Posted on 09/20/2007 4:29:27 PM PDT by decimon
BARROW COUNTY, Ga. -- A Barrow County woman says an off-duty deputy handcuffed and had her strip-searched because of a simple dispute over a power line.
“My life has never been the same since. I’m having a very hard time with it,” said Sue Worley.
A farm in Hoschton in Barrow County has been home to 60-year-old Worley all her life.
Late last year, a letter from the Georgia Transmission Corporation told her a 230 Kilovolt power line was going to go through her property. When surveyors showed up, Worley said she went down the road to talk. She said she didn’t threaten anyone, but the Barrow County deputy working with the surveyors didn’t see it that way -- the deputy called for backup.
“I saw two sheriff’s cars drive up,” said Worley. She was handcuffed, arrested and charged with disorderly conduct.
“I was in the car and I went all the way to the jail handcuffed,” she said. Worley was booked into the jail, patted down and strip searched.
“She sprayed me down with lice spray. It was so humiliating,” Worley said. “They made a criminal out of me.”
The charges were dropped, but Worley and her lawyer are suing the Georgia Transmission Company.
“It’s just pure, old-fashioned intimidation. They want people’s land and they don’t want to pay for it,” said Worley's lawyer, Don Evans. “They’re going to set their power poles wherever they want and if anybody gives them any lip, they’ll put you in jail.”
She and her lawyer said they’re suing, not just for her, but for other Georgians facing the threat of eminent domain and what they see as loss of property rights.
“I just don’t see how this could happen in a land of freedom, but we don’t have freedom anymore because people can just do anything they want to,” said Worley.
Project H.O.P.E. -- Homeowners Opposing Power Line Encroachment -- said Worley's case shows the need for the governor and legislature to draw stronger citizen-friendly laws to prevent what it calls, "preferential treatment," for power companies.
A spokesperson for the Georgia Transmission Corporation told Channel 2 they had hired a deputy because they'd had some subtle threats from other residents in the area.
Right now, it looks like the power line will go up either late next year or in early 2009.
Well, we’re talking about expanding transmission capabilities I guess.
The lifetime depends on who made it. Some of the original Jacobs machines are still in use today. Joeseph and Marcellus Jacobs were ranchers in Montana in the 1920’s and 30’s and developed a very reliable and cost-effective wind generator that powered many remote farms and ranches into the 1980’s, when the REA made great pains to make electrical service dirt-cheap for even some of the most remote customers.
Some of the older Jacobs machines are still sought by modern-day folks seeking to put up a home-scale wind generator for the quality of their construction.
Well made in the 20’s and 30’s, I would imagine that would be a simple and rugged design with GE generators mounted and ground level and easily serviceable.
The problem I see with the modern wind turbines is that the generators are mast mounted, gear driven and solid state regulated.
All of that means complexity that your average farmer (or anybody with out an EE degree) may have trouble maintaining on their own. The thing that someone buying these things needs to remember is that in 10 or 15 years none of the parts for these things will be available. If your voltage regulator fails or a gear in the transmission wears out they will most likely be obsolete and unavailable. Replacement parts available may be incompatible with the other parts of your machine.
And most likely those older windmill generators were most likely not mounted at the heights that the modern wind turbine are. How many of the old farmers would be climbing to 200 or more feet that the modern wind turbines are mounted today to change generator brushes.
My grandparents were farmers and would rarely ever take a machine out for repair. Almost everything on a modern wind turbine needs a professional technician to service it.
I'll have more to say on this sensitive subject when all my Texas property has been sold.
The new lines may be for backup and for future growth. The lesson from the big blackout a few years ago is that the system needs upgrading.
Gee, thanks LV. This article makes me feel a lot better.
Remember when your Mom used to tell you to always wear clean underwear in case you were in a car wreck? Well, I think that rule applies here.
LOL, yes subsidence rules! About the California reference, lets hope not. Sadly though, folks are making some of the same mistake this state has, so that looks quite possible at this point.
Probably, “no” or “your not putting anything on my property”.
Another Barny Fife-wannabe. The south has 10,000 of them. Every year....300 of them get fired, and move to another state.
LOL! I knew you would appreciate this one ;o)
This is not a kook she is an America- Video
http://www.wsbtv.com/video/14162266/index.html
People who don’t want power lines are depriving OTHER people of electricity. Why shouldn’t they share the misery?
BTW, I have worked in Civil Engineering for 40 years and EVERY eminent domain case I have been involved in has paid full market value OR MORE. Any implication in the story that the land was being taken without compensation is bullsh*t.
They want people’s land and they don’t want to pay for it
***Sums it up.
FROM THE ARTICLE
A spokesperson for the Georgia Transmission Corporation told Channel 2 they had hired a deputy because they'd had some subtle threats from other residents in the area.
She may not of said anything to warrant the escalated response. The hired deputy may have been over-reacting due to "subtle threats" made by others.
I believe it's the only reason they fight homeowner power. This is also the reason why you almost never see positive stories about home solar and wind power and always see pie-in-the-sky stuff about huge windmill farms and gigantic space-based solar arrays.
“Security bureaucrat” works for me.
Sure, but they have three stripes on their sleeves.
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