Page 6 - the NOISE July 2013

NEwSbriefs
Smart meter Opt-Out findS mOvement in SedOna gOvernment
By Cindy COle
cindycole@live.com
On June 19, 2013 the Sedona City Coun- cil voted 4-3 in favor of sending a letter to the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) asking it to allow all citizens of Sedona to opt out of Arizona Public Service’s Smart Meter installation without penalty. This act makes Sedona the first Arizona city to join those in other parts of the country who are standing up against the implementation of wireless meters.
The City Council held a Special Meeting to address concerns expressed by Sedona area residents about the safety of Smart Me- ters and the possibility that APS will impose fees for those who refuse installation at their home or business.
A panel of APS employees made state- ments before the Council and more than 50 members of the public who turned out for the meeting. Damon Gross, a Corporate Communications representative for APS, gave a presentation on the benefits of “Auto- mated Meters,” the new name they have ad- opted for Smart Meters, that was not unlike much of the propaganda that can be found on the APS website or in literature they have distributed to the public. Mr. Gross was ac- companied by Neil Brown and Tyler Wal- lace for support on technical issues.
The APS presentation was followed by one by Sedona Smart Meter Awareness rep- resented by Warren Woodward, Monnie Ramsell, and Nancy Baer, all concerned residents of the city.
While it was clear that the councilors dis- agreed somewhat on whether they believed there are health, security, and safety issues associated with the installation of Smart Me- ters, they seemed united in their belief that the opt out fee requests by APS are excessive. APS has asked the ACC to allow it to charge those who wish to opt out of Smart Meters a $75 initial fee followed by $30 a month.
The council chamber was standing room only. Due to time constraints, only 10 mem- bers of the pubic were allowed to comment. All who spoke did so against Smart Meter installation and in favor of fee free opt outs.
Finally, Councilor Barbara Litrell intro- duced a motion which was immediately sec- onded by Councilor Dan McIlroy (who nar- rowly beat Mayor Rob Adams and Councilor Mike Ward to the punch) to: “...direct staff to prepare a statement for the Arizona Corpo- ration Commission that expresses concerns,
on behalf of our Sedona citizens, that Smart Meters have not been proven safe and until such time as definitive proof exists the Ari- zona Corporation Commission should allow the Sedona community to opt out without penalties.”
Voting in favor were Councilors Litrell, Ward, and McIlroy, and Mayor Adams. Nay votes were Vice Mayor Mark DiNunzio, and Councilors John Martinez and Jessica Wil- liamson. The passage of the motion was met with a swell of cheers and applause from the crowd.
It remains to be seen what effect the letter will have once it is sent. Early on in the pro- ceedings, City Attorney Michael Goimarac indicated that the city would need to file a formal motion to officially intervene in the ACC’s formation of an opt out plan which would be expensive and time consuming.
Banning ChemtrailS City By City?
By Cindy COle
cindycole@live.com
More than 100 people gathered at the Sedona Public Library on May 18, 2013 to hear a panel of speakers at a forum entitled
“Chemtrails: Policy, Hazards and Pro-action Protection.” Local groups represented in- cluded Northern Arizona Skywatch and Se- dona Skywatch. Nicolas Guillermo from Ac- tivism Truth, a subsidiary of Liberty Economy LLC (LibertyEconomy.org) also spoke at the event.
The concept of chemtrails refers to the wispy white lines that persist in the sky long after the airplane that left them has gone. Many insist these lines are simply con- trails. “Contrail” is a contraction of the words condensation and trail. One by-product of the combustion of jet fuel is water vapor. When an airplane flies through the right atmospheric conditions, this water vapor condenses and forms an artificial cloud that trails behind the plane. If the air is already saturated with moisture, the contrails may be “persistent” in that they can stay visible for many hours. Winds in the upper atmosphere may also cause the contrails to spread and create cloud cover. This is the standard ex- planation given for those white stripes in the sky. It’s likened to the way your warm breath creates a cloud in cold weather when you speak.
However, citizens worldwide have come to believe there is more to these white lines than just condensed water vapor. Many in- sist that aircraft are deliberately spraying
harmful chemicals into the sky. Explanations include geoengineering, weather manipula- tion, genetic food modification, population control, and military security.
At a minimum even the National Aero- nautics & Space Administration (NASA) has admitted that clouds formed by these vapor trails are affecting our weather patterns. A press release published by NASA in 2007 states that “scientists have found that cirrus clouds, formed by contrails from aircraft en- gine exhaust, are capable of increasing aver- age surface temperatures enough to account for a warming trend in the United States that occurred between 1975 and 1994.” These ar- tificial clouds reflect less sunlight from above than the heat they trap below therefore rais- ing the surface temperature.
A quick Internet search for “chemtrails” pro- duces more than 8.3 million results. Multiple aspects of the issue are addressed and pho- tographs of chemical spraying equipment on aircraft and airplanes releasing sprays from wing affixed nozzles can be viewed. Evidence presented that supports the harm- ful aspects of chemtrails is often dismissed as conspiracy theory. But the wealth of infor- mation indicates otherwise.
The conflicts these varying views create is evident both locally and globally. In 2011, the Sedona City Council held a special ses- sion to address chemtrails. Councilor Bar- bara Litrell said during the meeting that
“When you see it going from the US to China, you have to say, ‘What’s going on?’” Former Councilor Dan Raynor dismissed the issue stating that “The Internet is contributing to the mass hysteria.”
So what’s a city to do? Mr. Guillermo at- tended the meeting not only to help raise awareness on chemtrails but also to offer so- lutions. Rather than sit idly by and accept of- ficial assurances that chemtrails do not exist, Mr. Guillermo suggests that citizens around the country can take the law into their own hands through the Ballot Initiative process.
“The representative form of government is broken,” he said. Mr. Guillermo has been an environmental activist for more than 11 years. He had done fundraising on clean wa- ter and consumer protection issues before he became aware of and involved in promot- ing the Ballot Initiative process.
Mr. Guillermo said he was initially con- tacted by a Sedona resident whose wife had been suffering from extreme adrenal fatigue and, when tested, was found to have high levels of barium and aluminum in her system. These chemicals are found in pat- ents for aerosol sprays held by the federal government and are hallmarks of chemtrail contamination.
“My mission with the meeting was to ex- plain to people that we should have at least the right to know,” Mr. Guillermo said. While working on GMO concerns, Mr. Guillermo found that, due to “corporate personhood” and the “commerce clause,” citizens have lost this right on key issues. “Corporations can claim discrimination,” he said, if they are singled out in association with these matters.
“I did some research and found there is a company in Pima County ... called Ever- green that is actually involved in creating the spray. So I figured if we can make a petition for the right to know on GMOs, we can also make a petition for the right to know what this corporation is putting into the spray they are making.”
While Mr. Guillermo was glad other panel- ists were discussing various aspects of the chemtrails issue, “I feel it is more important for people to learn about the Ballot Initiative process,”he said. “This is the way citizens can reclaim our rights on the local and state lev- els and actually create our own laws through a direct democracy process. Once people understand this, then issues like GMOs, Smart Meters, chemtrails ... could all be ad- dressed through this process.”
Mr. Guillermo is creating a website at Ac- tivismTruth.com where he will provide a forum for Arizona residents to connect and communicate about important issues. “The idea is to focus on legislation,” he said. “To bring all the groups together across the state of Arizona that are fighting different com- monsense issues like corruption in govern- ment, environmental issues, and any other kind of social or civil justice issues that need to be addressed.” Through his website, con- cerned citizens will be able to coordinate their efforts across cities, counties, and the state. “The goal is to bring together a critical mass that is made up of individuals from a whole range of areas and organizations.”
Through these coordinated efforts, Mr. Guillermo feels that Arizonans will be able to get important issues onto ballots around the state. “The goal,” he said, “is that by the 2014 election, we will have decided what the best legislation to put on the ballot is.”
The City of Sedona follows state guidelines for creating Ballot Initiatives. For Sedona, 953 petition signatures would be required. The City Clerk’s office also said that the initia- tive would have to apply to a legislative act, not an administrative one, and it would have to be something under the city’s jurisdiction.
Mr. Guillermo hopes that the May 18 meeting in Sedona was just the beginning to getting Sedona’s citizenry involved in cre- ating Ballot Initiatives and taking democracy back into our own hands.
6 • JULY 2013 • the NOISE arts & news • thenoise.us