Police, gas utility workers entering RI homes to shut off gas (why?)

That's why the most dangerous curves of the Capital Beltway are in the richest neighborhoods. The residents of those areas had the money to file suit after suit challenging the "straight thru" and best right-of-way. Eventually the state (or the cable company or whover) gives up.

There's a whole different, less deadly set of curves near the Mormon Temple in Kensington that are dedicated to the environmentalists that demanded changes in the right of way so as not to disturb the various creeks that flow across the right-of-way. IIRC, Sligo and Rock Creek were the number one and two concerns.

AFAIK, the Mormons had nothing to do with the alignment, although they set their temple at the head of one of the existing bends so that you can see it for miles and miles away. It's really quite a breathtaking site, as anyone who's traveled that section of I-95/495 can attest to. Sadly, the gawking seems to produce a higher than normal number of accidents in that stretch of road but I don't think anyone has the stats to prove why. The area is still mostly parkland and the Temple is the only tall structure visible. That's quite a feat in this heavily developed metro area. One downside for them is that with its gold leaf covered spiretops and statue of the Prophet Moroni, is that it attracts lightning like nobody's business. They have to regild the lightning damage several times a year because even with an impressive arrestor system, the air-to-metal transfer points burn, melt and vaporize depending on the power of the bolt.

-- Bobby G.

Reply to
Robert Green
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In suburban Maryland, near Annapolis/Naval Academy they were putting both meters inside new homes as late as 1974. My mom hated it as she should. There's been more than one serial killer that's posed as a meter man.

Law enforcement agents have also posed at meter readers to gain entrance to plant bugs, etc. I don't recall where I read it but the FBI field offices in most major cities have fake taxis, utilility trucks, mail trucks and other assorted vehicles they use for surveillance and other covert operations. Yep, the bottom line is "put the meter outside if you're worried about entry."

Now that various utilities hire lowest-bid contractors to do work in people's homes, there's probably more reason than ever before to be concerned about who comes in. Are they casing the joint? One cable jockey in this area was arrested for asking to use the homeowner's bathroom and then rifling quickly through their medicine cabinets looking for pain pills. My wife absolutely hated to be home alone with some of the goons sent out by the various utilities, especially by one cable company I won't name but that sorta rhymes with dumb-assed.

Most were nice and competent but more than one creeped her out. I'm pretty sure that being able to do a lot of our own plumbing, electrical and general repair work was a factor in her deciding to marry me, aside from my stunning good looks. (-: I often remind her when I fix something of its street value although when I do, she reminds me at bedtime of the street value of her services and tells me "that leaves you owing $400 if you want to get lucky." (-;

-- Bobby G.

Reply to
Robert Green

Same here. That was way, way back then when I often didn't have enough money to pay the gas bill on time. I had just bought my first house and was "house poor." I was shut off for non-payment and they had to do the inspection routine where they discovered the previous owner had connected the gas dryer improperly and I got shut off AGAIN! I've kept an overpayment going with the gas company ever since.

-- Bobby G.

Reply to
Robert Green

He would also make sure that each homeowner got a small "Why America Sucks" message printed on every bill.

All joking aside, they have to inspect carefully if contaminants entered the system because any number of dangerous conditions could be created depending on the nature of the contaminants. A while back I recall the EPA finding high levels of PCB's in natural gas being used in the midwest. While not a concern for furnaces and water heaters, the waste products from contaminated gas burned in gas ovens and stoves is directly inhaled. There was a big stink a while back about sulfur compounds in natural gas that became corrosive when burned and was damaging gas appliances.

-- Bobby G.

Reply to
Robert Green

Wouldn't make any difference to this type of entry. They could shut off the valve but would still need to enter the building to (1). air it out so it wouldn't explode (2). search for people in the building overcome by the fumes.

Reply to
Kurt Ullman

The Third Amendment does not apply to the states, only the federal government (also the part about "excessive bail" in the 8th Amendment).

Yep. Every state has a statutory provision giving the governor extreme powers in a declared emergency. These powers can, and often do, include mandatory evacuation, stopping the sale of certain things like alcohol, guns, or ammunition, and more.

Reply to
HeyBub

Be interesting to see if that interpretation survives contact with the

14th amendment.
Reply to
Kurt Ullman

I do a bit of consulting from time to time and have told people who are about to build or remodel for a new restaurant to have their mechanical contractor install a Y strainer on their incoming gas line. The gas company around here is really very good but I've repaired commercial gas equipment where I had to remove the gas valve and dump out what looked like the contents of an ash tray because it clogged the screen on the input of the gas valve. Whenever I've installed NG powered generators, I always install a Y strainer on the incoming gas line. Most folks have no idea what could be lurking in old gas mains. ^_^

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TDD

Reply to
The Daring Dufas

Then all you have to worry about is the heat signature and/or electric bill for the grow lights (g).

Reply to
Kurt Ullman

I am personally aware that the police stood outside, I have family that lives in the area affected and had to sit around and wait because neither of them could take a whole day off work to wait themselves for their turn to have everything checked out and turned back on... I watched the two police officers escorting the two gas company trucks and a locksmith work van take turns one standing outside and one sitting in the cruiser as the gas company workers went from house to house down the block...

You wouldn't know that or be able to see such things all the way from Canada, and it was rather plain and boring to make the news as all the camera crews seemed to like setting up next to the backhoe that was digging on the main street to replace a valve that wouldn't open up again after it was closed as that was more exciting than watching the minions go about repetitive tasks, but then again you leap to quite a lot of conclusions most of the time...

Reply to
Evan

Ah,. but if you take out your furnace and switch to electric heat, your electric bill will rise and your heat signature will change, but not enough to detect grow lights if you set them up correctly. The lights would provide heat for the house as well as light for the plants. I wouldn't expect a judge to sign a search warrant based on nothing more than a bump in the bill or a heat signature that suggests grow lites but I am sure stranger things have happened.

-- Bobby G.

Reply to
Robert Green

You haven't worked the police beat in a while. High bills can be used to obtained search warrants, especially if they spike. AT one time the cops could get warrants based on heat signatures and were flying around planes with IR recordings. I have lost track of whether that has fallen out of favor.

Reply to
Kurt Ullman

Of course he is. Like all leftists, he has to lie to make his point.

Reply to
krw

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