8/31/2016
The Lay of the Land
By Lyn Messersmith
Final Thoughts
Someone once asked, “What if they gave a war and nobody came?”
Not to worry, someone always comes. Sadly, there’s a lot of collateral damage from our current Sandhills war. Trump and Hillary have nothing on us when it comes to drama, contempt, and scorn. Negativity is the most contagious disease on our planet, with social media a major carrier of privacy invasion, hate speech, and misinformation. The national political scene’s reality show mentality has trickled down to poison a quiet rural lifestyle. Many who have opted out of local war games are being affected. I’ve avoided injecting my opinion on this issue here. Today, I’m speaking in hope that a respectfully presented message might also be contagious.
Several years ago, numerous public meetings were held regarding the possibility of developing wind energy in Cherry County. I attended, along with many of my neighbors. We were encouraged to take the information that was being presented to our attorneys and financial advisors, do our own research, and ask questions, before making a commitment. I, and others who eventually signed on as members of Cherry County Wind, did so. Some attendees at the meetings declined to join; all of us making thoughtful and prayerful choices that fit our individual situations. The majority of people now protesting CCW were not in attendance. Once CCW was formed, membership meetings were private, as are any meetings of stockholders to address business decisions for a ranch, implement business, or grocery store.
I have long been a proponent of wind energy. Seeing miles of wind turbines in travels around the West made me wonder why Nebraska isn’t developing our most available energy resource. A family member who is a coal miner says the word is out in his circles that whoever is elected in November will likely shut down the coal industry.
Objectors point out that wind energy is heavily subsidized. Do you farm or ranch? Have you been involved with cost share for wells, tree planting, fencing, or grazing programs? Do you drive a vehicle? On the interstate or other developed highways? Do your kids attend school? Will you be present for Old West Days, or Arts Council programs? Is your current energy produced by coal, oil, or hydroelectricity? How many plastic bottles of water or soda did you drink today, and how much oil was used to produce the containers? I don’t like subsidies either but none of our modern lifestyle is free of them, or possible without them.
Allow me a correction to Jim Ducey’s internet post. There is no “DeNaeyer” land involved in, or near, the proposed projects. The only DeNaeyer land in Cherry County is five miles south of Valentine. It’s really no one’s business, but I am simply trustee of the Spencer property my grandparents acquired a century or so ago. That property is leased to a family member who did not make the decision to affiliate with CCW; however he was apprised of that decision since it affects his livelihood. I felt no obligation to discuss the matter with others.
Many years ago, someone asked if I ever wondered what my first husband, my dad, or for that matter, my grandfather, would think of the changes we’ve made on the ranch. “Only every day of my life,” I answered.
On the whole, I believe they’d approve. Granddad was a banker, as well as a rancher; even served a term as magistrate in Thomas County. Dad kept his wallet closed a lot, but was strong for private property rights and whatever would improve the land and help the community. He shopped at home, and was quick to involve the ranch in oil leases when that was the going thing. My kids’ dad and I updated machinery and buildings for property we would never own, on our own dime.
I was taught that the greatest resources we have are our own strong backs, honesty, trusted neighbors, clean water and good grass. Having been charged with continuing that legacy, do you really believe I’d foul the nest purposely? I am convinced that the proper precautions for the environment have been met in this project, and that it will help us keep schools open, and support our local economy without leaning so hard on the whims of Washington.
Mom mourned when friends divorced because she was expected to take sides, and she cared for both parties. I experienced the sadness of family feuds early. When my dad and his brother fell out, ties were cut with my only close cousins. A child feels confusion and shame when they love someone whom parents require them to shun. It took my generation fifty years to mend the fences, and none of us have ever been the same.
Everyone should be respected for following his or her conscience, but that doesn’t make it ok to call names or personalize issues. Negative messaging is a form of bullying.
I want to thank the Cherry County citizens who have sacrificed time, energy, and personal resources to serve in county offices, on school boards, planning commissions and in charitable organizations, often being vilified and harassed for their honest efforts. Surely we can hold different views without looking for a scapegoat.
Some of our citizens have based responses toward other people, or entities in the community, on their opinion regarding my association with CCW. In light of that, this is the last time that Lay of the Land will appear in local papers. You can hate me all you like, but it would break my heart to know someone cancelled a subscription to the Midland News or Sheridan County Journal Star because my column appears therein. Small town newspapers are the lifeblood of a community, and our editors are to be commended for fair and balanced reporting. Occasionally, some folks, and even businesses, have pressured an editor or publisher because of something I wrote, even though it appears on the Opinion page. The present battle has become bloody enough to make me believe it could happen again.
I will miss you all. It’ll be awhile before I stop jotting down a thought I want to develop into a column and share with you, but this has been a pretty good gig for 27 years, and perhaps it’s time to move on.
I’ll close with a story told at an artist’s conference I attended. A father asked his young daughter if she was familiar with the beggar who sat at the local depot chanting the same phrase over and over. She was. “Well, do you know what he is saying?” She did not, so the dad told her to go listen, then come tell him what she heard.
Pretty soon the daughter returned to report. “He’s saying, ‘Thanks if you do, thanks if you don’t.’”
“Correct,” the father replied. “You have gifts to share with the world. Offer them freely. Sometimes they will be received, other times not. The result is not your business. Just keep sharing, and say, ‘thanks if you do, thanks if you don’t.’”
Thanks that you did, for all these years. See you around.
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