Just Say No to Big Brother’s Smart Meters by Orlean Koehle
morning of the rally. We were all there in front of where the trucks were parked at 7:00 a.m. There were only 12 of us, but we held the trucks off from leaving for 4 hours until 12:00. We felt that saved a few houses from being deployed. Deborah and a few others had the chance to talk to the manager for about 30 minutes and explained our concerns and give him some literature. He actually listened and was amiable.
Very Shocking Comments from the Wife of One of the Workers: A lady pulled up in a car with another man and a small child in the back seat. The lady and the man were both shouting at us telling us to leave, that they had called the police and we would be arrested. We told them, “Good. We are glad that the police are coming. We are not doing anything illegal. We are standing on the sidewalk which is public property, and we are allowed to do that. This is a freedom of speech rally.” The lady started screaming at us and even crying. She said, “You are stopping my husband from being able to do his job and we need the money. He was out of a job for a long time and now that he has one, you won’t let him work.” “Look, you are nothing but a bunch of old people who are retired and don’t need jobs.” One of our group, a young 29-year old man named Brian, asked her, “Doesn’t it bother you that your husband is working at a job that is harming people, including little children?”
She at first
said that was not true, but when we gave her much evidence that it is hurting people, she said, “I don’t care, at least he has a job.” Brian asked her, “What if we were back in Nazi Germany and your husband had a job to pull the switch to turn on the gas to kill the Jewish people in the gas chambers. Would that not bother you? She said, “No, at least he would have a job.” We were all so shocked to hear her answer. Just to be sure, Brian asked the question again. She gave the same answer, “At least he would have a job.” We finally got her to calm down and Deborah was able to give her some literature to read.
They soon left, and sure enough the police arrived. A police sergeant for Rohnert Park explained that we could not block the driveway, but we could stay on the sidewalk. So we just walked back and forth on the sidewalk and the driveway, not really “blocking” per say, but imposing a big enough threat that no truck tried to leave. At 12:00, the police sergeant asked us all politely to leave, which everyone did. The rally generated a large front page article on Thanksgiving Day, November 24, in the Press
Democrat. This time it was much more supportive of our viewpoint and the opposition to the Smart Meters.
Personal Meeting with PG&E Representatives,
November 30, 2010, at PG&E Office, 111 Stony Point Circle, Santa Rosa, CA, While Protest Signing Went On Outside:
PG&E held two informational meetings about the Smart Meter program announced in the newspaper for any interested people the morning of November 30 and the afternoon of December 1. A group of us decided to stage a protest signing both days outside on the corner of Stony Point and Stony Point Circle where much traffic goes by. While that was going on, Deborah Tavares and I went inside to meet with PG&E officials. We met with a woman and a man named Austin, who already knew Deborah from previous meetings. We asked many questions and received some amazing answers. Here are just some of the highlights: Deborah asked what will happen to the pockets of people and entire cities and counties who are resisting the meters and have ordinances against them? We were told that for awhile they will still send out meter readers to read their meters, or they will just have to estimate what the usage was from prior years and send out a bill that way. But eventually everyone will have to have smart meters if they want to have electricity. It is a CPUC mandate. I asked, so when it is totally implemented, the only way to escape having a Smart Meter will be to get off the grid and have your own source of electricity or just not have any, is that about it? Austin said, “Yes.”
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