Dorothy Brush "Random Thoughts" Published Jan. 29, 2003

Wind? I was blown away

Chaos theorists was a new term to me. I found it in a nature book I was reading, which said one of this group's theories is that the flapping of a butterfly's wings can create a breeze that may lead to a rainstorm on the other side of the world! As I thought about that, a column on wind farms I wrote last November came to mind.

At that time TVA had three wind turbines on Buffalo Mountain at Oliver Springs, and they hoped to add 16 to 22 more to expand their wind energy production and more than double this renewable electricity generation. They have just announced that by this November they will have 18 more turbines built and producing 27 megawatts of power.

TVA Senior Vice President Jack Bailey said, "This represents the largest wind energy effort in the Southeast." Realistically, the potential for wind power in this area is much less than other parts of the country. The No. 1 wind farm in the world is on the Oregon-Washington border. It has just increased its output from 263 megawatts to 300 megawatts, which is enough electricity to power 70,000 homes.

These 18 new turbines are twice as big as the three now on Buffalo Mountain. Before the decision was made to expand the windmill farm there, other sites were explored. Both Lookout Mountain near Chattanooga and Stone Mountain at Mountain City were possibilities, but residents on Lookout Mountain protested mightily against what they considered unsightly towers. The Stone Mountain proposal was nixed by the North Carolina Attorney General, who ruled the 375-foot turbines would violate North Carolina's Mountain Ridge Protection Act.

Back to the chaos theorists, and if you compare a butterfly's flutter to wind farms, it makes one pause for thought.

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Around the first of every year football bowl games fill the sports pages and continue until the Super Bowl brings the madness to an end. It was a surprise to see a headline in the Chattanooga paper, Prayer Bowl 2003 begins the new year. The story explained it was a minister in Houston who began the practice as a prayer service years ago. The idea spread to many major cities over the years and Chattanooga held their first Prayer Bowl in 1998.

Then, in the American Bible newsletter I read that more than 5,000 churches across the country hold Super Bowl parties for football fans. They offer a Scripture-based kit called "Power to Win," which includes a guide to planning such a party. The material was put together by a number of Christian sports ministries including the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Athletes in Action and the American Bible's Sports Program. There are posters and a video of NFL players talking about their relationship with Jesus Christ.

With Super Bowl XXXVIII only a year away, now would be a good time to investigate hosting such a party. For information contact the American Bible Society sports office by e-mail at dhepburn@americanbible.org. The phone number is (719) 266-8446, or you can check their Web site by clicking on the Power to Win at www.gospelcom.net/rbc/sports/sb.

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Dorothy Copus Brush is a Fairfield Glade resident and Crossville Chronicle staffwriter whose column is published each Wednesday.