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Anti-Smart Meter Activists Fill City Council Meeting, Say City Broke Its Own Laws Arresting Two Women

Feb. 7, 2013 3:37pm Liz Klimas

Naperville Smart Meter Opponents Take to City Council Meeting To Share Concerns

Jennifer Stahl was arrested in January when she was refusing utility workers access to install a smart meter on her home. (Image: CBS video screenshot)

When we first reported on the controversial smart meter initiative taking place in Naperville, Ill., it was to tell the story of one of two women arrested for trying to prevent a new wireless meter from replacing an analog meter on her home. On Tuesday, the city had a council meeting where many against the meters and, more overarching, against the arrest and charges of the women aired their concerns.

In a phone interview with TheBlaze Thursday one of the Naperville Smart Meter Awareness leaders, Tom Glass, said it isn’t even really about smart meters anymore.

“This has little to do with smart meters now,” Glass said. “This is about an overbearing government.”

Video footage of the meeting shows Glass addressing the city council, saying that the women — Jennifer Stahl and Malia “Kim” Bendis who were arrested Jan. 23 – were not only within their rights to film public employees conducting official duties but that their property rights were violated according to the city’s own code.

According to the Chicago Tribune, Stahl was charged with misdemeanors for “interfering with police and preventing access to customer’s premises” and Bendis, who is the president of the awareness group, was charged with “attempted eavesdropping and resisting a peace officer.”

In the city council video and over the phone to TheBlaze, Glass explained that according to the city’s code, public workers who have been refused access a homeowner’s land need to obtain a warrant. According to city ordinance 06-278, 11-21-2006 in Article C Electric Service Rates, when inspections on private property are necessary, permission from the property owner will first be sought.

“If permission is refused, or if the owner or occupant is unavailable, the Director or his or her designee, with the assistance of the City Attorney, shall apply to the appropriate court for the issuance of an administrative search warrant,” the ordinance continued.

Here you can see the difference between a smart meter and a traditional analog meter in California. Smart meters have drawn criticism from around the country for privacy and health concerns. (Photo: AP/Gosia Wozniacka)

It should be noted that ordinance 07-013, 1-16-2007 in the same Article C states that authorized agents “shall have free access to the customer’s premises at all reasonable hours for the purpose of reading, examining, inspecting, repairing, replacing, or removing the Department’s meters or other equipment or property.”

To Glass, the fact that these women — and others who had meters installed when they were not home — expressly refused access to their yards — the gates of some residences were cut open to give city workers access — would constitute the need for a warrant for these employees to enter the premises.

“If you think this is OK, are you going to be OK when Mark Curren [(the Lake County Sherriff)] comes through your front door with a chainsaw to test out your new TV and microwave in the middle of the night? Where do you draw the line,” Glass asked in his speech to the council, noting the portion of the code he believes would require a warrant when permission is denied. “Here’s your code — you ignored it.”

Watch Glass’ speech:

As for Illinois Eavesdropping Act, which made it a felony to record conversations or actions of people without their consent, that Bendis was cited for as she filmed workers on her property, Glass pointed to several court cases within 2012 that deemed the act unconstitutional. In July 2012, a judge for the Circuit Court of Cook County ruled the law was unconstitutional, and in November the Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal of a 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruling that blocked enforcement of the law, Reuters reported.

Glass also called out inconsistencies of the council down to its not allowing residents to clap in support of what was being said Tuesday night. The Chicago Tribune reported that for 40 minutes residents issued complaints. One of them was Jerry Schilling who called for the firing of the city manager and said “as far as I know, we still live in the United States of America and not communist China,” drawing cheers and clapping from the crowd during and after his speech. Due to this display Mayor George Pradel called for a five minute recess.

Watch Schilling’s speech and Pradel’s call for a brief break:

In the video showing Glass’ speech, he brings up the issue of clapping and how it was allowed during other instances, which drew further applause as he left the podium. Mayor Pradel again said the meeting would “hold up for a few minutes until we quiet down.”

But during his interview with TheBlaze, Glass pointed to another video showing where clapping was completely welcome in a city council meeting.

“It’s hysterical to see the difference when it’s something popular,” Glass said. “When it’s something they want, it’s a different set of rules.”

Watch Mayor Pradel draw laughs and applause himself, which doesn’t go unchecked, in this video:

The fight against smart meters is over in a way, Glass said — “the meters are installed.” But they’ve opened up what he believes is an even larger issue regarding the “bigger grasp of government and the loss of privacy in our personal homes.”

As for what is being done going forward by those part of awareness group, Glass said there are some legal things in the works that he is not at liberty to discuss, but also noted that the experience he and others have had with the local government has prompted himself and Jo Malik to run for city council in April.

Glass said the group also hopes the state attorney will take action and investigate what some residents believe to be unlawful acts taken by the city.

In CONTROL, Glenn Beck presents a passionate, fact-based case for guns that reveals why gun control isn’t really about controlling guns at all; it’s about controlling us. Find out more HERE.

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Comments (118)

newsjunkie
Posted on February 8, 2013 at 12:14am
I wrote a letter to our utility co refusing the installation of the smart meter, put a sign on it stating refusal and locked it up. No meter has been installed. I’ll keep fighting it till the bitter end. I’m not complying to any of their crap.

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the blazer
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 11:22pm
These Naperville politicians exhibit the same arrogance found in government offices occupied by public servants all over the country. Not one of them spoke up for Mr. Glass.

They are so convinced of their privileged self-important elitism that they no longer understand their proper role. They don’t see themselves as servants. They want entitlements of office not found in the Constitution. They never admit mistakes. They never fix mistakes. They never apologize. They just continue to rule the masses without consent or transparency.

They have no respect for their relatively few constituents who stand up to them BECAUSE THE REST OF THEIR CONSTITUENTS ARE SITTING ON THEIR BEHINDS INSTEAD OF DEMANDING, JUSTICE, RULE OF LAW AND R E P R E S E N T A T I O N !!!! Politicians have to see NUMBERS to be shaken out of denial. They only care about keeping you out of their ****.

Go to your own city hall and see what the political class is doing to your rights and property.

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mrdoogle
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 11:07pm
These government fools best remember there are still 300 million guns or so in this country.
They can’t hide when the crap hits the fan worse than it already has….and you all know it will
get worse…..God help us all from these tyrants……

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RestoreCapitalism
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 11:01pm
They’re doing the same cram down with smart meters that they did with Obamacare.

Communists believe Government knows best.

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Gargent_Furball
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 10:08pm
People need to stand up. Fire the city council. Get your local lawyer to step up. Make things happen.

Who is in-charge ??

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yooperman28
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 9:34pm
I’d also like to point out…it’s obvious this story is just being reported and not investigated, because the two meters in the picture above are practically the same electronic meter(neither are analog, or mechanical if you knew the correct terminology). These two meters are just made by different manufacturers (GE and L&G). They are not even technically “smart” meters. Just because L&G’s name for that specific meter is “smartmeter”, doesn’t automatically make it what most people consider a smart meter. Both of these meters only have one-way communication that sends the readings to a data collector. Neither of these meters have the capability to communicate with your appliances, furnace, or air conditioner. These meters aren’t even capable to be communicated to by the utilities unless they physically hook up a computer directly to it. They only send out the readings through a frequency(like radio). Now there are meters out there that do have the capability to turn off the power if the utility wishes to do so, otherwise a person would just drive out to the house and disconnect it manually if they didn’t pay their bill(just another way for the COMPANY to save money). Also, technology to shut off your a/c, furnace, and hot water heater have been around since before they even had electronic meters. It was a seperate unit that used a relay controlled by radio frequency that hooked up next to a meter. This was also volunteer…implemented in the 70′s..to save

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udidntbuildthat
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 9:15pm
I’m not convinced there is foul play involved with these smart meters, at least not yet. But if you wanted to keep these meters from sending signals into your house via the power line all it would take is a low pass filter that could pass through the 60Hz AC but attenuate anything above that. An isolation transformer may also do the trick.

As far as wireless communication, they should be running at less power than cell phone towers. A Faraday cage would attenuate that signal if its too strong.

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yooperman28
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 8:39pm
ok, i’m a huge fan of Glenn Beck and The Blaze!!! BUT…..please do some more research with the utilities(ask the privately owned utilities why they are using these electronic meters), and investigate the manufacturers. Most so-called “smart” meters are nothing more than a normal meter, that sends out the reading on a frequency that either a meter reading vehicle drives by and collects the data, or it is collected into pole-top mounted units that then send in the information through cellular technology. You-tube videos on this subject are completely false. Privately owned utilites started this along with the manufacturers to save money and be more efficient(more accurate and less workers needed). There are other privately owned businesses that companies hire to inspect the date for any anomolies that could possible be meter innacuracies or theft. Governments do not have access to this information(yet). Also, none of these “smart” meters communicate with your appliances inside your house. It is possible to setup the system to turn on/off heating/cooling systems, but that is in almost all cases a volunteer program to save the customer money(along with the utility). Oh, and they don’t have microphones on them either. THIS IS CAPITALISM PEOPLE!!!!! The government didn’t come up with this idea! It’s all about money! FREE MARKET!! Gov owned utilites is the minority of electric utilites, majority of them are privately owned businesses! get off the conspiracies

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raybaker35
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 8:33pm
Its over for us you know? I white guy will not be able to be president for at least 4 more terms. Conservative Americans are being demonized and it is WORKING! Its working huge! The libs have the kids and they cultasize them. (I’ll take credit for the word cultasize!)
The America we once new is indeed already transformed. The death knell happend when the idiot regan started the amnesty thing. He said he would grant them freedom to become citizens, and that he would control the border. Now if you even mention the border or illigal, you are branded a racist. In a new movie they use the term, traditional Americans are racists. It is all over tv on the main stream media, they put down tea party and conservatives all day long.
Its to late.
The only thing we can hope for is pockets of sanity in our once great country.
I dont even consider myself American anymore.
Do you?
I am devastated for us.

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BubbaCoop
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 8:17pm
“Here you can see the difference between a smart meter and a traditional analog meter in California”

That’s not analog. It’s still a digital display.

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Saff SGT
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 7:44pm
Power companys can not charge you for usage and then tell you how much you can use or not use. they are not giving this stuff away free. If they were then they could dictate to you how much to use. its like buying a car and having the salsman tell you you can only drive it 3 days a week.

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Pergolesi
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 7:43pm
I cannot help but think that this entire controversy is a conspiracy by leftists to make conservatives look like paranoid fools. As for the smart meters turning on and off your appliances – well, that’s a sci-fi pipe dream. It would require an entire rewiring of your house, totally new and futuristic appliances and of course a totalitarian government to force people to go along with (and pay for) all those fanciful systems. It will never happen. There would be a full-scale rebellion of the populace long before any of that happens, and rightly so. But the smart meter is only doing what your regular meter did anyway, it just makes it easier for meter readers and saves money for the utility, hopefully to be passed along to the consumer. At least we hope it will. Perhaps in some deluded enviro’s heated imagination he can imagine total control of everybody’s life but the smart meter itself isn’t violating any of your rights. The utility company always owned the electric meter and the electric company could always turn off your power. Blaming the smart meter is a slippery-slope argument carried to absurd ends.

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- yooperman28
  Posted on February 7, 2013 at 8:42pm
  agreed! -privately owned utility worker….
  This is outrageous that Glenn Beck is fighting against capitalism, and business innovations….
  
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positive1
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 7:35pm
Here is what I think and know to be true. First, what happened to all the middle class employees that used to walk around and read the meters, where did that money & jobs go? Second, now there are all these college graduates being hired to do these so called free energy audits at the expense of every person, family or business every month on their bill ( one of many hidden fees) not really free as they say. This includes every so call FREE rebate they give to solar, furnace, water heater, air conditioning manufacturers at the expense again of the utility payer. This includes the railroads and train builders Warrenbuffet & GE new this was coming and got in on it, have you noticed all those new coal cars and trains? We are being played every step of the way. And now there are more and more programs being created to give free or discounted electricity to the poor make your utility bill even higher. Smart meter or rapeyoumeter?

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Saff SGT
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 7:35pm
smart meters is just another way for Communist Governments to control your life and what you do. This is another reason wht our fore fathers gave us all 2nd amendment rights to stop tryanical ass holes that we have running the country now.

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- Pergolesi
  Posted on February 7, 2013 at 7:48pm
  Do you know who are the biggest and most vocal opponents of smart meters in my neck of the woods? Leftist loons, that’s who! I live in a community of lefty ignoramuses on the West Coast and they’re more afraid of smart meters than the contrails and the pharmaceuticals that they think are a corporate plot to change them into zombies.
  
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Southernsoul
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 7:05pm
I am glad to see these women are getting support from their community. I hope they win and I hope they turn around and sue the snot out of the city.

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DaMule1977
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 6:50pm
True story. I’m not a conspiricy minded person, but that all changed a month or so ago. I got a phone call from an agency telling me that they were going to be in my area the following week and that they wanted to know if I still wanted to keep my appointment.(flag 1) I then informed them that I had no idea who they were or what they were trying to sell. At this point they offered to come into my home, and do a energy useage test on my home “for FREE”. (flag 2) Knowing that nothing is free, I asked them what the catch was. After a few hmmms and uhhhs, the guy finally told me.

This is the jist. They come into your home, do the test, and then give you a list of Improvements they “suggest” you make. When asked what happens if you chose not to make them, the guy informed me that as the home owner, I had 90 days to make said improvements. Failure to do so would result in me being charged $5000 to cover the cost of the testing and if I failed to pay that, they would then put a lein on my house making it almost impossible to sell. Further, if that still didn’t break me, they could start legal proceedings in an effort to confiscate my home. It was at this point I told him that if I see one truck of theirs on my street or in my neighorhood, I would ruin their day by any means needed.

Welcome to the New World Order folks. I had read things on-line about things similar, but always let it go. Question everything people, don’t let them through the door.

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- Saff SGT
  Posted on February 7, 2013 at 7:39pm
  good for you tell them to carry a good supply of body bags when they intimidate Americans
  
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AmericaMustBeFree
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 6:48pm
We have a corrupt Mayor also.. who is dealing drugs.. who threatened many a citizen last election for having signs in their yards for the opposition..He won and we are strapped for another 4 years with a evil man. We are a small town, but we are 750,000 in debt.. Where was the money spent.. no one has a clue. This is happening all over America.. we have city officials telling us what we can grow in our own yards.. The only thing that is going to change is the American people.. if you want your rights back.. then fire the arses of these evil men and women!

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BurntHills
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 6:29pm
that filthy communist obama said we have NO RIGHT to have warm homes with his 72* wisecrack:

”We can’t drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want —-and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times—— … and then just expect that OTHER countries are going to say okay”.. “That’s not leadership. That’s not going to happen.”

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- spirited
  Posted on February 7, 2013 at 6:49pm
  “You didn’t build that” was quite telling.
  
  >Obama is the front man
  
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JTX
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 6:12pm
The officers in this case were wrong to use police powers to intervene.

The public utility should simply have shut off her power instead.

It was improper to make an arrest for…..nothing.

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CommonSenseTalk
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 6:00pm
Why didn’t the utility company give her a choice of new meter or get power from another source? Very simple solution. The utility company gives her 90 days and then they shut of her power. You can use solar power, generator, wind, and never have to use new meter.

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americangrammy
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 5:57pm
We politely refused a “smart” meter last year. Fortunately I live in a mostly rural, conservative area and there were many more here that refused them also. The power company rep was totally clueless and couldn’t answer any of my questions. She just kept on saying that the power company “would never do anything to endanger their customers”.
For their trouble, we now have to pay $25 dollar fee each month. I have no idea how this is going to end. I’m betting that I’m going to go outside one day and discover that the “meter Santa” has left me a shiny, new and very smart meter while I wasn’t looking.
Gotta get those three fireplaces fixed, soon……

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sparkyrules
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 5:55pm
How come the Blaze completely censors a persons comments?Why? I abided by the rules.

Glenn Beck should know who runs this website.They are no better than Spooky Dude.

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- CommonSenseTalk
  Posted on February 7, 2013 at 6:02pm
  they do that to me all the time, I don’t get it. I’m going to start going elsewhere soon.
  
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- Kalshion
  Posted on February 7, 2013 at 6:22pm
  They don’t actually; it can take upwards of 20+ minutes for your comments to appear (that’s how long some of mine have taken, longer in some cases) I can only assume that whatever program they use for this comments section isn’t on a very good server.
  
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New.World.Fastfood.Order
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 5:55pm
The real problem here is that the government is involved in monopolizing and selling a service. When government steals the place of the free market our rights are always trampled.

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lessoneleg
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 5:45pm
They don’t tell you the “rest of the story”. Smart Meters not only use a wifi connection, they speak communially amongst themselves. Meter to Meter Blue Toothing. Funny how the Grid Manipulators do this an not tell you that the information they are gathering is sold to Third Party Businesses who then RoboCall your home trying to sell you junk that you don’t want or need.
Personally if the information were useful to myself and not some Broad Show Act that we are being lead by the nose to believe. I’d be in favour of Smart Metering. But, the nefarious Grid Salesmen sell us a line of bunk, which they profit from and not return back to us consumers as reduced utility rates.
So what is the future of Smart Metering, more invasive blue tooth devices in your home which the Utility Company will bundle up selling to dopey consumers believing they are getting a real zigger of a deal. Yeah, wait until you really need that A/C power after a hard night shift and the Grid Operator dials up your district for curtailment. Or an AUTO Shut down blue tooth feature in your new fangled Washer & Dryer, or maybe a Central Vac.
But hey, you signed up for it didn’t ya.

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nakoapa
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 5:42pm
Here’s a good one! My Wife just informed me that our electric company will be telling us how many kilowatts we are allowed to use, and after that they will charge us a huge surcharge on anything over that. They feel we are using too much and should cut down in order to save energy. I have 5 people in my house of which 3 are elderly. They watch TV for entertainment as they don’t get around very well. Then there is medical equipment and the such. I am furious!

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