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.
“wow, a bit touchy aren’t you? The answer to your question was in the “reading” material....guess it’s a comprehension issue with you instead....do you remember those books you’ve read???”
Not really, just annoyed with people who nit pick about dotting i’s and crossing t’s in a forum that is not formal. My meaning was clear and certain people decided to make snide comments instead of contributing to the discussion.
In lots of places the norm for private security is an "off-duty" LEO ,and his powers of arrest and ability to call in on-duty backup are seen as a big plus.In some cases,it is a real sweetheart deal as the case of a power plant ,which construction security was "off-duty" deputies using county cars and equipment.The deputies made a very tidy sum and private security firms were apparently not invited. Once construction was completed a private firm got the normal plant security contract. In certain parts of Ohio,sporting events are apparently the exclusive territory of "off-duty" LEOs.Again those hiring them either see the police powers as a plus or have little choice.
Do you guys know what's involved in a strip search? Unless there is at least a tiny reason to suspect that someone may be 'harboring' a weapon or drugs in their body cavities, they should not be strip searched. I highly doubt they had any reason to suspect this woman of hiding drugs or weapons inside her body cavities...the law need changing.
Ask yourself, honestly, what a strip search would do to you - or your mother or, as it looks in this case, a grandmother.
I'm sure they did. And I'm sure she has every legal right to speak to them and ask questions.
What's the worst case here? She had a hemorrhoid flare and treated them to a choice word or two?
I value property rights also. I also feel that some uses of eminent domain are legitimate. Utilities are vitally important. Life as we know it will cease with out electricity, it is as necessary as food and water.
Being a retired EE, having seen both 230kV and 365kV lines go up across the range here in Nevada, and seeing how much disturbance there is to the ground around the towers, she was probably saying things like:
“Why are you making such a mess? The easement said you would take a strip only ‘X’ wide, but this mess is a lot wider than that! When are you going to pay for this? Who is the supervisor? You don’t get to complete this until you pay for the land you’ve messed up that you didn’t specify in the easement settlement.”
If her story is as reported, the deputy may well be guilty of oppression under color of law.
Would a strip-search be too far regardless of the arrestee? 
“I value property rights also. I also feel that some uses of eminent domain are legitimate. Utilities are vitally important. Life as we know it will cease with out electricity, it is as necessary as food and water”
Yep and we should allow the utilities to put their towers anyplace they wish right.
/sarc
My principles are negotiable. ;-)
ping
I am sure there are places where official permission to live in your own home is not granted without such hookup.
And we won’t have food or water with out electricity.
No, she (and her husband) should be suing the Georgia Transmission Corp. They are the proximate cause of any complaint that led to the arrest of a private citizen on her own property. The sheriff’s department would not have been involved in this situation if not for the actions of the GTC.
The Sheriff’s department was responding to a request (whether or not is was factual or substantiated) of the GTC. They didn’t show up out of the blue.
Now, the charge of “disorderly conduct” - on your own property - is absolutely bogus, and that should cost the deputy and the sheriff their jobs.
I think we’ve gotten a bit off topic. The topic is whether granny should have been arrested and whether she would have been arrested had the deputy not been moonlighting with the power company.
Most likely in most municipalities you won’t get an “Occupancy Permit” for a new structure without electricity.
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