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Oklahoma city tries to charge farmer arrested at data center debate $17,000 for body cam footage of the incident — accused faces trespassing charge for going over allotted speaking time by 30 seconds at a public debate The farmer was arrested on charges of trespassing for going 30 seconds over his allotted time to speak against a data center project. The Oklahoma Office of the Attorney General commanded the City of Claremore to release body cam footage requested by farmer Darren Blanchard and his legal team without charging them $17,125.44. According to 404 Media, the city is asking for that amount so that it will release information on Blanchard’s arrest in April 2026 for speaking 30 seconds longer than the allowed time during a public consultation for a proposed data center in the area, as well as city records of previous disturbances in other public meetings. This led Kate Griffin, one of the farmer’s lawyers, to complain to the Oklahoma Attorney General, which looked at the situation. Claremore justified the fees by saying that it would need to spend $16,540.44 for a legal review of requested records “to ensure that all information which must be withheld relating to members of the public and the City’s personnel is redacted in order to protect their privacy.” It’s also asking for $585 — equal to the 15-hour pay of a city clerk — to conduct the search of the documents. “The City knows and is aware that any documents released to Mr. Blanchard and to those associated with him, regardless of the privacy implications of individuals named in such documents, are subject to wide distribution, including on social media,” Claremore said in its response to the Oklahoma AG. It also added, “Her persistence in maintaining an overly onerous request demonstrates that this dispute has nothing to do with transparency and likely has everything to do with causing excessive time/money expense to the City in order to generate public sympathy for her client and negative publicity for the City.” However, Assistant Attorney General for Oklahoma Anthony Sykes said that this isn’t a valid reason to charge Blanchard thousands of dollars for this request. He said that the state’s law says that public bodies can only charge for the direct costs of searching and copying data when it comes to information requests. More than that, all the fees being charged must be disclosed publicly beforehand. “The City has not posted a schedule of fees as required by the Open Records Act. Having failed to give the requisite notice of the fees charged for public access to City records, the City is foreclosed from charging search fees,” Sykes said. “If I were to conclude otherwise, there would be no incentive for public bodies to comply with the statute. They could simply ignore what the ORA requires and charge what they deem reasonable on a case-by-case basis.” Another justification the city used for the egregious fees is the need to redact the body cam footage “to protect the privacy of the public and City personnel.” However, the assistant attorney general said that the incident happened at a public meeting with no reasonable expectation of privacy. Because of this, the city should hand over the requested data as soon as possible. Blanchard is being charged with trespassing, a municipal crime with a penalty of just $200, making these charges very steep by comparison. Even though it might’ve been easier to plead guilty and pay the fine, the farmer is fighting the city on the grounds that it’s violating his right to free speech. Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox. This isn’t the only arrest across the country that’s related to resistance from data center projects. A Kansas teacher was arrested in July 2026 for lightly clapping at a meeting in support of a speaker after they finished speaking, although the town eventually dropped the charges against them. In fact, as of August 2026, at least 37 people have been arrested for protesting against data centers. Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News, or add us as a preferred source, to get our latest news, analysis, & reviews in your feeds. Jowi Morales is a tech enthusiast with years of experience working in the industry. He’s been writing with several tech publications since 2021, where he’s been interested in tech hardware and consumer electronics. - ferdnyc I realize we're living in the Darkest Timeline, but even still I really wasn't expecting the robber-baron industrialist practices of the late 19th / turn-of-the-20th Centuries (and their associated government corruption) to be making some sort of creepy nostalgia comeback on 2026. What's next, Elon changes his name to Rockefeller or Carnegie?Reply - sftwn What are the chances I'd see Claremore twice in my life.Reply I worked with a guy who got a ticket while passing through, but paid a few days later. He came back a year later, again passing through, got pulled over and arrested for non payment and was held in the local jail for a couple days while they "verified" the previous payment. At this point, I think it's on purpose. - RealityChex The Chinese government is VERY appreciative of these protesters.The AI race will be won by either the USA or China. The USA is currently ahead. The more protesters social media can scare into protesting for data center bans, the greater likelihood China can catch up. (China isn't banning data centers.)Reply If you think AI will be terrible for jobs, society, and the entire world, you better hope the USA wins over China. China will ultimately implement no safeguards. - ferdnyc Reply I reject the notion that where these data centers are located has more than minimal influence on what they're used for. The same companies are running their systems regardless, and the current US government has shown no more interest in imposing "safeguards" on US datacenter impact — social, environmental, or economic — than China has.RealityChex said:The Chinese government is VERY appreciative of these protesters.The AI race will be won by either the USA or China. The USA is currently ahead. The more protesters social media can scare into protesting for data center bans, the greater likelihood China can catch up. (China isn't banning data centers.) If you think AI will be terrible for jobs, society, and the entire world, you better hope the USA wins over China. China will ultimately implement no safeguards. A datacenter in Oklahoma City can burn through just as many natural resources, cause just as much job loss, and lead to just as many social ills as one located in Guanzhong. We can try to pretend we're somehow "better" or "more conscientious"... but the extent that's true will be demonstrated in how much we push back against these monstrosities, not how many we place on US soil and pretend that somehow makes them better for it. - Tanakoi This is a simple hit piece against datacenters, with zero relation to them. The farmer wasn't arrested for "speaking 30 seconds longer than requested" - he was arrested because he refused to stop talking when instructed, and continued being disruptive -- had the police not removed him at that 30-second mark, he'd probably STILL be talking. This is standard procedure in local council meetings across the country, and such arrests happen dozens of times a year.Reply As for the outrageous charge for a records request: again this is standard operating procedure for any government agency: I myself was once charged nearly $5K for photocopying 12 pages that didn't require any legal review at all, like these records do. I don't agree with the policy, but attempting to tie it to "datacenters" is just an attempt to build an anti-datacenter narrative. - Tanakoi Reply Every datacenter operator in China is partially funded by and 100% under the control of the CCP regime. Anyone who isn't concerned about a brutal authoritarian dictatorship having continual 24x7 access to all our emails and cloud databases hasn't put any thought into the issue.ferdnyc said:... the current US government has shown no more interest in imposing "safeguards" on US datacenter impact — social, environmental, or economic — than China has. There are two futures for America. One in which we remain the world superpower by retaining our lead in the dominating industry of the 21st Century. And the other in which our economy is based around selling corn and soybeans to new superpower China, which beats the drum the rest of the world marches to. Take your pick. This is entirely backwards. Look at the datacenter in Pryor County Oklahoma, which transformed the town's tax base from $50M to over $1B, created hundreds of jobs, built new roads, parks, a community center, and transformed the local schools from the worst-funded to the best-funded in the state.ferdnyc said:A datacenter in Oklahoma City can burn through just as many natural resources, cause just as much job loss, and lead to just as many social ills ... https://www.newson6.com/tulsa-oklahoma-news/pryor-public-schools-talks-impact-of-googles-data-center-on-the-district-gives-us-an-advantage - Blacksad999 ReplyRealityChex said:The Chinese government is VERY appreciative of these protesters.The AI race will be won by either the USA or China. The USA is currently ahead. The more protesters social media can scare into protesting for data center bans, the greater likelihood China can catch up. (China isn't banning data centers.) If you think AI will be terrible for jobs, society, and the entire world, you better hope the USA wins over China. China will ultimately implement no safeguards. Right! All we need to do is give all of our money, property, and privacy to a few individual companies so that "China doesn't win!" At that point, what are we even winning? I don't care if China wins in AI if the cost is making everything else worse for everyone here. Singularity is not coming in our lifetimes. - PEnns "....for speaking 30 seconds longer than the allowed time during a public consultation"Reply "Claremore justified the fees by saying that it would need to spend $16,540.44 for a legal review of requested records “to ensure that all information which must be withheld relating to members of the public and the City’s personnel is redacted in order to protect their privacy" What nonsense!! It was a public event, where everybody's privacy that one-horse town's city council is allegedly trying to protect, was ALREADY on full public display!! And they claim that Tech Bros have not corrupted and bought every single town where they plan a "data center". Here's an idea: Next time those bought and sold cities like Oklahoma City need something from their citizens, said citizens should charge them a similar fee for.....hiring a legal teem to review the city's request, whatever it may be. - Tanakoi Reply I'm not sure what reality this came from, but it isn't ours. No datacenter has taken your money nor your property. As for privacy, blaming a datacenter for that is like blaming the automobile when a drunk driver smashes it into a crowd of people. Computers are a tool -- if they're misused, blame the person or company misusing them.Blacksad999 said:Right! All we need to do is give all of our money, property, and privacy to a few individual companies so that "China doesn't win!" Go to any public city council meeting and try the same stunt, ignore repeated requests to stop, and you'll be arrested as well. But unsurprisingly, you miss the point: whether you agree or disagree with this policy, it has nothing to do with datacenters. Had he been arguing against a new McDonalds or the rezoning of a city park, he'd have faced the same punishment.PEnns said:What nonsense!! It was a public event
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