In 1973, my husband and I bought a 127-acre piece of property on the end of a dead end road 6.5 miles from Viroqua. We thought it the ideal place to raise our growing family and give them a taste of country living... woods to explore and camp out in, streams to fish and wade in, and wildlife to watch and enjoy.

In 1978, my husband, Nial, designed an energy efficient house with solar panels, wide overhanging soffits, a south bank of windows and the north side of the house embanked for protection against the north winds. Together we built that house along with some professionals and family and friends helping.

It became a multi-generational family dwelling when our aged parents and grandmother came to live with us. It housed a foreign exchange student and various friends who needed temporary housing. The boys moved out after high school to see what the world had to offer, but they both returned home learning what they sought was really in their own back yard. This home and land is to be their legacy. They have worked hard to be very good stewards and protective of their heritage.

Now there looms over us the possibility of it all being taken away. We are bordering one of the three proposed sites Dairyland Power is looking at for its coal ash landfill and may be included in the “buffer zone.” Words can’t express the overwhelming feeling of sadness that all we have worked for over the last 35 years could be taken away through eminent domain.

I began as a “Not In My Backyard” thinker, but it goes way beyond that. There are wonderful groups of people out there working to inspire Dairyland Power to explore other avenues of disposing of its waste rather than landfilling it. I don’t pretend to know all the scientific issues involved, but it’s up to each of us to be aware of what’s happening and learn as much as we can.

There has to be a way to solve the problem other than burying it and hoping it will all go away. It’s easy to ignore problems when they don’t directly affect us, but wait awhile... your turn may come.

Judy Bessinger

Town of Viroqua