The Fourth Amendment (Amendment IV) to the United States Constitution is the part of the Bill of Rights which guards against unreasonable searches and seizures, along with requiring any warrant to be judicially sanctioned and supported by probable cause.
"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."
Well, it seems that my local government, the Lower Providence Township of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, feels like this does not apply to them. A while ago, they mailed a letter to local area residents stating that the recipients HAD to call them at a given phone number and schedule an inspection (i.e., search) of their house by not one, but two people in order to see if there was an "illegal" hookup between a sump pump and the sewers.
I was miffed that the letter didn't say, "please" or contain any common, ordinary courtesies and furthered miffed by their highhandedness in not only breaking a constitutionally guaranteed right to "feel secure in my own house." The letter insisted I had to call them, for a hearing impaired person, this is a huge imposition and propbably violates the Americans with Disabilities Act, and they couldn't even be nice about it.
Yesterday, they sent a letter saying they would add a $50 a month "punishment" charge to my sewer bill. What happen to that right to "Due Process"? I guess if you can ignore the fouth amendment, what the hell, you might as well ignore the fifth one as well.
My sewer bill is already WAY too high - as a single guy living in alone in a house, I get a flat rate bill - based on a family of four - so it's four (4) times too high to start with...
And to add insult to injury, the folks that were living in this township BEFORE they built the brand new sewer plant to handle the ADDITIONAL load brought on by ill-planned, anything for a tax dollar, new housing developments.... folks like ME are also paying for a recent 38 million dollar (by God, they must use gold plated fixtures) expansion of a poorly run sewer plant!
Furthermore, they could perform this inspection only during working hours - which means a loss of a day's pay to boot...
I'm steaming mad... and I am not at all proud of my government right now.
P.s., I don't even HAVE a sump pump. They could have pretended to be public servants and just asked the timely tax and ratepayer. Politely. But no....
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
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23 comments:
Not fair at all, Iggy; like Big Brother watching over you or something. While I can see that they would want to prevent illegal things happening, the way they are going about this is totally wrong and unprofessional and violating of people's rights I do believe. I would fight if as much as I can! It is interesting too about sewer bills. Where we lived in Murrieta, they based it on how much water you used; here it is just one flat rate everyone pays. Another way to get more money from us working poor. I'm so sorry you are upset about it, I would be the same way!
betty
I agree....that is very unfair and I can see why you'd be angry. I don't even know what a sump pump is.
I agree....that is very unfair and I can see why you'd be angry. I don't even know what a sump pump is.
Grrrrrrrrrr I can't beleive they slapped a fine on yu on tp of it. That's insanity! I sure hope you can fight the good fight on this. It's just nuts. Stand your ground my friend if you can.
My sewer/water base rate just went up 20 bucks, just because they can. 20 bucks! That's a weeks worth of groceries for me. I too live alone, my usage is way below the typical family of four, wayyy below, and until I'm a senior citizen there's nothing I can do about it. grrrrr.
That is weird. I wonder what prompted this all to begin with. And I think they're kinda idiotic even more so because if anybody who received that letter DID have something illegal, all they had to do was find another place for it and when they came to search it wouldn't be there ANYWAY. Waste of time and resources, wouldn't you think?
I am so sorry you've been upset. A $50 penalty is gross. They should level that fee at the people who built the house, the contractors... but I guess it depends on how old the dwelling is.
Do you know if your neighbors got that letter too? it would be highly suspicious if not everybody got it.
I'd stand by you and FIGHT against this! I'm screaming in my head!!!! It is NOT right...not at all!
Please call major cable news networks and perhaps some entertainers who support the constitution and share this. They will help you in larger ways to fight this corruption.
How can your friends help?
Big government at its worst. I'd be hopping mad too. I am scratching my head at most of this but the flat rate based on a family of 4 is beyond comprehension. Take some deep breaths and decide what to do next. What they are doing is very unfair = from start to finish!
Local Government & Courtesy in the same sentence - nah, will never happen.
In our local paper yesterday the Sewer plant (built in the middle of suburbia) placed a prominent ad stating that there will be "An increase in odours" for the next week. You can imagine the house prices of the poor souls living downwind of this Big Pooh Plant, as it is "affectionately" known.
Feeling your pain all the way over here.....
I think it's ridiculous, and you should go to the town council and make your voice be heard. Maybe put a notice in the paper to see if you can get anyone else to show up too. And maybe go talk to all your neighbors.
Ditto what Cindy said "Local Government and Courtesy in the same sentence - nah, will never happen"
We have local government elections in October and you should see our choices for Mayor - sigh!!
very similar to something here--
we had city guy stop by and we had to go through an inspection of our underground sprinkling. I was mystified. But, I don't feel so bad after I found out that the water in a sprinkling system can back up down there (is that proper english) and become very brackish and full of bacteria... and THEN it can backwash into the water system and make people sick.
I know you were rather upset when you told me about this. I hope things can be resolved without too much hassle on your part. Government agencies...whether they be federal, state, or local...all like to squeeze the common taxpayer for every cent they can possibly get their hands on. Charging you a flat rate fee is so unfair. It's like our Occupational taxes we have in our school district. I work part time but have to pay as much as a full time worker. The system is unfair.
*hugs*
Hello, I'm here from Deanna's blog. She said we should check you out and I'm glad I did. I'll be signing up as your newest follower and be back to read more! Nice to meet you!
That is so grossly unfair what they are doing in your city. My little town charges sewer fees based on how much water you use. So if you water a lot of flowers in the summer like I do and the consumption of water hikes up dramatically, they will still charge you accordingly for the sewer even tho a lot of the water doesn't ever enter the sewer. We don't have a sump pump, but need one. I haven't heard of anyone coming into your house to check anything without asking permission! That's just wrong!
I would try going to the next city council meeting and address this issue or write a letter to the local newspaper.
Okay, I'll be quiet now. :D I'm not usually this chatty!
Oops, I guess I can't sign on as I didn't see where to...I'll bookmark!
That's ridiculous!
Just another example of how most people only care about money and paperwork, and not people these days!
Our rates are based on a flat rate too, they base it on the property type and size. I think it's stupid because sometimes you have a lot of people in a small property, using a lot of water, other times you have only one or two people in a large property, not using much water. They should base it on water usage (like how things like electricity are done).
I would be smokin hot and my hair would be on fire. There have got to be other people like you, that don't have a sump pump and work. Like you said, it will either cost you $$, vacation time,etc. Of course, they fall in that O so special group that cannot tell you when they will be there. The "between the hours of 8am and
5pm" bunch.
I don't know if men can have a "hissy fit" with any masculinity but go ahead.
Gee wiz. Not nice!!!!!
As I'm sure my hubby would say... "It's a conspiracy!"
(I’m not always sure what he means by that but I know he says it when he’s really mad about something)
I'm so sorry- that is seriously unjust. I can't imagine paying that much already and then having a "punishment" fee on top of that? Absurd. Surely there are enough people who feel the same was as you do and you can band together?
Governments are so ridiculous! Is there any way you could write directly to them (since I know the phone calls are difficult) and explain that you are hearing impaired and don't even have a sump pump and cannot afford to take off work for an inspection? Maybe offer to have them come by after YOUR working hours and see what they say?
And who is the letter actually from? City government? Who would you have to talk to in order to go over their heads? County? State? Failing that--yes, writing to the local news people. But first I'd try to writing the A$$holes in charge, very nicely...or as nicely as possible. Check with the neighbors, too.
If they refuse to cooperate or respond, I'd write and let them know I wasn't paying the additional monthly fine (get them immediately off auto pay if you're using that) and contact a lawyer for a free consultation and maybe the press.
More flies with honey and go over their heads If you can't get satisfaction.
Argh, I'm sorry you have to deal first-hand with this damn incompetence. I hope you're fighting this one out instead of bending over for them. You're already more than your fair share of dues!
Hugs! That really stinks!! (pun intended)
You should write a letter to your newspaper and call your local radio/tv stations! This is crazy and most likely illegal, as you've said. Most will just go along, because it's too much of a hassle to "fight City Hall". But I would. In a heart beat!
Go get 'em!!!!!
that sucks bites and blows...move here to West..we may not have as pretty country around here as you have there..but no one would do that ..
Government at work..frosts my butt too. Here in the boonies we have our own personal septic system..so in essence we have paid our dues..for a good long time:)
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