Judge Declares Living Off-grid Illegal


Here’s an example of your tax dollars hard at work pursuing a ‘criminal’ who has decided to live off-grid. Truth is, she’s doing nothing ethicly wrong or illegal. The city is just scared s%#&less that thousands of others will start living like her (and who can blame them for wanting to save money and live more sustainably?). I would love to see thousands of people in her city protest this unjustice by unplugging from the system.

“A Florida woman has gone head to head with a local judge who has declared her efforts to live off the grid illegal and in violation of local and international code ordinances.

Robin Speronis, a 54-year-old former real estate agent currently living in Cape Coral in a small duplex, has her own solar panels and collects rain water for her needs, She has even installed a simple outdoor shower in order to be independent from the municipal energy and water supply.

She has been fighting the city council since November when a code enforcement officer showed up at her home and tried to evict her from her own property for not using public utilities. She challenges that relying on nature for her needs is her personal choice and that it isn’t in violation of anything.

Speronis has been relying on solar power and rainwater for the past year. She uses a small camp stove to cook and propane lamps for both light and heat. She still admits to using the public sewer system for waste, but she says she has no need for other public utilities.”

Read more at Natural Society.com

More details on other sites:
YouTube
Off the Grid News
The Rundown Live.com (Animal Services started harassing her the very next day after her TV appearance and has made at least six trips to her house.)

19 thoughts on “Judge Declares Living Off-grid Illegal”

  1. It’s not just Cape Coral, but living off-grid is illegal in the entire State of Florida! The law in this state requires you to connect to municipal utilities unless you live in an area that doesn’t have any public utilities.

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  2. Oh I agree Owen. There’s MANY pockets that have to have their cuts. I get so friggin’ T’d at all this horsehockey I just want to……..now THAT would be telling too much but, you get my drift. There’s so much corruption, it makes your head spin.

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  3. Owen Geiger is smarter than all the —holes that creat laws that hurt the general public.
    They do not enforce these laws for the good of the people, but rather to protect their hilarious
    Salaries .
    A personal note: Owen Geiger is one real man who speaks for our planet. We need more men and women like mr Geiger . God bless this champion of Mother Earth .
    Raymond Galli
    Edgewater Fl.

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  4. There is one simple bottom line as I view this.

    Do the choices that this woman has made impact or endanger her neighbors or the public in any way?

    Is she polluting the neighborhood’s groundwater? NO.

    Is she polluting the air? NO.

    Are her systems interfering with anyone else’s homes? NO.

    Is her home hazardous the her neighbors or to the public? NO.

    There is zero logical need for the government to interfere with her chosen lifestyle.

    If she was creating hazards for others, like polluting the groudwater, or dangling live electrical wires someplace where innocent children might get shocked, then I would agree with some type of intervention by authorities. By all means, the government should have the power and authority to protect the public from individuals that put other people at risk.

    The crap with animal control just reeks of government bullying. They are trying to pile on and intimidate this woman. That’s just sick.

    Anyone is free to agree or disagree with how someone might choose to live their life and make different choices for themselves. When they or the government attempt to force someone to make choices that are mandated by others without any real reason, it’s abuse of power.

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    • They’re trying to intimidate her and other people. They sure don’t want this to catch on. Imagine if just a few hundred or a few thousand people started doing this. They’re in panic mode. Her message is simple and compelling and it could catch on like crazy. She loves not having to pay all those bills and she feels good about reducing her environmental impact. Good for her. There’s obviously no justification for government interference.

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  5. You’re right Owen. The bigger picture in the negative is “intrusion, money, power” which is pretty much what I’ve previously said BUT, on the positive, events such as this is opening the eyes of people who are getting fired up about it and demanding change. America has slept and nodded approval of things that have NOT affected them negatively BUT, the sleeping giant IS awaking because they’re discovering that their lack of really investigating what they give approval to is coming full circle and IS hurting them. It’s about time. WAKE UP AMERICA. Sorry…….am I ranting or am I Tee’d off? Both.

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  6. To answer Malcolm’s astute question…

    The code authorities got involved only AFTER the TV station did a report about this woman’s lifestyle. If you view some of the videos in the links Owen provided, they tell that part to you.

    That is ONE (out of many) lessons to be learned from this incident.

    If you are going to dance around the system, it’s best to do it quietly. Don’t draw attention to yourself. If you are going to fly under the radar… STAY UNDER THE RADAR.

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  7. Claiming that they are simply enforcing the law as written is also bull. Every single building code I’ve ever read (and at this point I’ve plowed through several states, including the most restrictive in the country, and two editions of the IBC) includes language indicating that the code official can determine alternate means of compliance. They also include a few paragraphs on when they apply and when they don’t. If your solar panels only run to specific appliances and not your electrical panel, they don’t. If your rain cachement system doesn’t connect to your plumbing, they don’t. It’s hard to tell from the video, but it’s entirely possible the code officials were acting outside their legal jurisdiction, and could open the city to being countersued for legal fees and punative damages. I also wonder at how they got involved in the first place, as you generally don’t have wandering code enforcers patrolling the streets, hunting down evil DIYers.

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    • I believe you’re right, and there’s an excellent chance they will be countersued. Hope she wins and puts these power hungry jerks in their rightful place.

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  8. This has nothing to do with the UN.

    Local governments have a long history of abusing their power on these types of things. It goes back generations, LONG BEFORE THE UN WAS EVER FORMED.

    Even long before the League of Nations.

    Most local building regulations have good intentions at the beginning, but soon escalate out of control.

    I have it on good authority that this goes all the way back to the STONE AGE.

    The year was 10956 BC… as of last Thursday. Near sunset.

    Thor had to poop and dropped a stinker in front of Grog’s cave.

    Grog said, “ugh ugh. No can poop here.”
    Thor said, “ugh ugh. Really. See my big steamer? I already did poop. You shut face hole.”
    Grog said, “Grog kick Thor’s butt if no clean up.”
    Thor said, “Only if Grog want foot cut off.”

    Then Brute, Grog’s neighbor in the next cave over snuck up behind Thor and clubbed him over the head. They shoveled the poo on Thor’s dead carcas and threw it off the cliff.

    Thus the first sewer regulation was enforced by a local government.

    I’m pretty sure there are pictograms celebrating this eviction painted on a cave wall somewhere. They served as a warning to any future cave dwellers or hut builders of the local building and sanitation code.

    You can go look it up!!!

    Life was good for a while, but then Grog and Brute got power hungry and started enforcing their building code that required drywall to be installed inside every cave.

    The rest of the tribe decided to move to a more rural area away from Grog’s and Brute’s caves where there were no building codes and lived happily ever after… until their decendents adopted the IBC after getting pressured by the local Boulder supply center.

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  9. Agreed. These ideas start out as something good but, become corrupted. From the local area to the Federal area. These are all examples of why people don’t put much faith in their government regardless of who or what party is in power. There’s always these carpet beggars looking to fill their pockets one way or another be it with votes or money but, usually both. We The People end up paying for their over reaching laws and regulations.

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  10. Yet another example of militant overzealous code authorities.

    This isn’t about the United Nations doing anything.
    This isn’t the Federal Government doings.

    This is LOCAL GOVERNMENT persecuting one of their own citizens for daring to live without local governmental services.

    Not trying to pick a fight… but it’s exactly this type of abuse of power that was the root of my comment under the 100% Renewable Energy thread.

    “Don’t worry. I don’t expect this type of freedom to ever become reality. The forces of corporate domination will find a way to get everyone else to continue paying for their wasteful/polluting ways. They always do.”

    Those that have power won’t give up that power, and they will use that power to tell others how to live their lives.

    The worst abuses of power occur LOCALLY.

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    • Many things that unfold locally have their roots in higher level issues such as UN treaties and agreements. The Trans-Pacific Partnership is a recent example. So I’m not disagreeing with you, only pointing out a different perspective.

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  11. I’ve seen this story for a while now and haven’t heard what the final outcome was for her and others. Clear case of “Big Brother” getting into your business. The guilty party is the “green movement” because it’s infected city, county, state government. Big business who feed $$$ to the Federal government have tainted it with lies, manipulation and greed. It’s always been about money and power. They lost their prime directive a long time ago. EPA Agenda? You bet there is.

    Reply
    • There’s a whole web of interrelated guilty parties and issues involved (government, corporations, excessive regulations, treaties…). We have to guard against focusing on just one thing and missing the larger picture.

      Reply

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