Keene Activism Makes Front Page of Union Leader
Here’s the feature story from the Union Leader’s Michael Cousineau:
Expect local officials across the state to review state and local nudity laws following weekly protests by topless women in Keene, according to the head of a police association.
“It will cause people to look and review their policies … and make sure they are protected about this issue,” said David Cahill, president of the New Hampshire Association of Chiefs of Police.
“Sometimes, the worst thing you could do is create a knee-jerk reaction,” said Cahill, Sunapee’s police chief.
More than a half-dozen people were either ticketed or arrested last Sunday after police received reports of people drinking alcohol and taking off their clothes in Central Square.
Keene police Lt. Jay Duguay said no women were charged for being topless because it wasn’t deemed lewd behavior. The city prosecutor concluded a man painting a woman’s breast didn’t violate the state’s public decency law either, he said, adding the city has no local nudity law.
The topless women sparked discussions involving public morality, free speech and the political Free State Project, whose members were involved in last Sunday’s incident.
“These openly brazen protests I think do speak to a larger problem in our culture in which the current generation is being flooded with messages, like MTV’s spring break shows, where they are told to have no inhibitions,” said Kevin Smith, executive director of Cornerstone Action, a Manchester-based group dedicated to the preservation of strong families, limited government and free enterprise.
But Smith said the best protection for children “starts with good parenting, not with government.
“While government can pass laws or ordinances that protect the public from having to put up with these kind of lewd displays, talks to children about public decency and what is and what isn’t appropriate should start at home. And hopefully, local officials and law enforcement will complement sound parental advice by holding those who break the law accountable,” Smith said.
Claire Ebel, executive director of the New Hampshire Civil Liberties Union, said she thinks the police acted properly in not arresting the topless protestors, but wondered whether state leaders might look to change the law.
“I can just imagine an interesting session of the Legislature next session when some legislator is offended by the fact that breasts are not covered by the public nudity statute,” Ebel said.
The state’s public decency law doesn’t specifically reference breasts.
“A person is guilty of a misdemeanor if such person fornicates, exposes his or her genitals, or performs any other act of gross lewdness under circumstances which he or she should know will likely cause affront or alarm,” the law reads.
Duguay said people can interpret the law differently.
“It’s one of those things: Does it cause an alarm of a person of a normal sensibility? Some people may feel an exposure of breasts in the Central Square area is gross lewdness,” Duguay said. “If someone is groping their breasts in a certain way, that could be considered gross or lewd. It’s kind of a case-by-case basis.”
Manchester police Lt. Peter Favreau said there are several city ordinances addressing nudity in public, including a ban on nude dancing in clubs serving alcohol.
“All of our ordinances fall back on disorderly conduct, where you’re causing an alarm in a public place,” Favreau said. “It’s debatable” whether topless women protesting would be violating a city ordinance.
Hampton Police Chief James Sullivan reported few problems.
“We have not had a significant concern with public nudity, complaints or incidents, at the beach,” Sullivan said.
Sunapee Chief Cahill said skinny dippers are his biggest problem when it comes to nudity complaints. Whether someone is arrested often depends on whether others observed the behavior and were offended, he said.
Last Sunday’s gathering in Keene was part of an event called “night cap,” with people gathering to drink openly to protest laws banning such activity.
Members of the Free State Project were among those who have gathered for the Keene protests, according to Duguay and Calvin Pratt, a spokesman for the Free State Project.
Pratt said Free Staters are guided by many philosophies toward the goal of gaining more personal choice.
Some Free Staters want to “live according to the code of choice they want to have and they just don’t want other people to impose an outside code on them,” Pratt said.
Asked whether it helped or hurt the Free State movement to be linked to such protests, Pratt said. “That’s a tough question. There is a dividing line between people who are involved in the local communities who are involved in politics. They look at this as ‘Ow, ouch, it doesn’t make us look good.’ ”
Duguay said protestors also have cut hair without a license and played penny poker in the park, telling the lieutenant that police selectively enforce the laws.
“In a way, they are right because there’s only so many police officers to go around,” Duguay said. “The solution to every incident is not an arrest.”
Pratt said he think a majority of Free Staters support the Keene protests. “A minority think when you disrespect the community’s mores in that way, you’re actually doing a disservice,” he said.
“People who are engaged in consensual activities are not being victimized. I think most Free State members would say victimless crimes should not be criminal offenses or violations,” Pratt said. “Who’s the victim?”
Rick Kardos, executive director of the New England office of the National Coalition for the Protection of Children & Families in Bedford, said children are being exposed to nudity at younger ages.
“There has been a desensitization of community morals and standards,” Kardos said. “Our society has been desensitized by TV, by the rise of the Internet, the availability of Internet pornography.”
In years past, Kardos said he would “get flooded with e-mails” after a news story chronicled public nudity, but that wasn’t the case with the Keene protests.
Mary Bonser, co-owner of Cedar Waters Village, a nudist park in Nottingham, said “society as a whole is pretty sophomoric” these days.
“It doesn’t matter if they have clothes on or don’t have clothes on. It’s what is in the heart.” Bonser said. “The thong bathing suits? That’s more risque than being nude. Is next to nothing any better than being topless? That’s the question Keene has to decide.”
Comments
18 Comments on Keene Activism Makes Front Page of Union Leader
“Sometimes, the worst thing you could do is create a knee-jerk reaction,” said Cahill, Sunapee’s police chief.
Institutionalizing knee jerk reactions is a bad idea, but it’s what state-supremacists do when they create their “laws.”
It’s the cop’s job to enforce these knee-jerk reactions perpetually, until their political overlords tell them it’s okay to stop over reacting.
It’s the cop’s job to enforce these knee-jerk reactions perpetually, until their political overlords tell them it’s okay to stop over reacting.
Violently.
Knee-jerk reactions to peaceful “problems” are met with violence.
What the hell is wrong with this world?
Hey wait a minute, David Cahill, president of the New Hampshire Association of Chiefs of Police, I thought you guys were just doing your jobs, enforcing The Law. Now you’re advocating changes in the law too? How many times have officers told us “It’s the law, we can’t do anything about it.” Well thanks for being so willing to help out, but why don’t you keep out of it? Keep away from our town councils.
One more question. If I want to get rid of my Police Chief, who do I vote against? And if I win politically and get my way, will a Police Chief removed by my representatives sue? (Ha, rhetorical question: Of course you will.)
1. Blame TV? Check.
2. Defense of Children Excuse? Check.
3. Equate Nudity with Pornography? Check.
4. Infer that every problem communities face is something that can only be solved with institutionalized violence? Check.
Yes, I was born in Keene. I am currently a 20+ year Keene resident. (I”m older than 20+, I have also lived in several other States all over America) Recently, I was at the Keene Common, where I actually witnessed, ACTUALLY WITNESSED, a brilliant young artist painting a beautiful design on a young woman’s bared breast. It appeared to be a mutually consensual act. I saw other people also witness this activity. I was not offended in any way. I did not see any other people who were offended. I do not believe that what I witnessed was lewd or lascivious in any way. I do not believe that it was immoral, wrong, or offensive. I DO NOT believe that my native Keene Community’s standards were violated. No laws were violated. Nobody’s rights were violated. That this non-incident has generated such controversy and media coverage is proof that easily offended persons should not be allowed to control the lives of the majority of the rest of US ADULTS who are not so easily offended as these simpering morons who bemoan & gnash & wail as if they are Old Testament Prophets walking among us. Spare us your self-righteous indignation. Look at the bonehead baboon from “cornerstone ministries” – I shall not here ackowledge them by capitalization or name – who claims that his group favors less, limited government, yet whose first, knee-jerk response to this non-event is to cry out for an increased government reaction! HYPOCRITS???…YES! Worthy of obedience??? NO! Credible???…NO! If any child sees such an act, so what??? There is no harm which can occur to any child from seeing a bare breast. Think about it. Will Mr.Cornerstone-BLOCKHEAD claim that a nursing baby is offended by the sight of Mothers’ naked nipple and breast???…At what magic age will Mr. Blockhead Cornerstone claim that said baby starts to become offended by Mom’s boobie, and should be prevebnted from ever seeing it / them(?) again?…At what later age will he say the operson should again be allowed to see bare breasts??? Does that young adult woman who freely bares her breast to Public Display have a right to do so? Yes, sitting on a bench in the Common on a nice Summer day. Letting it be painted. COPS! LEAVE HER ALONE! Does she have a right to stand in the street and traffic and flaunt her bare breasts to passing cars? No. If she does, she should be cited for obstructing traffic and creating a hazard to travel. If I stumble over my feet because I walk by her and stare at her bare breasts, I need to accept responsibility for my LEWD & LASCIVIOUS MIND. &That is what Mr. Cornerstone has. The LEWDNESS & LASCIVIOUSNESS exists only in the BIBLE-THUMPERS warped & twisted minds. It should not be the basis for any Laws, or Legal Action. So, Chief Meola, do not allow a few narrow-minded & small-brained religious zealots to cause your cops to infringe my God-given FREE RIGHTS to enjoy the God-given gift of bare breasts, when HIS WILL so directs my feet. If Keene Community members feel offended by bare breasts, please keep that conflict between you & your God/s. It is of no concern to ME, & MINE! LIVE FREE OF DIE TRYING, MOTHERFUCKERS!
…”live free OR die trying”. Sorry. Typo slipped by me. God would have caught that. Gee. Guess I’m not God. I’m sorry some of YOU think you ARE!. Assholes.
tKoK,
Well said man.
Didn’t “cornerstone ministeries” recently announce endorsement of neo-nazi Kelly Ayotte’s political games? THAT scares me more than the thought of the sight of BARE GENITALS! -keene native/.
This article is full of inaccuracies. How about instead of inciting anger over a person’s choice of being topless, the “journalist” should have focused on the injustice of how nonviolent people were arrested.
Oops. You’re probably not tKoK…. But you had a tKoK style rant… (Which I enjoy) 
Just fucking amazing these “journalists” haven’t once contacted anyone other than cops involved in this stuff!
It’s not like there isn’t a website or anything.
Just fucking amazing these “journalists” haven’t once contacted anyone other than cops involved in this stuff!
It’s not like there isn’t a website or anything.
What a great point, man.
How can a story be accurate if the reporter only gets one side of it?
They shouldn’t be taking sides in their reporting of articles which should consist of facts.
They’d still be free to write all the editorials they want about their personal displeasure with various liberty activism… should they desire.
The people who work for the MSM are progandists who strangle the truth in their noosepapers and on their TV noose programs to make their blood money. The media, police, judges, and company are all on the same team.
None of you have any idea what you are talking about. Please take your pot pipes and convoluted hippie logic and go away!
So sez:”Hippie Hater” on Tue, 27th Jul 2010 6:20 am
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None of you have any idea what you are talking about. Please take your pot pipes and convoluted hippie logic and go away!
1.Believes in mythological creatures known as “Hippies”? Check. 2.Expresses literal hatred?(i.e.,Really DOES HATE PEOPLE!): Check. Exception which proves the rule? Check. Hey, we’re making progress! A year or 2 ago, “Hippie Hater” would probably actually advocate violence. Now, he just wants to see his own fantasy land replace the REALITY the rest of US ADULTS live in daily. Thank-you, “Hippie Hater”. You have empowered me with your vitriol. May the Good Lord our GOD have mercy upon your soul. Now, go forth and SIN NO MORE, Mr. “Hippie Hater” (Full disclosure: Although I myself am not a “hippie”, I do have many good friends who believe that they are in fact these mythological beings. I think they are just screwed up kids who don’t watch enough TV or take enough pharmaceutical drugs. Whatever. Enjoy!)
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