NAPERVILLE, IL- The deployment of the “smart grid” took a dark turn on Wednesday in Illinois, as residents in the City of Naperville (CON) woke up to the reality of ‘smart’ meters forced on their homes by police officers and municipal utility installers working together to intimidate- and in two cases arrest- residents who continue to refuse the meters and protect their homes. This follows CON’s FINAL NOTICE to residents days before.
These developments would be unbelievable in and of themselves as flagrant violations of constitutional property rights. The fact that the meters emit a Class 2B carcinogen, have caused at least hundreds of fires, and clearly violate privacy laws including the 4th Amendment, not to mention that these facts are all at issue in an ongoing federal lawsuit brought against the city by its own residents- makes these events all the more troubling.
New details are emerging about the CON’s installation “blitzkrieg” – backed up by armed police- that hit neighborhoods in this Illinois city of 150,000 people starting on Wednesday January 23rd. The forced installations have continued since then.
Residents told Stop Smart Meters! that the deployment happened very suddenly and unpredictably, using “shock and awe” tactics. All of a sudden, the whole street was filled with police and installation vehicles.
These UnAmerican Activities Must Be Stopped! NSMA members rally in Naperville last year
Two mothers- both community leaders working with Naperville Smart Meter Awareness (NSMA)– Kim Bendis and Jennifer Stahl- were arrested simply for standing peacefully by Jennifer’s home in front of advancing officers and installers, telling them they did not have permission to install a smart meter on her property. Kim was arrested for trying to document this abuse of police force, an abuse further evidenced by the Naperville Police Department seizing her camera and SD chip.
Can’t have the world watching.
Luckily a Chicago CBS affiliate was there and caught the CON’s shameful acts on the evening news. NSMA’s videos of the Naperville forced installs can be found at NSMA’s Youtube Channel.
Kim was charged with resisting arrest and “attempted eavesdropping” on officers. Both charges are ludicrous, and the eavesdropping charge is particularly ironic and twisted as that is precisely what the smart meter is intended to do to individual households’ privacy.
The bully blaming the victim.
Jennifer was charged with interfering with an officer and violating Naperville city ordinance 8-1C-3:7 by blocking the meter. The two were released from police custody a couple of hours later. They both came home to find that smart meters had been installed on their homes.
The “attempted eavesdropping” charge is based on a controversial Illinois law that prohibits filming police officers in some circumstances. Forced smart meter installations are probably precisely the kind of police activity that this kind of law is intended to hide. It is being challenged by the Illinois ACLU and other civil liberty groups with some success. More here. Needless to say, the law is blatantly unconstitutional.
In the US, if you can be there, you can photograph or video. The only exceptions to your right to photograph/video are on the premises of some US military sites, and the use of a high-power lens that intrudes on someone’s privacy. Trespassing is a separate issue, and you may be charged with it, or kicked off private property, but any photographs you took before being kicked off are legally yours. Know your rights. You can download wallet sized “photographer’s rights guides” here: Side 1 and Side 2.
We spoke with Jennifer and Kim yesterday, and they tell SSM! that the fight is not over. Instead of drawing the controversy to a close- as the CON might have hoped, the forced installations have just renewed NSMA’s commitment to secure a no-fee analog opt out. Their team of attorneys is working on this case from a number of angles and the Illinois ACLU is monitoring developments. Widespread condemnation has rained down upon Naperville in the last few days, and the incident has amplified opposition to “smart” meters internationally.
(above is a Coast to Coast interview with Jennifer Stahl and Katherine Albrecht)
Up to this point, for the most part- if a resident says “get off my property” generally installers are instructed to comply (with some exceptions including in TX where people have had to draw their guns when installers refuse to leave). Arrests that have taken place have generally been at installation yards or community blockades- not people defending their own homes. A request to leave the property would usually suffice.
Now a line has been crossed in Naperville.
It’s not as if the crooks running PG&E or other utilities would not like to do the same thing as they are doing in Illinois. It’s just that they realized that they risk a full-scale public revolt if they tried. In December 2010, two (other) mothers were arrested in West Marin County for blocking smart grid installations, and one year later more than a dozen families took direct action and removed unwanted smart meters from their homes, returning them to a PG&E office in Santa Cruz County. This sparked other protests and along with public, legal, and legislative pressure, forced a tentative analog opt out option for investor-owned utility customers in California. The rebellion has now flared up in Illinois.
Utilities’ political power derives from the masses remaining obedient to an authority the companies and government institutions simply do not have. As soon as there is resistance, that “authority” begins to crumble. The CON might have achieved near 100% installation in Naperville, but it has come at a steep price. This story is far from over.
Has it really come to this?
Police arresting homeowners who refuse to allow a smart meter on their home is a direct violation of the 4th amendment guaranteeing freedom from unreasonable search and seizure. Charging a fee or even disconnecting someone’s service is bad enough, but arresting you if you refuse to submit to a meter? It’s preposterous. Nevertheless, that is exactly what is happening.
One thing is certain. Naperville officials have taken on some serious legal liability with their actions of the last few days.
The truth is that the Naperville City Council and City Manager have grown so fed up with the grassroots group NSMA, the fight has become so personal, the corruption that NSMA has dug up so deeply embarrassing to the city, that the CON is now using the police and installation personnel as proxies to exact revenge, using the weapon of forced microwave radiation and police intimidation. Hundreds in Naperville have been threatened with arrest if they resist the forced installations, while Naperville Police threatened to shoot a man’s dog if he did not comply.
This is beyond criminal. Those involved should be indicted and imprisoned. Federal (and international) policies that have allowed this to happen are as unacceptable as the personal, dangerous obsession that must have infected this council to get them to believe that a reasonable course of action included arresting people for refusing to accept a new device on their home that they were never even consulted about.
The CON justifies its insistence on 100% resident compliance on Dept. of Energy contract obligations. However, any contract that presupposes property owner consent for such an installation- without expressly obtaining that- is in itself, illegal, presumptuous, and faulty.
The smart grid’s deeply authoritarian roots have been laid bare for all to see in Naperville. Forced smart meter installations- backed by the threat of official violence must not be tolerated anywhere. To the extent that President Obama (who is from Chicago, only 30 miles away), State or Federal elected officials choose to turn a blind eye- or even quietly support- what is happening in Naperville, then they are as guilty as the perpetrators of these crimes. Would Barack or Michelle want their kids forcibly exposed to carcinogenic radiation, the privacy of their home lives and routines revealed? Would they want their home to be at greater risk of fire You might want to ask Mr. Obama.
Even if you’re one of the people who don’t really think that smart meters are such a big deal (and that number is steadily decreasing as problems with the technology continue to surface) the question raised by events in Illinois is: where does it stop? How far will police and corporate interests go in violating your property- not to mention human- rights? What happens when your city decides to install wireless water meters, often located inside the home? Will Police knock down your door and enter (without a warrant) to force installation of a meter? What else might they decide to force into our homes?
A comment on a smart meter bulletin board this week in response to the Naperville events:
“Especially in North America, corporate rule has now replaced what we thought of as ‘government’… the police, the city, everything. No such thing as government any longer – literally. It is, quite simply, all just commerce to these merchants.”
On Monday, we might have thought they were going a bit far. At the end of this week, we’re not so sure any more.
Stop Smart Meters! stands in solidarity with Jennifer and Kim and all who are resisting Naperville’s illegal actions at this traumatic time. You are the Rosa Parks’ of the 21st Century. Please donate to NSMA’s mounting legal expenses. If we don’t stick together and stop this in Naperville, where will it stop? Now is the time to organize locally, wherever you live.
1) Demand that politicians stand against tyranny and stop the CON. Demand that the media do their job and report on the arrests accurately as well as on mounting problems with the smart grid: Download the Public & Social Accountability Campaign Guide for Naperville, IL
2) Educate Your Community! Download or Order Smart Meter information flyers today
3) Refuse to tolerate forced smart grid deployments- see our FAQ section on your rights.
Videos of Jennifer Stahl and Kim Bendis, the Two Naperville Moms Arrested Wednesday:
Jennifer Stahl
Kim Bendis
“The truth is incontrovertible, malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end; there it is.” ~Winston Churchill
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An excellent article that hits all the main points. I ask, what is the difference between physically harming people in the very short-term vs. in the long term? I say, “none”. We have more to fear from the corrupted actions of our own governments (local, state, and federal) at this sorry juncture, than from insane people with guns or even terrorists. Add up the numbers. Harming millions vs. harming tens, hundreds, or thousands. Do the math. Naperville’s actions reflect the current governmental thinking that we have seen escalate over the past ten years, with excuses to trample the rights of Americans. It hasn’t mattered which party was in charge, either. Of course, seeing as President Obama is from Illinois and a former professor of constitutional rights, we’d expect him to step in and help correct the situation. The trouble is that President Obama and his administration have actively endorsed setting up the smart grid as a feat greater than landing man on the moon. If you don’t agree, even based on thousands of scientific studies, warnings of physicians and researchers, and even first-hand experience of being harmed by these deadly wireless meters, your rights are stomped on. You can be jailed, harassed, or worse. That is not what I ever expected of a President. Bush opened the door and Obama has not hesitated to continue to destroy our rights, which, for a Democrat, is an abomination.
Thanks to smart meters and increase in RF radiation in my community, I am ill in ways I never imagined before, and have slept on the couch for two years, as now my bedroom is unsafe. No other president has ever impacted me like that.
I remain very upset about Naperville – this is an illustration of what is happening in all the places where citizens resist being harmed by smart meters, and it is totally unacceptable in America. If I wanted to live in North Korea I’d be there. I don’t need America to be turned into another North Korea.
Try putting lead sheeting around the areas of your bedroom (or around a smart meter). See the below article:
http://www.wnd.com/2012/12/health-hazards-linked-to-utility-meters/
My understanding is that the grid proposed by Obama did not include SMART meters. Those were slipped in by the power companies and in California never really approved by our PUC which is a corrupt as your Illinois commission.
Your points about Obama are well taken. I suspect with the fiscal cliff, gun control , immigration reform, the Affordable Insurance act, winding down two wars and the obstruction of all by Republicans, the hazards of SMART meters have not risen to the top of the pile. Yet, Panetta has spoken frequently about cyber terrorism citing the energy grid, so the Obama administration seems to be getting warmer!
You understood WRONG!!!! AL Gore with Silver Spring Networks backed the wireless communication systems in the smart meter. I remember him selling this idea back in the 90’s. These were forced on the power companies so that they could comply with emmisions.
Create a crisis and then give them the solution. “Co2 gasses creating global warming”…of course the sun has nothing to do with it, people didn’t burn anything over a hundred years ago, forest fires didn’t have people to extinguish them and trees hate Co2?
You are supposed to embrace them since they will save the planet. Instead they are killing every living thing… Thanks to microwave weapons expert Barrie Trower, retired Canadian armed forces Captain Jerry Flynn, and Dr. Zory Glaser Ph.D., LT, MSC, USNR former U.S. Navy Researcher, NIOSH Manager Executive Secretary Advisor to the U.S. FDA we now know that these are weapons. Power line communications are worse due to the 20KHz-500KHz field surrounding your entire living area.
Smart Meter killing devices should be the number one problem subject of America but instead liberals want to take your right to defend yourself. Tyranny is on your doorstep!
http://www.wnd.com/2012/12/health-hazards-linked-to-utility-meters/
@Ralph H — You are dreaming and sound like an Obama apologist. It was Obama’s DOE which subsidized “smart” meters nationwide to the tune of $3.5 BILLION. Search youtube for the speech Obama gave (in, I believe, Fla.) bragging about it a few years back.
Additionally, it was the Federal Energy Act of 2005 (signed by Bush, but passed with “bipartisanship”) which mandated a “smart” meter program. But it was supposed to be a voluntary program in which “smart” meters were to be made available to those who requested them. In short, there is no federal mandate.
This should clear up any doubts:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MC8ZITHy4I
Yeah Terri, he’s nothing more than a well paid ‘mouthpiece’ for the corporations, having no idea what he’s reading or saying to us & WE
are paying him for this … what a JOKE (or should I say, ‘JERK’ [off])!
If you think there is nothing to be concerned of coming from these meters got to EMFWATCH on youtube.
It’s doubtful that the arrests will stand in a federal court due to a ruling granting the public permission to videotape police work in progress. This may conflict with State laws criminalizing photo documentation of police officers. The legal confines may boil down to any number of issues one being private property conflicts and/or privacy in a contest with the City of Naperville.
Government by corporation = fascism (and emotive but nonetheless appropriate word to use).
Issues of health and rights to privacy aside – very important though these are – it’s the police role in this story that disturbs me the most.
Thanks for posting this article.
Two things: this sets police precedent for enforcing utility crimes and tyranny.
And Mr. Obama is directly responsible, along with other presidents (Bush), for promoting wireless smart grid. President Obama.
See http://www.metering.com/node/13663
and
http://firstdonoharmblog.blogspot.com/2011/07/emr-policy-institute-letter-to-obama.html
“Rosa Parks said, “I just want to be left alone.” She didn’t care about the stinking illegal laws that said all black persons must move to the back of the bus. We the people, “just want to be left alone.” We don’t care about Governments stinking illegal laws that allows Utility Companies to illegally invade my home with a data collecting spy machine, illegally constantly bathe my home in carcinogenic microwave radiation, illegally assault my home with remote shut off power, illegally occupy my home with their wireless radiation that can be hacked by criminals and those who would harm me. We have every right to protect and defend our Health, Privacy and Safety. If Government doesn’t get that then as Thomas Jefferson wrote, “ When a long train of abuses, usurpation’s, …evinces a design to reduce (your rights) under absolute Despotism, it is [YOUR] RIGHT, it is [YOUR] DUTY, to throw off such Government to provide new Guards for their future security [of these unalienable rights].”
Well, as the ol’ saying goes, “you can’t fix stupid” let’s just NOT let ‘stupid’
(or ‘smart’) fix US!
http://www.change.org/petitions/james-r-fouts-mayor-of-warren-mi-stop-bullying-residents-allow-an-opt-out-option-from-smart-water-meters
My wife, 2 small children and I live in Warren, MI. It’s been home for the past 11 years and although I have never missed a water or tax payment, my city is threatening to shut off my water service for refusing to have an AMR (advanced metering systems) “smart” water meter installed. I’ve made several attempts to reason with the city going back to April of 2012 and to this day I have not received any explanation of their decisions, how they believe these meters to be safe, or specifically what city ordinance I am violating since there is nothing yet written about these “smart” water meters.
What a bunch of nutcases.
Go back to watching tv for your information…that’s what a good sheep would do.
Yeah Paul, must be a PG&E ‘A-HOLE’.
Hi Ronnie,
Yea, little paul is, to put it in very accurate context,
‘ A broken down P.G.& E BROKEN DOWN
“A-Hole therefore not even good for a S**T
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I say lets quit using electric in our homes,Bankrupt these big corporations.Way to go people of Naperville,All people should stand up and fight.I pay no one for electricity,i buy no gas.When obama goes without a paycheck then maybe things will change.Good luck NSMA.
smart grids are there to send power to areas that need it, I dont think a home needs to tell the grid it needs more power…this is just another way for the coorperations to gather more usage data so they can figure out new ways to rob Americans of their hard earned money…
it also will eliminate those idoits jobs that where installing it…another way coorperations are lowering their overhead and max. profits for the 1% ers
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Thank you for this information. The smart meters are now being forced upon us in central Illinois. At least, I got a notice in the mail, that they needed to ‘test’ my meter and install a new one soon. My meter has not given me any problem at all! After researching this, it is obvious how dangerous they are.
Where would I turn to for legal help in stopping this? Would you happen to know?
Any help would be appreciated!
Thank you, and keep up the information campaign.