To the Editor,

I was one of the people who spoke in opposition to the conditional-use permit needed to install a solar panel farm across from New Hope Church in Pembroke. Aside from the undesirable aesthetics, the uncertain long-range health hazards to nearby residents and the expected loss of property values for adjacent private property owners, there is another concern that was not mentioned in your Nov. 4 editorial.

The property in question is very near an historically significant site. A North Carolina historical marker, located on the corner of St. Anna Road and N.C. 710 North, indicates the area as being the site of the First Croatan Normal School, established in 1887, the forerunner to UNCP. Frequently, Robeson County students are bused to the New Hope Site on field trips to be informed of the historical details relative to the site, the funding of the first educational facility for their Lumbee ancestors. This location has great meaning to me and my family as we our fourth-generation descendants whose great-grandfather, John L. Oxendine, one of the founders of the Croatan Normal School, purchased 100 acres of land in 1878 that adjoins the proposed solar-farm site. I have many family members over many generations who received their formal education at this original and subsequent Pembroke school sites. I contend that a solar farm placed here would be greatly out of context for this location and would diminish this historical place tremendously.

May I suggest that perhaps each proposed solar farm site be looked at independent of the others, with consideration for proximity to residences on private property being held as the highest priority for decision making. Many of the established sites are located in areas where they are not in the immediate faces of people residing nearby.

My family and I appreciate the Board of Commissioners for its onsideration of the potential detriment to homeowners bordering their particular site. Perhaps Mr. Raymond Cummings and they were looking out for the best interest of their constituents, as we would expect a commissioner to do, rather than being concerned with the threat to their re-election chances as you suggest.

Louis Oxendine

Pembroke