Long winded

Goodhue County Commissioner Dan Rechtzigel was right.

This week’s Planning Advisory Commission meeting was a doozy. The board finally adjourned just after midnight and the crowd — many of whom stood the entire five-hour meeting — finally dispersed.

Dozens of people spoke about wind energy at Monday’s meeting.

Not many people left during the course of the heated discussion about wind. No one seemed deterred by long periods of time in a cramped room with nowhere to sit.

"I can’t tell you how good it is to see democracy in action," Rechtzigel said the next morning at the County Board meeting. The Kenyon-area commissioner said he was able to sneak in about four hours sleep before he had to be back in Red Wing.

The meeting was long. People got emotional. But residents who showed up — many of whom no longer speak to each other because they have different views on wind energy — were pretty respectful. 

Geronimo Wind and AWA Goodhue officials weren’t booed or heckled (too much). And everyone listened to what everyone else had to say.

"It’s a heated issue on both sides but people are very respectful to each other, something I never saw in Afghanistan," said Commissioner Ron Allen, a retired Army colonel.

In the end, everyone had a little too much to say. Commissioners decided they needed to let the information sink in before making any decisions.