As one who has personally faced off with the nations government owned power producer TVA over a R.O.W. and Eminent Domain violation myself I would not be quick to judge her. They bought a 50' X 1200' ROW from me. They tried to take over 400' wide X 1200' long and some prime timber as well that did not need cut with it. Had I not stopped them they would have came withing 50 feet of my home with the clear cut. BTW I live on the side of a steep ridge. I told their contractors to leave my property until the issue was resolved. I was threatened by them saying they would bring a U.S. Marshall to take all they wanted. Guess who won?
A call to my congress critter was made as well as some others. This was on a Friday. On Monday a tree stump counter and a man with the checkbook came instead. They then had to go back and pay restitution to my neighbors they done this way as well. I was the only one who stood up to them. Had I not then early the next spring a major flood that hit us would have sent a wall of water down the ridge and taken my house out. If you haven't even seen it happen before you can't understand the danger then.
I understand people got to have power but I expect to be treated honest and fair though. Unfortunately power companies can be quite abusive on such matters. What happened with me was they changed tower configurations from a single pole to a two pole H set up AFTER they bought the ROW. But still even at that they were still cutting trees well beyond a necessary distance because the contractor was making money off timbering and selling the logs. These were White Oaks. They had to leave mine laying there even after they paid for them. I found tires they used to start their brush fires with too.
I strongly advice anyone in this situation to have someone nearby with a video camera when talking to the power company. Worked for me. And by no means make any physical threats. Saying leave my property until I call my congressman and other officals and Representative's is by no means a threat. It is a right.
Good job protecting your rights. There has to be a fair agreement. The lines have to be ran, and the property owner has to be treated fairly.
I'm with you here...I've chased county surveyors and private ones of my land in MD and CA several times. Same thing with those interested in doing "nature surveys". They can be tenacious, one group had a private security gaurd who said he was there "to make sure they were not harrassed". I pointed out that he was trespassing with a gun and that felony charges would follow his arrest. He was not pleased as I ran his charges off.
I strongly advice anyone in this situation to have someone nearby with a video camera when talking to the power company.
This is becoming the norm when dealing with any government or quasi government agency. There has been a lot of discission here lately about the Brett Darrow who got a cop fired by recording the threats hurled at him.
Great story. Good for you!