Subject: [NEXTEL-1] CB operator charged under new city law

From: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 21 May 2003 17:48:01 -0400

This is a good one. He is going to sue the #$^*! out of the city.
Thanks Peter Z

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CB operator charged under new city law

By KRISTIN GORDON, [email-masked]
The Eagle-Gazette Staff

Complaints from a group of neighbors experiencing interference on
household
appliances from phones and TVs to baby monitors have resulted in a court
case
against a local citizens band radio operator.

James A. Disbennet, 48, 427 Harrison Ave., is charged with operating a
CB radio
exceeding 4 watts, a first-degree misdemeanor, and two counts of
operating a CB
radio without certification, a fourth-degree misdemeanor. Disbennet,
whose handle is
"Sugar Bear," answered a summons in Fairfield County Municipal Court
last Tuesday
and was released on a recognizance bond.

In August 2002, Lancaster City Council was the first in the U.S. to pass
such an
ordinance, allowing the city to enforce rules set by the Federal
Communication
Commission regulating the strength of CB radios, said Assistant City Law
Director
Dave Trimmer.

According to the ordinance, the definition of CB radio "includes all
private, two-way,
short-distance voice communications service for personal or business
activities of the
general public."

In January, local residents began to log feedback problems they
experienced, Trimmer
said. Noise was reported on Harrison, Fifth and Washington avenues.

One woman had problems almost every time she used her telephone. She
said it
interfered with calls such as learning a family member was in the
hospital.

Another woman heard interference over a baby monitor she keeps near her
husband
who suffered from a stroke. When she heard calls from a CB radio
operator named
"Sugar Bear" late at night, she would have to turn off the monitor so it
wouldn't wake
her husband.

"Complainants must have a log of the interference for a minimum of four
weeks and
there has to be more than one complainant in order to file charges,"
Trimmer said.

After a phone conversation with a woman on Harrison Avenue where he
could hear
interference himself, Trimmer went to the neighborhood to investigate,
he said. He
talked to a few individuals, including Disbennet, who said he was a CB
radio operator
but did not possess an amplifier to exceed the lawful power output.

"It's a hobby," Trimmer said. "Sometimes these hobbies get in the way of
the rights of
the neighbors."

On April 10, Tim Deitz, assistant superintendent of the city's
Electrical,
Communications and Signals Department, used a relative signal strength
meter in the
400 block of Harrison Avenue to determine where interference was coming
from. The
signals he received came from Disbennet's home, which had a 40- to
50-foot antenna
attached to it.

A search warrant was performed the next day by Lancaster police, who
seized four
pieces of CB radio equipment worth more than $1,000 from Disbennet's
home.

"We're obviously treading on new ground," said Scott Wood, Disbennet's
attorney.
"He's not been given any type of option to defend himself. This is a big
hobby for him,
something he enjoys doing.

"It has him concerned, of course -- he could be facing jail time."

The maximum penalty for a first-degree misdemeanor is a $1,000 fine and
180 days in
jail.

Wood also is concerned about the case, which he's just begun
investigating.

"It's obviously a very interesting case -- this is the first ordinance
of its kind in the
country," he said. "But apparently, this ordinance was passed in August
2002 but was
never published."

According to the ordinance, No. 30-02, it was passed by council Aug. 26
and approved
Aug. 28.

The city started looking into the problem nearly two years earlier after
neighbors on
Talmadge Avenue started having problems, Trimmer said. The city received
a petition
with 28 signatures and contacted the FCC repeatedly about the problem of

enforcement.

Originally published Wednesday, May 21, 2003

http://www.lancastereaglegazette.com/news/stories/20030521/localnews/339596.html

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