Yankton's youth called a meeting Thursday night and 100 people showed up in the Methodist Church meeting room. That's 100 people on a beautiful August night when people could have been boating, gardening, barbecuing or a dozen other things.

Instead they came to a meeting. The subject? Wind energy.

I was mildly shocked. How often do 100 people show up for a public meeting unless some huge controversy has arisen? We had high school sophomores and 80-year-olds. Scientists, doctors, farmers and teachers.

The main speakers were Frank James of Dakota Rural Action in Brookings and Scott Parsley of East River Electric. Their message was that South Dakota is falling behind other states in development, and to become more aggressive we may need to change public policies. James said all South Dakota's leaders proclaim their support for wind energy, but it's been more talk than action.

Both of the speakers — and seemingly everyone in the diverse crowd — wanted to find ways to develop wind energy that will truly benefit our communities far into the future. Preferably, they would like to see opportunities to invest in locally-owned and operated wind energy companies. There is a distrust for Big Energy. I can't imagine why.

The meeting was organized and planned by high school and college youth who belong (or once did) to the Yankton Environmentalist Club. The students hope to get a wind turbine on the school grounds, both as an energy source and a learning tool.

The meeting ended with the agreement that two committees would be formed: one to study the feasibility of a wind farm in the greater Yankton vicinity, and the other to promote the idea of the school turbine.

Want to draw a crowd in your town? Call a wind meeting. People are interested.

Photo: Wind turbines in Hyde County are surrounded by corn fields.