Why is Peter Harris trying to shut this web site down? Is it the HUGE snow making well?

Look at the list of things (below) that we require to allow Peter Harris's to use our water, and then one can only wonder. So far, he has spent more money on lawyers trying to shut down this web site then it would have cost him to follow the rules. Why? Following the rules would mean that Peter Harris would only be able to use the amount of water the law allows. Not following the rules would allow Peter Harris to use as much water as he wanted, when he wanted, without consideration of anyone else. But is this what Peter Harris wants to do? Let's look at what he has done in the past about following rules, and see if that gives us any indication of what he might do in the future.

Building permits: In the three years Peter Harris has owned Song Mountain Resort he has never willingly gotten a building permit, not one! He was forced to get a permit for a $10,000 building that was constructed on top of the hill for ski racing, but only after a complaint was made by me. And then that permit, that only cost $45, was for a $2000 building. We have no information if a certificate of occupancy was issued for the building. Peter Harris built other things, including a pump house visible from the road that does not have a permit either.

In a flyer sent out by Peter Harris last fall he stated that, "Song Mountain has invested over $1,000,000 in the last three years in snowmaking alone." There was no consultation with the planning board about this construction, no plans shown and approved, nothing! There were no building permits issued for any of this work and that deprived the town out of about $1,662.00 in fees. With no permits, no plans, and no inspections, nobody has any idea whether anything that was done, was done in a safe and proper manner. Nobody knows anything about this million dollars of construction, nobody! Except Peter Harris.

DEC: When Peter Harris first bought the resort he was ordered by the DEC to remove two dams that the DEC considered illegal and unsafe. He never removed the lower dam and fought the DEC for years until they finally changed the rules to make his illegal dam legal.

I suppose it is possible that Peter Harris can be trusted to follow the rules and do the right thing about the huge snow making well. However, his past record would not support that possibility.

From his history and from other rumblings I've been hearing I believe that Peter Harris has plans to use the well beyond what is legal and getting rid of this web site is part of that plan. He's doing this now, at the end of the ski season, because he believes that all the hubbub will be over before the beginning of the next ski season. It's an old plan that I'm all too familiar with. But it didn't work for Flying J, and it won't work for Peter Harris either.

We will fight tooth and nail to keep this web site and to prevent Peter Harris and Song Mountain Resort from over using our water until we are guaranteed that our lake, our wells and our homes are safe.

Keep in mind:

We live here, -- he doesn't!
We raise our kids here, -- he doesn't!
Our lives are invested in our homes here, -- his isn't!

We will not allow Peter Harris to take that away from us, and he should understand that losing this fight is not an option for us!