Turning your neighbors in for excessive power use?

[miriama59]

I saw on the news that they are thinking of passing something here in Washington where you turn your neighbors in for using too much power!!!!! So if you see that your neighbor left their porch light on all day or something then you call a number and report them!!!! And you get rewarded plus are supposedly helping fight the power crunch!

I think this is obscene--pitching neighbor against neighbor!!!!!! What's next? Watching to see how many lights are on in your neighbor's house or how late they keep their lights on?

[sweetcindy]

That is awful!! I know when we had a drought here...neighbors were encouraged to call and report others using garden hoses and such...ugh...
I know there are problems with our resources but this is not the way to solve them. You can't legislate morality or common sense...

[geepie1961]

That is horrible!!

[smhop1]

Thats awful, and whats worse is that plenty of ppl will probably call in fake reports... just to prank, or revenge thier neighbors. What sorry attempt to solve the problem.

M

[bassmount]

That is the most absurd thing I have ever heard Mir. What are you supposed to turn them in because the light in their kid's room was on all night because the child is afraid of the dark? Crazy, simply Crazy! Make sure you keep us up to date on this. I'd like to know the outcome.

[hrdlife1]

i'm sure that's gonna keep a nice peaceful neighborhood

[devlina2u]

That's horrible! You are right - I have never heard anything so absurd!

[chippers21]

Scary how the government wants to legislate every problem and is now encouraging us to report on each other.....
BigBrother stuff....
sometimes you have to report things- abuse you actually see or hear (could end up with someone dead if you don't)
but using too much power? and who judges what is too much?
What a world we are creating.....
Next we will be reporting our neighbors comings and goings, excessive grilling on the back deck, getting up too early or too late, yelling at their kids, spilling gasoline when they fill the lawnmower, not being neat enough or mowing their yards quite as often as you think they should...and on and on...you get the Picture?

[dancema]

If someone is using their electricity excessively it will show up on their bill. You don't need a neighbor to tell them this. If your neighbor is watering their lawn during water bands then their lawn will be green and everyone elses will be brown. Give me a break. I used to live in a big neighborhood and people would report you for the watering thing! Needless to say we now live in a house surrounded by trees!!! People butt into eachothers business without rewarding them!

[luvs2shopalot]

America sure is not what it used to be...

[bradedit]

Hmm, what's next Patrols for excessive us of Toilet Paper!!!

[LocaChica]

Originally posted by bradedit
Hmm, what's next Patrols for excessive us of Toilet Paper!!!

Ma'am, you've exceeded your daily limit of 4 squares.

[miriama59]

Well, now I saw that they are showing on the news who has the highest power usage. This blows me away. This will supposedly shame those who use too much. But I think that they are going too far. What about a person's right to privacy? I guess that just doesn't matter anymore....

[verwon]

I must say that no, privacy doesn't seem to mean a thing anymore. We just don't have rights to it.

There was just an article in my local paper about a new PA law. If you have for any reason ever been in a hospital for treatment for any kind of mental illness, the hospital has to report your name to the state police. This name goes into a database and you are no longer allowed to purchase a gun for any reason.

It doesn't matter if you weren't suicidal or have never committed a violent crime. If you were in the hospital, even if you checked in willingly to get help than you are punished for it.

Now forgive me, but my husband just likes guns. He doesn't hunt or anything he just likes them for target practice and what have you. Now he can never buy another because he checked into the hospital in July to get help for a week for his chronic depression.

This is totally ridiculous. I could understand if the person was violent, but what about the woman who was in there because she suffered post natal depression?? She may never suffer a problem again, she just needed help that once and if she ever wants to buy a gun for protection or a gift for her father who may be a hunter she is going to find out she can't.

There was a woman once who was in because they found her beat up and because of severe blows to the head she couldn't remember what happened. Now is she really wants one for personal protection at home she won't be allowed to buy one either even though she had nothing to do with being checked into the mental unit.

We are losing more and more privacy every day. They take away more every chance they get. My husband should never have to face anyone knowing he was in the mental ward unless he wants to tell them.

What will it be next?? Will the government start tracking and reading our emails to seek our rebels and subversives online??

[bradedit]

Verwon,
I don't think this law is on the books in PA, at least the hospital where my husband works knows nothing about it and we have a large psychiatric ward here. It would be a definite breach of patient confidentiality to give that information to anyone without there written consent.

I'm not sure if this is the article that you read but it is an interesting one.
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[Edited by bradedit on 03-19-2001 at 12:37 PM]