Kingsland City Council Makes Seriously
Smart Decision, Unanimously Votes for
No Opt Out Fee for Smart Water Meters!
In
a four-to-nothing vote last night, savvy Kingsland City Council members
voted to abolish the $25 opt out fee previously in place for "smart"
water meters. Jim McClain, Grayson Day, Mike McClain, and James
Galloway made the courageous move after being informed of the dangers
presented by the radiofrequency radiation (RF) emitted by these meters
every fifteen seconds!
Why the request for the free opt out? Because RF can negatively affect human cells and DNA, children and adults alike can become sick, have memory, learning, and behavior problems, and even have leukemia, or brain or heart cancer.
I would like to thank these four City Council members for their vote to allow Kingsland citizens to choose to opt out for free from "smart" water meters. Lots of people across the world fight for this type of ruling, and we are very happy to have gotten it here!
To opt out, just click on the big, blue "W" below this article and print out the opt out form. It has instructions what to do then: "Completed forms can be dropped off at our office at 105 W. William Street, Kingsland, or faxed to 912-729-8827, or mailed to City of Kingsland, Attn: Opt-Out, P. O. Box 250, Kingsland, GA 31548. Forms can also be emailed to jopearson@kingslandgeorgia.com." If the form does not appear or you can't or don't feel like printing it out, they will provide one for you and accept it at 105 W. Williams Street, Kingsland, GA, 31548, or you can call 912-729-9456 for more information.
For other municipalities who are seeking to save themselves from "smart" meter emissions with a free opt out, we suggest meeting with your public officials in person. Show them the evidence that radiofrequency radiation can wreak havoc on the human body. We used this chart from Dr. Ronald Powell: Biological Effects Chart, and showed the RF that can be emitted from a cell phone using a radiofrequency radiation analyzer. We also shared the brochures and warning cards on this page: StopSmartsMeters dot org store, and talked about the ALARA, or "As Low As Reasonably Achievable" principle. The Centers for Disease Control says about ALARA: "This principle means that even if it is a small dose, if receiving that dose has no direct benefit, you should try to avoid it [CDC link to ALARA info]."
Because our city already had a company that was providing "smart" meters and had safety claims, we showed our officials, on the chart created by Dr. Ronald M. Powell, Ph. D., that's mentioned above, that the amount of RF that these meters were emitting was capable of causing harm to children and adults. We also used this conversion chart to show how microwatts per meter squared, which our RF analyzer used, and microwatts per centimeter squared, which the meter manufacturing company used in their brochures, were related (a minor math ma tt er ): Microwatts Conversion Chart.
Probably the most convincing part of the presentations we made was showing, via recorded video, the emissions that came out of some already-installed "smart" water meters. The levels at which the company claimed their meters emitted this radiation could result in the following dangers, according to scientific research included on the chart: cause heart palpitations and insomnia, damage DNA, have reproductive and fertility effects, disrupt immune function, and cause heart and brain tumors/cancer, among other effects.
We talked with neighbors and were lucky enough, thank God, to get one that wrote a letter to the mayor, saying the radiation would endanger her kids and she didn't think she should have to pay to escape it! We gave the letter to the Mayor at our personal meeting, and distributed a copy of the letter to each council member at the meeting where the opt out vote took place.
Why the request for the free opt out? Because RF can negatively affect human cells and DNA, children and adults alike can become sick, have memory, learning, and behavior problems, and even have leukemia, or brain or heart cancer.
I would like to thank these four City Council members for their vote to allow Kingsland citizens to choose to opt out for free from "smart" water meters. Lots of people across the world fight for this type of ruling, and we are very happy to have gotten it here!
To opt out, just click on the big, blue "W" below this article and print out the opt out form. It has instructions what to do then: "Completed forms can be dropped off at our office at 105 W. William Street, Kingsland, or faxed to 912-729-8827, or mailed to City of Kingsland, Attn: Opt-Out, P. O. Box 250, Kingsland, GA 31548. Forms can also be emailed to jopearson@kingslandgeorgia.com." If the form does not appear or you can't or don't feel like printing it out, they will provide one for you and accept it at 105 W. Williams Street, Kingsland, GA, 31548, or you can call 912-729-9456 for more information.
For other municipalities who are seeking to save themselves from "smart" meter emissions with a free opt out, we suggest meeting with your public officials in person. Show them the evidence that radiofrequency radiation can wreak havoc on the human body. We used this chart from Dr. Ronald Powell: Biological Effects Chart, and showed the RF that can be emitted from a cell phone using a radiofrequency radiation analyzer. We also shared the brochures and warning cards on this page: StopSmartsMeters dot org store, and talked about the ALARA, or "As Low As Reasonably Achievable" principle. The Centers for Disease Control says about ALARA: "This principle means that even if it is a small dose, if receiving that dose has no direct benefit, you should try to avoid it [CDC link to ALARA info]."
Because our city already had a company that was providing "smart" meters and had safety claims, we showed our officials, on the chart created by Dr. Ronald M. Powell, Ph. D., that's mentioned above, that the amount of RF that these meters were emitting was capable of causing harm to children and adults. We also used this conversion chart to show how microwatts per meter squared, which our RF analyzer used, and microwatts per centimeter squared, which the meter manufacturing company used in their brochures, were related (a minor math ma
Probably the most convincing part of the presentations we made was showing, via recorded video, the emissions that came out of some already-installed "smart" water meters. The levels at which the company claimed their meters emitted this radiation could result in the following dangers, according to scientific research included on the chart: cause heart palpitations and insomnia, damage DNA, have reproductive and fertility effects, disrupt immune function, and cause heart and brain tumors/cancer, among other effects.
We talked with neighbors and were lucky enough, thank God, to get one that wrote a letter to the mayor, saying the radiation would endanger her kids and she didn't think she should have to pay to escape it! We gave the letter to the Mayor at our personal meeting, and distributed a copy of the letter to each council member at the meeting where the opt out vote took place.
Some
other documents we took to our personal meetings with city officials
included: a sheet that talked about the World Health Organization
making radiofrequency radiation a Class 2B carcinogen (which we put
together from information he re : Stopsmartmeters dot org WHO article) ,
and a printed-out couple of pages from EMFscientist.org showing their
international appeal for "protection from non-ionizing field exposure
[we trimmed it a little to make it fit on two pa ge s: 237 Scientists from 41 Countries Ask for RF Intervention] . We also took the chart from the bottom of this Prevention article entitled "Is Dirty Electricity Making You Sick [Spoiler: It could be - link here]? "
and a letter from the the Environmental Protection Agency stating that
neither they nor the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) cover
non-thermal radiation - the kind that harms your kids, grandkids, and
you - in their regulations. Now, this letter was from 2002, but that
has not changed in the years since they first made the regulations!
Here is a link to the letter. It's in a PDF which can be printed out: Shocking Admission from EPA about Radiation Risk! We downloaded the PDF, to get it to an 8 & 1/2 x 11 size.
Last, but not least, there was a fact sheet that brought everything together as far as why there should be a free opt out in our town. I'm going to put that below. Please feel free to use any and all of these materials to go for the gold and get your own free opt out for your town, state, or other municipality! I'm also posting, below the fact sheet, the two presentations we made to the city council on the night of the free opt out vote.
It seems like a lot of items, but we got better at the presentation with practice, and the whole thing took about a half hour by the time we got to meeting with the mayor. :-)
Best wishes going forward, and please feel free to contact Stop Smart Meters Georgia with any questions. You can also find us at Stop Smart Meters Georgia Facebook, and, also on Facebook, Smart Meters Are Dangerous (SMAD)! Our email address is info@stopsmartmetersGeorgia.Org.
Last, but not least, there was a fact sheet that brought everything together as far as why there should be a free opt out in our town. I'm going to put that below. Please feel free to use any and all of these materials to go for the gold and get your own free opt out for your town, state, or other municipality! I'm also posting, below the fact sheet, the two presentations we made to the city council on the night of the free opt out vote.
It seems like a lot of items, but we got better at the presentation with practice, and the whole thing took about a half hour by the time we got to meeting with the mayor. :-)
Best wishes going forward, and please feel free to contact Stop Smart Meters Georgia with any questions. You can also find us at Stop Smart Meters Georgia Facebook, and, also on Facebook, Smart Meters Are Dangerous (SMAD)! Our email address is info@stopsmartmetersGeorgia.Org.
Fact sheet, "Why Should There Be a Free Opt Out Fee for Smart Water Meters?"
The smart water meters provided by Neptune emit high levels of radiofrequency radiation (RF) every 15 seconds or so, radiation that has been shown by many research studies to damage DNA, disrupt immune function, cause heart and brain tumors, and other negative health effects. Children are especially susceptible. Some believe repeated exposure to RF can cause sensitivity to it, thus starting a vicious cycle that makes it difficult for people to be around any technology that emits it.
The smart water meters provided by Neptune emit high levels of radiofrequency radiation (RF) every 15 seconds or so, radiation that has been shown by many research studies to damage DNA, disrupt immune function, cause heart and brain tumors, and other negative health effects. Children are especially susceptible. Some believe repeated exposure to RF can cause sensitivity to it, thus starting a vicious cycle that makes it difficult for people to be around any technology that emits it.
Neptune
advised the City of Kingsland that these meters are safe. But they
based that on faulty information. Based on unbiased scientific research
on RF, they are not. They emit radiation at levels up to eighteen hundred times higher than
some suggested limits. And the fact that these water meters pulse
radiation makes it worse, because the body doesn't have a chance to get
used to it.
FCC/EPA
guidelines do not cover non-thermal radiation damage, the kind caused
by RF emitted by these meters. Their guidelines only address damage
caused by actual heating of human tissue.
Neptune
also advised the City of Kingsland to charge a fee to opt out. This was
very bad advice. A large proportion of our population here in Kingsland
won't be able to afford a $25.00 a month opt out fee. That makes it
discriminatory.
If
one is forced to sign a contract to escape harm, that goes against the
principle of right of contract, which says there can be no coercion to
sign a contract. The World Health Organization has classified RF as a
Class 2B carcinogen, and people should be able to escape it at no
charge.
The $25.00 opt out fee is not for reading the water meter, as the charge for reading the meter was already in the bill we got every month, and citizens will continue to
pay that, or get their water cut off. The City of Kingsland has charged
its customers, for many years, for the resources the City utilizes to
read water meters. As with the electric company, there is not a separate
charge to read the meters, but customers, obviously, pay to have their
meters read. The $25.00 opt out fee would be in addition to the
charge that previously included reading the meter. People who opt out
and are forced to pay $25 will be paying what they previously paid to
have their meter read, plus the $25 charge, which will be tantamount to
double-dipping.
Other
communities, even states, have free opt outs, including Los Angeles and
Arizona. In Michigan, during a hearing for a free opt out bill
concerning smart meters, Richard Mettzer, Ph. D., said opt out fees are
punitive, and designed to discourage people from opting out at all. The
14th Amendment of the Constitution addresses the "peaceful enjoyment of
private property," and that is not possible if one cannot choose freely
to not have radiation pulsing across the lawn every 15 seconds.
The
vision of the Council is to enhance the quality of life, and have a
commitment to family. This can be accomplished, in part, by making the
smart water meter opt out free.
Dear
Mayor Smith, given all the foregoing information, we would appreciate
your help in getting a free or close to free opt out for smart water
meters passed by the Kingsland City Council. The good people of the City
of Kingsland deserve fairness from this beautiful place they've chosen
to live, and for good reason. Thank you very much for your kind
attention to this "meter matter" - we appreciate your time and efforts
for our great City over the years!
************************
Final council presentations
First presentation:
First presentation:
First
of all, I'd like to thank you for letting me speak before you, &
say that we really love living in Kingsland. It's a great city, & you all
help make it this way. Today I'm here to ask for your help in getting a
free opt out for smart water meters. It was in the interests of saving
the citizens of Kingsland money that you installed these modern meters.
Unfortunately, scientists are finding out that the type of radiation
these meters emit thousands of times a day can be hazardous to our
health. The companies that sell smart meters assure us that they're
safe, but that is just not the case, & that's the main reason we're
asking for this free opt out.
The
World Health Organization classifies RF, aka "radiofrequency
radiation," the kind emitted by smart meters, as a Class 2B carcinogen.
This is the same class that lead paint and asbestos are in, both of
which we all know snuck into our society under the guise of safety and
convenience, but now have to be "led" out using costly and complicated
biohazard techniques. We've shared with you this "Reported Biological
Effects from RF Radiation" chart (hold up). It shows dozens of research
studies, &, according to Cindy Sage, an expert in the field, there
are "thousands of studies in the last four decades have found that EMF
exposure can create negative health effects in almost all of the systems
of the body." These effects include ringing in the ears, heart
palpitations, DNA damage, sleep & immune disruption, blood pressure
problems, & cancer of the brain & heart.
Btw,
though the companies that manufacture these meters assure their
customers that they are not harmful, the information they rely on is NOT
accurate. They look to the Federal Communications Commission and the
Environment Protection Agency, the FCC & the EPA, to supply accurate
safety information. Unfortunately, & please remember this during
your deliberations, the EPA itself says that their current guidelines,
which haven't changed since 1996, DO NOT APPLY TO CHRONIC, NONTHERMAL
RADIATION SITUATIONS, which is what you have with a smart water meter.
(Hold up EPA letter.) You heard that right. The governmental
departments that smart water meter manufactureres rely on to tell you
whether the meters are safe for your family do not address the radiation
that is emitted from their meters! They only have guidelines that address their HEAT, and whether or not the meters will burn you. That's like regulating whether or not someone can beat you to death with a gun, but not whether or not they can shoot you through the brain or heart!
We
think the citizens of Kingsland should not have to pay to avoid these
dangers from a gadget that's supposed to be helping them. The radiation
is beamed in every direction, & can reach at least thirty feet, if not farther. Please let your water customers opt out of this dangerous situation without having to pay a fee.
Here's
a 2nd reason to do that. The opt out fee of $25 per month, which would
have personally cost us over $7000 dollars if it was in place since we
moved here, is billed as a charge for having the meter read by a person
driving around in a truck. The fact is, we were already paying for that
person in that truck to read the meter. Yes, it was not a line item on a
bill, but, just like the electric company, water departments don't
usually separate out reading the meter as a line item charge. It is
included with everything else, including gallons used & water
treatment. Saying that we're not paying to have the meter read already
is like saying, when you buy some fried chicken that you're not paying
to have it fried. The opt out fee is EXTRA, like someone waiting for you
as you go to walk out the door, after you've paid for the fried
chicken, asking for more money for cooking the chicken because "that
wasn't included in your bill"!
There
have been several amounts bandied about for the new smart water meter
opt out, including zero dollars, one dollar, and five dollars. We would
like to ask, again, that the opt out be free. We have seen that the $25 a
month fee that is on the books now is not for reading the meter, so that is not a fair amount. If the fee is for
reading the meter, and we were already paying for that, then the fee
should be zero, in our opinion. Plus, many in Kingsland could not afford
even a five dollar opt out fee. They are having trouble paying their
bills as it is. So, please, vote for an opt out fee that is totally
free. This will follow the Council's own vision of enhancing the quality
of life for Kingsland residents, & the Council's proven commitment
to family. Thank you.
Second presentation:
We
had a lot of places to choose from when moving here, and very
deliberately chose Kingsland for its many positive characteristics,
including friendly people, beauty, and location. We also appreciate the
caring responses of those who run this great city to our concerns.
As
you heard, one of our biggest concerns is the radiation being emitted
from the new smart meters. Your hearts were in the right place in
ordering these meters - you were trying to save us money. There are over
70 million of them installed in the United States. But, as with many
other inventions throughout history, and through no fault of your own,
these gadgets have issues. In short, it's been shown that smart meter
emissions, called radiofrequency radiation, or RF, which make it
possible for them to be read from a distance, can be very harmful for
people, and especially for kids, and that's what I'll talk about today.
One
reason RF is more harmful to kids is that they are in a developmental
stage. Their relative size is obviously smaller than that of an adult.
And they are going to be playing around
radiation-emitting meters, since these water meters are in or next to
yards, and, as of yet, have no warning signs on them. Shockingly, the
meters are shooting out dangerous amounts of RF every fifteen seconds or
so, and that is just not something parents who have been informed about
these dangers want near their kids. This is why we want a free opt out,
for the protection of human health.
Please
allow me to read a letter from one of my neighbors addressing these
concerns. I've provided you a copy: This Kingsland mom says "I do not
believe that individuals should have to pay an opt-out fee for smart
water meters. They emit radiation many times per day, and this is unsafe
for the myriad children roaming around our home. Additionally, we were
already paying to have the meter read, so why the added expense?"
I
measured the radiofrequency radiation emanating from smart water meters
and have seen readings at very high levels, which I've shared with you
in person. Here is a quick demonstration of the machine we used to read
the meters, for those who haven't see it. The noise you'll hear is an
indication of RF coming from a cell phone. (Demonstrate analyzer.) Cell
phones emit the same radiation as smart meters, and, as you know, we've
been hearing more and more warnings about cell phones in the news:
Little children, hopefully, are not carrying around cell phones, but
they are playing on and around smart water meters. We have to do all we
can to protect them from harm. Kids can absorb up to TEN TIMES more
radiation than adults, and we are responsible for making sure they have
as little exposure to RF as possible While I'm on the subject, I'll just
say please please look into hardwriting your electronic gadgets at
home, to try and reduce your kids' exposure to radiation at home to
zero.
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