Landis Plagues, a farmer from Latimer, told the Franklin County Board of Supervisors during public comment on July 1 that crews for a nearby wind farm repeatedly drove and parked in his oat field and did not respect property boundaries.

Plagues said he found a pickup parked “out in the middle of my oats” and that when he approached the driver the worker said, “I didn't wanna drive over his corn,” to which Plagues replied, “well, what about my oats?” He said a deputy sheriff came to the site and “documented it” but that the deputy “kind of blew it off.”

The farmer described multiple incidents, including a pickup parked beside his field while he was spraying herbicide. “I sprayed right along his pickup. He was in his pickup sleeping or something. And he jumped up and flew out of there,” Plagues said. He also reported seeing crews working from blades and using pickups tethered to equipment and said one crew member drove about 500 feet into his field.

Plagues identified the project near Alexander as Whispering Willow (referred to in the meeting as Whispering Willow North) and said contractors often display out-of-state license plates. He said he collected a plate number and asked the board to press operators to require basic safety and agricultural-awareness training for crews working on county lands and farmland adjacent to turbine sites.

The board did not take formal action during the meeting; deputies had visited the site earlier and Plagues said he had photographs and a deputy report. The complaint was raised during the public comment portion of the July 1 meeting, and no ordinance or formal enforcement directive was announced at that time.

Plagues said the incidents raised both property and fire-safety concerns: “If we'd have had this rain and those were a little drier, it could have been a field fire possibly.” He also urged the board to encourage operators to train contractors on working safely around farms and drainage.

The remarks were reported as public comment; the county did not record a subsequent motion or vote specific to the complaint during the meeting. Board members acknowledged the comment and indicated they would look into appropriate follow-up.