parks Memorial Highway. After unsatisfactory participation in the program (one guy showed up once IIRC), the adoption was removed.

      It doesn't take a whole state to do something that embarrasses people. It just takes a few neighbors you'd rather not have in the neighborhood practicing the same rights the non-bigots don't want to give up.

    8. Re:Don't judge us by this place by Grishnakh · · Score: 5, Informative

      Obviously, North Carolina is NOT progressive, and these "rubes" ARE representative of the population of your state. Do you even understand how democracy works? You have a "backwards Republican state government" precisely because people like this are in the majority in your state, and elected that government. The PhDs in RTP are the aberration, not the rubes.

  11. Re:Fact vs. Fiction by Xyrus · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It is because they voted.

    And yet, what I do on my own land — build a solar plant or dig a lake or raise cows — should not be subject to other people's voting.

    The whole idea of "zoning laws" and "permits" for this and that is absolutely contrary to freedom and property rights.

    So you'd be perfectly happy with a strip mining pit next to your house? How about a toxic waste dump? Or a landfill? Hey it's my property, I can do whatever I want with it right?

    If what you want to with your property won't impact others, great. But if it does, then they very much have a say in the matter.

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    ~X~