A Question For The Keene Police Chief
After hearing the head of the Keene Police Department assert that outlawed activities are not illegal during his interview on WKBK I’ve decided to e-mail the Chief and inquire with him publicly what his positions are on enforcing the law.
Kudos to FreeKeene.com’s Sam Dodson for mentioning the ridiculous law that the Keene Police apparently have decided to ignore. This ignoring of a law seems to fly in the face of the first provision of the Keene Police mission statement.
My letter to the Chief is below:
Chief Meola,
My name is Bradley Jardis and, as you know, I am a blogger at the FreeKeene.com website.
I recently heard an interview that you took part in on WKBK. During the call a fellow contributor of mine at FreeKeene.com called to participate in the interview and he made reference to your department not enforcing the provisions of RSA 332-D. Your responses to him during this interview have left me with questions regarding the consistency of your law enforcement agency enforcing the law. I have some questions about this and I would be very appreciative for your response.
Although it is safe to say that at the present time the vast majority of people disagree with many positions our blog takes regarding the role of government, one cannot deny that our website is frequently visited by residents of your community.
QUESTION #1
During the interview you claimed that engaging in sports or business on the Lord’s Day is not illegal. A clear reading of RSA 332-D seems to conflict with your assertion. Specifically:
332-D:1 Sunday Work. – No person shall do any work, business, or labor of his secular calling, to the disturbance of others, on the first day of the week, commonly called the Lord’s Day, except works of necessity and mercy, and the making of necessary repairs upon mills and factories which could not be made otherwise without loss to operatives; and no person shall engage in any play, game, or sport on that day.
RSA Chapter 332-D allows individual local governing bodies to exempt their communities from the provisions of this state law. Specifically:
332-D:4 Exceptions. – Nothing in this chapter shall prevent the governing body of any city or town from adopting bylaws and ordinances permitting and regulating retail business, plays, games, sports, and exhibitions on Sundays. Bylaws and ordinances adopted by the governing body in accordance with this section shall continue in force until altered or annulled by vote of the legislative body.
I’ve reviewed all of Keene’s city ordinances and have failed to find an exemption to the prohibition of activities authorized by the Keene city council. Does such a bylaw or ordinance exist?
QUESTION #2
State law imposes a penalty for violation of chapter 332-D. Specifically:
332-D:7 Penalty. – A person who violates any provision of this chapter is guilty of a violation.
Does your police department have the authority to enforce this law?
QUESTION #3Recently the New Hampshire General Court debated legislation intending to change the requirements of the prohibitions imposed on activities during the Lord’s Day authorized by RSA 332-D. The General Court declined to make any changes to this chapter leading me to believe that it is the remaining intent of the General Court that activities prohibited by RSA 332-D:1, absent a specific bylaw or ordinance exempting a local municipality from it’s requirements, remain prohibited. I’ve also examined the history of the chapter and have found no case law or Attorney General opinion declaring that the statue is unconstitutional or otherwise unenforceable by the authorities.
I’ve been to Keene many times on Sundays and have seen numerous violations of this law. Why doesn’t your police department enforce this law which is openly violated by countless individuals in your community on a weekly basis?
-/-
I thank you for your time in reading and responding to my concerns. I believe all residents of Keene are entitled to know which laws their law enforcement agency intends to enforce.
Respectfully,
Bradley Jardis
FreeKeene.com
Comments
34 Comments on A Question For The Keene Police Chief
NH Supreme Court
Keene, City of v. Gerry’s Cash Market, Inc., 113 N.H. 165, 304 A.2d 873 (1973) — 7[a]
Opinion of the Justices, 108 N.H. 103, 229 A.2d 188 (1967) — 3[a], 3[b], 6
Seabrook Citizens for Defense of Home Rule v. Yankee Greyhound Racing, Inc., 123 N.H. 103, 456 A.2d 973 (1983) — 7[b]
State v. Rogers, 105 N.H. 366, 200 A.2d 740 (1964) — 7[a]
First Circuit Court of Appeals
Faraone v. City of East Providence, 935 F. Supp. 82 (D.R.I. 1996) — 8[b]
Kittery Motorcycle, Inc. v. Rowe, 320 F.3d 42 (1st Cir. 2003) — 8[a]
Montalvo-Huertas v. Rivera-Cruz, 885 F.2d 971 (1st Cir. 1989) — 3[a]
Woonsocket Prescription Center, Inc. v. Michaelson, 417 F. Supp. 1250 (D.R.I. 1976) — 2[b], 3[a], 5[g]
Regarding Keene, NH
A local ordinance limiting the Sunday hours of food stores having more than 5,000 square feet of interior customer selling space or more than five employees was held not to be in conflict with the state Sunday closing law, and therefore valid, in Keene v Gerry’s Cash Market, Inc. (1973) 113 NH 165, 304 A2d 873. The court noted that a section of the state law permitting the sale of necessities on Sunday did not require that they be permitted 24 hours a day, and that another section of the law authorized local governments to permit and regulate Sunday sales, which would include the power to restrict sales of necessities. The legislative scheme, it determined, was to leave control of Sunday business activity to localities, with statewide rules to apply in the absence of local regulation. Since the ordinance had been repealed, cross petitions to enjoin a store’s Sunday operations and to enjoin the enforcement of the ordinance were declared moot.
Good letter. I’d include other examples — prohibition of putting other substances in a milk container, or tapping your feet in time with the music at a tavern, for example.
I’d also ask, “Hypothetically, is there any law which would be so immoral that you would refuse to enforce it, were it passed, and why?”
The man’s not a blind automaton — I’m sure he has a conscience on some level. He just doesn’t want to admit it, for some reason (as if, basing your behaviors on moral principles is somehow something to be ashamed of).
Well said Paul, good points.
Obviously I think the KPD is doing the right thing in not enforcing this stupid law.
I’m obviously trying to corner them publicly to show people that bad laws SHOULDN’T be enforced. There are numerous examples of bad laws not being enforced by the police… they just need to connect this logic to other bad laws.
DID YOU ALL NOT SEE THIS PHRASE in RSA 322:…” to the disturbance of others, “.???… or grasp the implications of: “…on the first day of the week,”…???…More PROOF that even the BEST COPS usually make lousy lawyers, and the WORST COPs make even worse “POLICE PERSECUTORS”!…Jardis, just because a law on the books hasn’t been ruled “UN-EN-FORCE-ABLE”, doesn’t mean that as a practical matter it can be enforced. That the law is still “on the books” is a sop to the bible-thumper & Pope-worship crowds…that’s ALL it is…it’s one of Concords’ GERIATRIC DAYCARE’s “Just-in-cases”…and THOSE CASES NEVER see the light of day, doncha’ know…small potatoes, tiny, small potatoes…
tKoK,
The state being required to prove the element of “disturbance to others” is only connected to “work, business, or labor of his secular calling.”
Notice that “no person shall engage in any play, game, or sport on that day” is not connected to creating a “disturbance to others.” Simply engaging in play, games, or sports on the Lord’s Day is enough to get your ass in court. Disturbance not required.
Jardis, just because a law on the books hasn’t been ruled “UN-EN-FORCE-ABLE”, doesn’t mean that as a practical matter it can be enforced.
This law shouldn’t be enforced. It is a law authorizing violence to enforce morality. It most certifiably COULD be enforced. How hard would it be for the police to appear at the park where people are playing baseball and politely tell them they had to stop. If they refused… they could be arrested.
They’re not enforcing it because it is a BAD LAW.
They’re not enforcing it because it would piss people off.
It is a perfect example, though, of how the police pick and choose which morality enforcement law they want to use. It shows the hypocrisy of the statements made by the Keene Police Chief on WKBK… and the hypocrisy of their mission statement.
Paul do you have the RSA for the tapping of the feet?
I think it is a rural legend.
To the best of my knowledge there is no STATE law regarding tapping of the feet.
It probably was/is a local ordinance. I think the state law which authorizes local governments to make ordinances/bylaws would authorize such a silly rule.
I suppose that the bowling alley and skate park have to be closed on Sunday too as well.
It’s also against New Hampshire “law” to take seaweed from the beach and to dye margarine (and yet not butter…hmmmm?) pink. That the politicos actually wasted the time and money creating such absurd statutes should have people riled up more than anything.
I suppose that the bowling alley and skate park have to be closed on Sunday too as well.
Yes, unless the local government has enacted their own scheme for regulating the Lord’s Day. I’ve snooped through the City of Keene ordinances… and can’t find anything that would change the local rules regarding sports on the Lord’s Day so the state rule would apply.
That is, according to the NH Supreme Court:
“The legislative scheme, it determined, was to leave control of Sunday business activity to localities, with statewide rules to apply in the absence of local regulation.”
“It’s also against New Hampshire “law” to take seaweed from the beach (…)”
Only at night:
207:48 In Night. – If any person shall carry away or collect for the purpose of carrying away any seaweed or rockweed from the seashore below high-water mark, between daylight in the evening and daylight in the morning, he shall be guilty of a violation.
Chief: “When the probable cause exists for us to do something, we’re going to do it.”
From his WKBK interview… at 21:10.
I want to know why they’re not doing something about the Lord’s Day being disrespected when there is plenty of probable cause.
I’m sure the idea has been floated already, but what about some sports CD? like have a group go play whatever sport in the park, someone *might happen* to call and complain….
http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/rsa/html/xiii/179/179-19.htm
And allow me to quote,
Dancer” means a person or a group of people who, with or without compensation, move their feet, or body, or both, to the accompaniment of music in a premises approved to sell alcoholic beverages.
On-premises licensees may provide entertainment and dancing, in clearly defined areas on their licensed premises, provided they have received written authorization by the town or city and they have provided the commission with a copy of that authorization.
So … tap your feet in a tavern that has not gotten explicit permission for you to do so, and you (and/or perhaps they) are breaking the law 
Although perhaps if it is not “provided” by the owner … whatever that means … it doesn’t count. Then again, allowing people to dance could be considered “providing” dancing as an entertainment option.
The whole thing’s incredibly stupid and tyrannical anyway, of course …
Here’s another stupid one: http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/rsa/html/xxiv/286/286-mrg.htm
I never knew that one Paul, thanks 
The foot tapping one
Chief Meola,
Please forgive my grammar screw up in the first sentence in my letter to you.
“During the call a fellow contributor of mine at FreeKeene.com called to participate in the interview and he made reference to your department not enforcing the provisions of RSA 332-D.”
I just realized it makes no sense.
I’m dyslexic sometimes 
Paul,
I was just reading… and thinking about this:
On-premises **licensees may provide** entertainment and dancing, in clearly defined areas on their licensed premises, provided they have received written authorization by the town or city and they have provided the commission with a copy of that authorization.
Because it would be the on-sale licensee who would be providing the dancing… it would be the on-sale license who must follow the law. It might be legal for someone to tap their OWN foot… but their foot tappage may create a law violation for the licensee if the licensee does not have the Liquor Commission’s approval to provide for dancing.
?
Yeah, that sounds right. It’d probably be the licensee who would be in violation, here. The “dancers” probably aren’t responsible to check the license of the tavern/bar.
… and if they did allow (I prefer that word to “provide”) dancing, without kissing bureaucratic ass (on their own property, mind you) they’d be looking at a year in the slammer.
179:58 Penalties. –
I. Any person who violates any of the provisions of this title or any of the rules adopted pursuant to this title shall be guilty of a misdemeanor if a natural person, or guilty of a felony if any other person. In case of appeal by a licensee, the license of such licensee may be suspended at the discretion of the commission during the pendency of such appeal.
Yikes, I didn’t see that part. I thought it’d be some sort of minor fine.
Did you know that if someone under the age of 21 drives with booze in their parents car…. that the state can use asset forfeiture to SEIZE (steal) the car?
179:2 Seizure. – Any beverage or liquor possessed, kept for sale, **or transported** in violation of the provisions of this title or any law of the state, together with the casks, bottles, or other paraphernalia used in such illegal possession, keeping, or transportation, shall be subject to seizure either upon a warrant issued upon a complaint against the person charged with violating the law, and containing a command for such seizure, or upon a libel directed against the property, filed in accordance with the provisions of RSA 617, and upon due proceedings may be adjudged forfeited. When any sheriff or deputy sheriff, duly appointed police officer or constable of any city or town, or other duly appointed law enforcement officer, shall discover any person in the act of transporting beverages or liquor in violation of this chapter or any other law of this state, in any wagon, buggy, automobile, watercraft, aircraft, or other vehicle, or any other conveyance, it shall be his duty to seize all beverage and liquor found therein being transported contrary to law. No officer shall, without a warrant, cause any automobile or other vehicle traveling upon a public highway in this state to be stopped for the purpose of searching the same for beverages or liquor unless he has reasonable cause to believe that such automobile or other vehicle is, at the time of said stopping or search, being used for the illegal transportation of beverage or liquor. Whenever beverage or liquor being illegally transported shall be seized by an officer he shall take possession of any vehicle, team, automobile, boat, aircraft, watercraft, or any other conveyance engaged in such illegal transportation, and shall arrest any person or persons in charge of such transportation. Such officer shall at once proceed against the person or persons arrested under the provisions of this chapter in any court having competent jurisdiction, >>>>> and the vehicle or conveyance, on due proceedings in accordance with the provisions of RSA 617, may be adjudged forfeited, <<<<< unless by intervention or otherwise at hearing, or in some other proceeding brought for the purpose, a lien or liens shall be established to have been created without notice that such vehicle was being used or was to be used for the illegal transportation of beverage or liquor. The vehicle may be ordered sold by the court, and the proceeds of the sale, after deducting the expenses of keeping and sale, used for the purpose of paying such liens in the order of their priority, and the balance disposed of as provided in RSA 179:3. If a lien or liens shall be established in excess of the value of such vehicle, the court shall order its surrender to the first lienholder upon payment of costs of seizure, but subsequent lienholders shall have the right of redemption in the order of their liens upon satisfaction of prior liens and charges, provided such right is asserted within such time as the court shall fix in its order of surrender.
Defendent:…”Why, No!, your honor sir!…I was not moving my feet in accompaniment to the music. I was moving my feet because I’ve got ants in my socks!” ………Judge: CASE DISMISSED!……Keene Police Persecutor E-lies Rivera: Shit! I knew I shoulda’ gone to LAW SCHOOL!………………………………………………………………………………………..
This is a link to the table of the Keene city ordinances which link to various state laws:
http://library4.municode.com/default-now/DocView/13267/1/187
None of them link to chapter 332-D … which further justifies my argument that the state scheme is in effect in Keene, as the city has not enacted its own local regulations.
Hence— many law violations every Lord’s Day.
It seems the Keene City Manager is responsible for ensuring that the police chief enforce the ban on activities during the Lord’s Day.
According to the Keene City Code:
Sec. 2-111. Functions and powers.
Functions and powers of the city manager shall be as provided in this section. The city manager shall:
(2) Supervise the heads of all departments established by this Code and have the power to suspend and discipline and to perform or delegate the duties and responsibilities of such department heads.
(13) Ensure that this Code and all city ordinances and state laws are faithfully and equitably enforced.
It’s a man named John Maclean. He has been on videos on this website several times in the past; he tells the Keene Police Chief what laws to enforce, what to do and what not to do. He is the boss man.
Wes,
According to the Keene ordinance, he is required to require the chief to enforce all laws.
Nick,
I don’t see anything about the law passing. It was in a conference committee. Even if it was repealed, why are they not enforcing it now? It *is* a law on the books….. why is the marijuana possession law any more important than this one?
Nick,
Sorry I replied based on your comment I got in my email…. I see you removed it.
It seems the houses of the NH legislature couldn’t agree on repealing the chapter during the last legislative session. Reiterating their intent that the stupid law remain on the books.
Why don’t you idiots go buy a large piece of land someplace (like another state), and start your own lawless city and see how long it takes before your utopian society crumbles like all the utopian societies before it.
Already Free,
Can you please tell me how someone in Keene, NH is “already free” if they are prohibited (by law) from playing a game of frisbee or baseball in their back yard?
Already Free on Wed, 28th Jul 2010 4:31 am
Why don’t you idiots go buy a large piece of land someplace (like another state), and start your own lawless city and see how long it takes before your utopian society crumbles like all the utopian societies before it.
–
You mean like one of those places where the motto is “Live Free or Die”? Do you mean exactly like one of those? Why would you want to purposely confuse a society where there are no rulers to lord over the peoples with a land where there are no rules?
Do you not find this dishonest in any way? Are you just merely ignorant about what a place where people are not constantly pushed around and stolen from or do you indeed wish to trick folks into thinking it is something other than what it truly is?
Equally important is why *you* feel that it is your place to be the final arbiter of just who belongs and who doesn’t in your lands. Just how did this get to be so? Did you file a form with the courts begging Judge Burke between one of his Maalox chugging breaks to sign off on papers stating you to be someone whose opinions, needs, values, schemes, and desires to always be valid while excluding all others that don’t agree with your narrow view of the world?
Did you make it to where all those that oppose your credo are to be forever exempted from New Hampshire and the opportunities it brings for positive change? You are better than others so they just don’t matter.
Wow! you just declare others to be schmucks and *poof* they’re gone. Just simply fill out a “Schmuck Form” and they are on the Adios Express (choo! choo!) never to perturb your sensitive eyesight for posterity or even longer. Oh wait, you seem to be one of those guys that likes for some police power to remove by force those you have a problem with.
I’m just curious as to just where that fits into the whole “Live Free or Die”, if at all. Personally I have a big problem seeing where it fits. Maybe I should just make up my own “Schmuck Form” and let others be my strongmen for me. That way I don’t have to either dirty my hands nor plague my conscious for even a microsecond, wondering about the cruel fate that my fellow human beings were subject to because I refused to understand or live in peace with them.
Form to Exclude others from society. a.k.a. “Schmuck Form”
This form shall perform the function of allowing the person signing such below, to permanently exclude and ban all other persons from society, that the signer deems “undesirable” or just does not prefer the company of. This form also allows for the excessive or extreme use of the force of the state to remove such human beings regardless of the damage to their lives, fortunes, sacred honor, reputations or businesses.
Who do you wish to remove? (Please check all that apply)
___ Liberty activists ___ persons who walk (or march) past your sidewalk
___ Free Staters ___ hippies ___ libertarians ___ brown people
___ street musicians ___ pan-handlers ___ bare chested women
___ minarchists ___ persons who work in the private sector
___ mimes ___ naked animals ___ peaceful persons
___ agorists ___ voluntaryists ___ snooty waiters
___ marijuana smokers
___ flatulent people ___ street vendors ___ cigarette and cigar smokers
Are you one or more of the following? (Please check all that apply to you personally)
___ person with extremely excessive sense of entitlement ___ bully
___ crotchety and/or grizzled ___ player hater ___ bigot
___ unmentionable bodily orifice ___ racist ___ jerk
___ “privileged” schmuck ___ intolerant ___ snob ___ elitist
_____________________________
Name
______________
Date
_______________________________
Signature of (preferably sober) Judge
Once this form is signed, please copy in triplicate, forward copies to the Nationalist Party of America (Nazi Party), The local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan, and any other organization that teaches intolerance and lacks understanding of those who live their lives differently from you. You may expect them to send you lots of membership mailings and for them to be able to appreciate someone of your ilk who knows just how to kick people out.
Please take the last copy of this form, double fold it, then cram it down your shorts.
Nice try, Mr. Chaz Munro. If “Already Free” indeed DOES cram it down his shorts, he risks messing up his boyfriends’ make-up. Those 2 guys spend a lot of time doing their make-up. My printer is out of ink at the moment, so I can’t post the filled out copy of the above-posted “Schmuck Form”, but lemme try to remember…let’s see, ah, YES!, Mr. “Already Free” is a neo-Nazi who marches jack-booted in lockstep past my window. Check. He is a brown person. Check. He is a flatulent cigar smoker. Check. Now, I’m not sure that I understand Part 2 of the form. And here in Keene, hell, here in N.H., finding a “sober judge” will be impossible. They are all either drunk with power, or intoxicated by the aroma arising from the teeming masses huddled in squalid homeless shelters, yearning to breathe freely. Let’s just go visit Mr. “A.F.” & bUsTa cApPiN hI-ZaSs…
A lot of the so-called ‘blue laws’ we put in place hundreds of years ago,and are not enforced,though they could be trotted out if needed.Occasionally there is a move to get them repealed,but historical sentiment usually keeps them in place.Kind of like the offices of fence viewer and weigher of coal.Still there,just not used.Noted in Pauls link-section286.5-the penalty is a misdemeanor if a ‘natural person’,felony if any other person.Must be like a ‘supernatural’ person.Above that it describes licenseing for performances,it includes theaters and undertakers.It has been a long time since I have been to a show at the funeral parlor.I should check it out more often,not much thats good at the movies lately. —bil
BTW, Isn’t the “Nationalist Party of America” a John Birch Society “front group”…I think you mean the “National SOCIALIST Party of America”…Germany’s “nazis” called themselves “National Socialist German Workers’ Party”, which in Deutsche(German), looks like “N.S.D.A.P.” which explains why all those banners in 1930′s / 40′s propaganda films have “N.S.D.A.P.” on them. And, you didn’t specify *WHICH* Ku Klux Klan sect the above Schmuck Form should be mailed to. United Klans of America(general KKK), or Grand Exalted Cyclopean Klans of Klansas City-)that’s the one Fran & Ollie founded in his honor, after Kukla died…Sherry was so, so, so sad…STAY ON TOP, Muttonchop!…P.S.: FedEx or USPS???…
Thanks for the clarification,we wouldn’t want the Nazis to get blamed for something they didn’t do! I hadn’t realised all that about poor old Kukla,I am glad there is an organisation set up to honor his (Her? its?) memory. —bil
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