To the editor:

I read the Great Bend Tribune article: “Kansas gets new personalized license plate design” (posted online Jan. 14). While I completely support wind turbines – or “wind chargers” as my folks called them – and the new design embossed on a car tag vanity-plate looks nice, I’m afraid it will soon become as obsolete as many of the old abandoned and neglected farm windmills that dot the rural Kansas landscape.

Make no mistake, I love old farm windmills. I used to own a farm with two Aermotor windmills that were made in Chicago circa 1899. They last a long while, if maintained, but become eyesores and useless if neglected. Instead of “green energy” (which they are in the near-term), sadly, they become rust statues in later years.

While I support vanity plates and the revenue therefrom, I hope Kansans will evaluate our “green energy” and see that it is properly upkept to ensure it truly is “green,” renewable energy and not another generation of neglected dinosaurs.

Again. if maintained, they’re marvelous. If neglected, they are a line of future eyesores. Plus, wind turbines (unlike their farm windmill counterparts) have killed wildlife such as Canada geese who flew unknowingly into the blades.

While I am still a supporter of green energy, I think appropriate spacing between turbines is warranted. Think about that next time you buy a vanity tag.

James A. Marples

Esbon