Trespassing wood smoke a threat to health, safety

Kennebec Journal & Morning Sentinel
02/19/2009

Trespassing wood smoke a threat to health, safety

Since the Morning Sentinel did not see fit to have a reporter at the Oakland Town Council meeting on Feb. 11, I thought I would share some thoughts regarding the unsatisfactory outcome of that meeting.

Some residents of Oakland are being made miserable by wood smoke discharged in a residential area. The council denied authority to deal with the nuisance circumstance.

The nuisance wood smoke is a real threat to the health and safety of the residents to the west of the old Cascade mill. Unfortunately, it has not been treated as such by the town council or agencies of state, namely the Department of Environmental Protection and the Department of Health and Human Services.

I was most impressed by the quality and seriousness of testimony by residents, one whose family had to abandon their home and another who can't do simple yard work and once even thought her house was on fire and the American Lung Association representative present.

That a clear and present danger exists from this smoke trespass is inarguable. The council seemed impatient with testimony and, in my opinion, did not grasp the seriousness of the issue or the desperate need for help of those people directly affected by the smoke.

We are all placed in danger when the agencies of our elected government chartered to protect us fail to act when needed in a timely manner.

Jim Easton

Oakland

See one reader comments below....

cracklinRose
Feb 19, 2009 9:41 PM
I will never understand the mentality of some people. Wood smoke is a danger to human health & the environment. It is a proven fact. Yet, the answers posted to this letter appear to be written by people who just like to read a letter and then inject their inane responses. How about learning some true facts before showing yourselves to be complete idiots?

If you were forced from your home, as I was, I bet you'd be singing another tune!
http://woodburnersmoke.net Look under photos & videos and tell me that you would put up with it?

Trespass of smoke is against the law as our neighbor has found out. So, go ahead & do like him and you won't be telling anyone to leave town...it will likely be you, broke and heading to the poor house!

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