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RECEIVED �i2i2o12 Melanie Curtis Planning& Zoning Coordinator JU� 3 ' 2012 City of Orono CITY OF ORONO 2750 Kelley Pazkway Orono, MN 55356 Dear Ms Curtis, Given the City of Orono's past intimidation tactics in regards to our property, we are not surprised that the City of Orono would go to extremes to prevent us from using our own property legally within the Orono city code. The City of Orono has decided to support and inflame the tactics of a select group of neighbors without doing any actual investigation into the matter. We did not even receive a phone ca11 from the city questioning our recent installations. The city jumped straight to stop work orders and threatening letters. This is very ironic as we have made an official complaint about a sitting city council member that the City of Orono will not even respond to. Your letter dated June 29,2012 completely displays the lack of understanding you, Melanie Curtis, and the Orono staff/city officialshave regazding the Orono city code. Ignoring the fact that the City of Orono does not have anything in it's code to control wind turbines,thus relegating your letter to be meaningless, we will explain why our flagpoles are allowed. According to Webster's and Dictionary.com, a'Generator' is defined as: gen•er•a•tor �jen-uh-rey-ter] noun 1. a rnachine that converts one form of energy into another, especially into electrical energy, as a dynamo,or electrical energy into sound, as an acoustic generator. We do not have any'Wind Generators' in our yard, as you claim,as there is nothing that is converting one form of energy to another. What we did install are 2 flagpoles with different decorative features on the top of them. The city of Orono does not control flagpoles as to location or decora.tive features, therefore,no building permit or other city approval was needed. In fact,flagpoles are allowed all over the City of Orono with very little restriction at all. How many other stop work orders for flagpoles has the City of Orono issued with or without any investigation? Please also submit to us any building permits issued by the City of Orono for flagpoles within the City of Orono,which did not require a conditional use permit. Further, one of the flagpoles has a US flag on it. Proper protocol for maintaining an outdoor US flag overnight is to keep the flag lit up during the night time hours. This is a long standing custom which is practiced all over the US, including Orono,and by government entities as well. Your attempt to use the 0-75'hardcover ordinances to prosecute and intimidate us makes absolutely no sense. We have mitigated the hardcover from these 2 flagpoles better than 1-1 by removing other items in the 0-75' setback. You,Melanie Curtis,would ha.ve known this if you had decided to do any actual investigation into the issue.