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Florida Woman Is Told She Has One Month to 'Plug in' to the Grid
UPI ^ | Feb. 24, 2014 | Evan Bleier

Posted on 02/25/2014 10:55:35 AM PST by nickcarraway

Cape Coral woman Robin Speronis has been relying on solar panels and treated rain water to survive.

A Florida woman who has been living off the grid for about a year and a half was told that she has one month to "plug in" or deal with the authorities.

Cape Coral woman Robin Speronis doesn’t have any city power or water running into her house and relies on solar panels and treated rain water to survive. "I'm choosing to live without being dependent on the system," she told NBC-2.

Officials from Cape Coral Code Compliance met with Speronis and her attorney about the situation last week.

"When this was brought to my attention I felt like I had to act. I felt like Cape Coral was intruding in the woman's lifestyle," said Todd Allen, Speronis' attorney.

A magistrate ruled that Speronis was guilty of not being hooked up to a water supply that had been approved by the town.

"What happened here is people don't talk to us or cooperate. We don't communicate then we are forced to use the legal tools at our disposal," said Frank Cassidy of Cape Coral Code Compliance. "In the whole scheme of things, it’s no different than the hundreds of cases we deal with all the time.”

Speronis has indicated that she doesn’t plan on changing her lifestyle.

"I don't have to justify my life. They have to. That's the way our system of justice works. They have justify it. I don't," Speronis said.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Extended News; Government; US: Florida
KEYWORDS: florida; indigenousliving; livingindigenously; offthegrid
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To: Teflonic
This is my neck of the woods and I suspect it has something to do with the $17k assessment that is forced on each property owner when the city dual water system gets installed on their street. There are still outlying areas being incorporated and perhaps she could not afford to pay so they cut her off - when she managed to survive without it they came after her. Cape Coral is known for having crazy restrictions like not being able to park a pickup truck in your driveway.

I know this position is hazardous...however, if this lady wants to live "off the grid," she probably shouldn't live in a municipality where the codes require all residents to be on it. Solution: Sell her current abode and get a place out in an unincorporated area. Off-the-grid living actually makes sense in such an environment, anyway...more so than trying to live off the grid in an incorporated area, where the subdivisions are usually designed with the very purpose of supplying services like water/sewer/sanitation, gas and electric in mind.

I have no quarrel with the quaint notion of "sustainable living," to the extent there actually is such a thing. But if the city requires a dwelling within its corporate limits to be connected to the city water system, and you don't want that sort of thing, the smart thing to do is to buy somewhere else.
81 posted on 02/25/2014 12:37:53 PM PST by Milton Miteybad (I am Jim Thompson. {Really.})
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To: tgusa

I understand that Texas utilities don’t have to pay when a user generates more electricity than used.


82 posted on 02/25/2014 12:39:47 PM PST by RebelTXRose
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To: William Tell

The stupid thing about well based systems using city sewage systems are that it is the worst thing for the well.

Ground water based systems depend on RECHARGE RATE. The sewer system carries locally used well water away from the watershed.


83 posted on 02/25/2014 12:46:57 PM PST by RinaseaofDs
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To: Mr. K

“That oughtta make their heads spin around”

She needs to say she is a lesbian and a Muslim and is scheduled of her 6th abortion.

They will ask her to run for office.

Out of curiosity, anyone want to bet this is a Rat run town?


84 posted on 02/25/2014 12:51:34 PM PST by EQAndyBuzz (Insurgent Conservative)
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To: a fool in paradise

Go out west.

Has been that way for centuries.

There is a saying, “Whiskey’s for drinking, water’s for fighting.”

I know of cases were someone had a catch pond built on their own land, and the person who owned the water rights in the area objected. The more polite ones just used lawyers. The serious ones use dynamite.


85 posted on 02/25/2014 12:54:53 PM PST by redgolum ("God is dead" -- Nietzsche. "Nietzsche is dead" -- God.)
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To: William Tell
I have reported you to the Moderators for being
(a) Excessively and compulsively rational and logical.
(b) Supporting municipal codes
(c) Exposing the other posters to the various arithmetical bases for the concept of "insurance."

Ya wanna watch that kinda thinking pal.

One of my kids is a municipal Code Enforcement Officer. I don't understand or get along with him, either.

86 posted on 02/25/2014 1:01:47 PM PST by Kenny Bunk (Don't let the aftershave and embalming fluid fool you. Many RINOs are actually dead meat.)
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To: JRandomFreeper

state of the art composting toilet that does a better waste management job than their outdated sewer system.””

Try this on for size:\
\
There is a ‘water system’ in the higher density part of the valley where I live.

There is a pretty good meth problem in this valley.

IF you are using meth, you are only metabolizing about 50% of that drug.

The rest is being sent back into the sewers & into the ‘water treatment plant’.

We can find no evidence that a water treatment plant can remove that residue meth.

We are fighting to keep our own wells & septics here. The ‘Municipal water company’ is trying to push us onto their system.


87 posted on 02/25/2014 1:12:15 PM PST by ridesthemiles
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To: EQAndyBuzz

It’s a conservative area but yeah the ones in control are often Rats. On election day there is a 6+ hour wait to vote! Florida tends to have very few machines in red areas and way too many set up in blue areas.


88 posted on 02/25/2014 1:13:23 PM PST by Teflonic
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To: Milton Miteybad

You’re right of course Milton, Cape Coral was set up as a nice retirement community which is why there are so many restrictive rules to keep the riffraff out. Anyone wanting to live off the grid would be better served moving outside city limits to a county managed property.


89 posted on 02/25/2014 1:17:07 PM PST by Teflonic
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To: dhs12345

Same routine with driving higher mileage vehicles.


90 posted on 02/25/2014 1:19:27 PM PST by ridesthemiles
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To: BenLurkin

The city will cite it as a health hazard if there is no running water.


91 posted on 02/25/2014 1:32:50 PM PST by Georgia Girl 2 (The only purpose of a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped.)
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To: nickcarraway
...she has one month to "plug in" or deal with the authorities.

Deal with the authorities? Is she a good shot? Maybe she can take out a dozen or so before they get her!

92 posted on 02/25/2014 2:07:06 PM PST by JimRed (Excise the cancer before it kills us; feed & water the Tree of Liberty! TERM LIMITS NOW & FOREVER!)
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To: All


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93 posted on 02/25/2014 2:15:14 PM PST by musicman (Until I see the REAL Long Form Vault BC, he's just "PRES__ENT" Obama = Without "ID")
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To: ridesthemiles

Yup. And the cities and states have already planned for all electric vehicles (no gas tax). There is an extra yearly fee to make up for the difference.

So, you pay tax on the electricity to charge your car and the fee which is a tax. A double tax.


94 posted on 02/25/2014 2:24:54 PM PST by dhs12345
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To: RWGinger

“Guilty of not being hooked up to the town’s water supply
Is this from the Onion?”

Not a joke!

Cape Coral’s largest building is the government building. Gubment is the largest business in Cape Coral.

When the pensions of the retired government workers declines due city bankruptcies, Cape Coral will have to stop living off transfer payments.

It won’t be pretty.


95 posted on 02/25/2014 4:50:03 PM PST by GladesGuru (Islam Delenda Est - because of what Islam is and because of what Muslims do.)
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To: JRandomFreeper

“They want control.”

True, but as the apocryphal whore (better make that “Ho”) said, “It’s the money, Honey.”

Cape Coral government is the largest business in Cape Coral and taxes are what it is selling.

Buy or else!


96 posted on 02/25/2014 4:53:46 PM PST by GladesGuru (Islam Delenda Est - because of what Islam is and because of what Muslims do.)
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To: a fool in paradise

Iowa. Freakin nazis.


97 posted on 02/25/2014 5:12:38 PM PST by PhiloBedo (You gotta roll with the punches and get with what's real.)
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To: nickcarraway
Cape Coral Code Compliance

What was the original purpose of the code? To make life safer. She's safe.

The new purpose of the code is compliance. This is true throughout America. We've been safe for a half century.

98 posted on 02/25/2014 7:30:44 PM PST by 1010RD (First, Do No Harm)
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To: Army Air Corps

I think you meant “robberment”.


99 posted on 02/25/2014 7:33:12 PM PST by 1010RD (First, Do No Harm)
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To: JRandomFreeper

There was a professor in the NW. He invented a hydropower generator that could be laid in a stream to generate power. It was designed so as not to harm fish. He demonstrated the same to the local FWA. They didn’t care and didn’t want it.

It’s been about control for a long, long time.


100 posted on 02/25/2014 7:35:14 PM PST by 1010RD (First, Do No Harm)
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