Globe Profile Reveals Life Disrupted by Falmouth Turbines

In her Boston Globe profile (“A Falmouth veteran battles wind turbines — and health woes” 1/24/14), Bella English shows Barry Funfar to be like many retirees. He enjoyed his garden–which also helped him cope with PTSD.

In Falmouth, where the Funfars have lived since 1979, gardening became a big part of his life, and his doctors encouraged it as a healthy outlet for his PTSD….

You might call it an obsession. His lot, not quite an acre, has 128 varieties of clematis plants, 500 rhododendrons and azaleas, eight varieties of magnolias, and this year, he put in 10 Japanese maples. That doesn’t include myriad other plants; Funfar reckons he’s got “thousands of them out there.” He has given away hundreds.

Then the wind turbines invaded his home and backyard refuge, disrupting his recovery from PTSD  and worsening his medical conditions. On December 5, 2013, the Falmouth Zoning Board of Appeals agreed with his complaint that the turbines are a “nuisance,” (but Falmouth is again suing its ZBA over this finding).

In letters included in the Funfars’ complaint, his treatment team at the VA hospital supported his claim. Psychologist Christy Capone reported that Funfar had been making great progress with his PTSD symptoms until the installation of the turbines. “His symptoms have worsened significantly. . . . His backyard, previously his ‘sanctuary’ where he spent many peaceful hours gardening, is now a place of stress and conflict,” she wrote.

Funfar joined the Marine Corps in 1965, according to English, and “flew 127 combat missions as a door gunner on Huey helicopters and was awarded seven Air Medals for meritorious service.”