Stephana Johnston, of Halidmand-Norfolk, is a woman with a message to share.
As she spoke to residents at the Damascus hall recently, she said wind turbines are not something far away – they are right in her own backyard.
Retired, the former teacher has 38 years of teaching from the elementary to university level. She built an energy- efficient, low maintenance home on the shores of Lake Erie
Now, 18 industrial turbines surround her house within a three kilometre radius.
Johnston was at the meeting to describe her life living within an industrial wind turbine zone. She encouraged those at the meeting to ask questions, either following the presentations or directly to presenters at the end of the meeting.
“I live surrounded by 18 industrial turbines. The closest one is 526 metres and all of them are jammed,” she said. “I can see them from my driveway – and I can certainly feel them.
“I’d like to ask you if I may, if you please, fight them as hard as you possibly can to keep the wind turbines away from your area, so I’ll have somewhere to come so that I can sleep.
“Unless you’ve experienced the other side of it, you can’t imagine how I appreciate it. Getting your sleep is so important. As you age, you need your sleep to keep your health.”
She said, “My whole goal is to keep my health, without that I’ll have nothing.”
She considers her home as gone – and the international wind turbine company “is not going to help me because they contend they did everything right and did not break any regulation or any law.”
But for those living within a three kilometre radius, it seems a different story.
One of her neighbours created a survey and petition asking for help from the municipal government, the provincial government and the federal government.
“Unfortunately the petition fell on deaf ears,” Johnston said. Seventy people did say they were affected in one way or another by industrial wind turbines.
She said the petition was read at Queens Park, “but no one offered to do anything to help us get out of our predicament. There are negative effects.” But, she also agreed that different people are affected in different ways.
“For me, the first indication was that I felt I was swimming 1,000 feet down in the water and there was a pressure on my head. I was feeling I couldn’t hear as well as I used to. And I could sleep before the turbines started.”
In checking with her doctors, there was nothing wrong with her hearing. She said the only option was to leave her home.
Johnston said, “So now I take on speaking engagements and requests – I’m running away from home. Can you imagine that kind of existence for an 80-year-old?
“I’m not going to give up. The only thing I have to work for is my health.”
