Robin Hooders Likened to Westboro Baptist Church By Sentinel Hitpiece

Wanted Robin HoodYou’d think that the Keene Sentinel, the paragon of journalistic integrity, would bother to research what “harassement” is (legally) before they go throwing around accusations at their peaceful neighbors. Alas, they continue to tow “the City” official line that Robin Hooders are “harassing” the poor, hard-working parking enforcement officers in this recent editorial.

In their state-fellating piece they even claim we Robin Hooders are “bullying” the parking enforcers. Nevermind the fact that “the City” never presented a shred of evidence to support their claim of “harassment” during three days of hearings at “superior” court. Oh, and be sure to ignore the actual bullying done by the parking enforcers. It’s their job to threaten peaceful motorists and even steal their cars and hold them for ransom.

They even have the gall to refer to Robin Hooding as “unpopular”!  Have they bothered to visit the Robin Hood of Keene facebook page where several thank you cards, notes, and donations from grateful motorists have been posted for all to see?

The icing of the cake has to be their likening of Robin Hooders to the nasty, hateful people at Westboro Baptist Church!  Let’s see, Robin Hooders do good by rescuing people from parking tickets while discouraging aggression and encouraging peace while Westboro Baptist members hold offensive protests to spread vitriol, bigotry, and hatred.

Below is the full text of the propaganda hitpiece that masquerades as a pro-free speech opinion, conveniently published after the judge’s decision.  Way to take a stand, Sentinel!  (I bet they’d have agreed with the robed man if he’d issued the city’s injunction and crushed free speech.  Then they’d talk about how speech should have “reasonable” limitations.)

So, as it turns out, some degree of public bullying is allowable under the U.S. Constitution.

That’s what many may take away from this week’s dismissal of a case against the self-anointed “Robin Hooders” who stood accused of harassing workers in the city of Keene’s Bureau of Parking Enforcement.

The group, associated with the Free Keene movement, had been, over the course of several months, stalking the city’s three parking enforcement officers as they tried to do their jobs. Following the civil servants throughout the downtown streets and parking lots, they crowded, distracted and insulted them. They videotaped their confrontations to be posted online, and tried to convince the employees to quit. Eventually, one did, while the other two required counseling.

In this instance, they took general boorishness to new heights, systematically badgering and harassing three individuals in order to temporarily inconvenience the city government.

Incidentally, the Free Keeners also fed expired parking meters, in an effort to deprive the city of revenue from parking tickets. That’s been the most-publicized aspect of their behavior outside of the Monadnock Region, as the city has been outmaneuvered, portrayed as the institutional bad guy while the Free Keeners hail themselves as heroes of the regular Joe.

But the city has never publicly opposed the plugging of meters, and the self-proclaimed heroes spent months harassing three “regular Joes” whose job happens to be writing tickets.

The city responded to protect its workers by going to court, seeking a 30-foot buffer zone around the officers. Essentially, it tried to argue that the city’s streets are a workplace and its workers were being kept from performing their tasks.

Cheshire Superior Court Judge John C. Kissinger Jr. disagreed, noting the group’s First Amendment right to comment on how the city does its business outweighs the city’s contractual interest in its workers’ performance.

His reasoning was sound. It would be far more dangerous to allow the government to squelch dissent on public property than to allow repugnant — though political — behavior by a handful of malcontents.

First Amendment protections are not absolute, but they absolutely do cover political speech, even when — no, especially when — it’s unpopular. And there’s no mistaking the Free Keeners’ philosophy and actions have been that.

In that way they’re similar to Rev. Fred Phelps’ Westboro Baptist Church, the Kansas ministry that likes to pop up at the funerals of celebrities, soldiers and disaster victims, hoping to convince us all that “God hates fags.” The courts have held that regardless of how abhorrent and narcissistic their actions are, the ministry’s members have a First Amendment right to speak their mind.

Still unknown is whether the city will appeal the ruling and, if so, whether it will be upheld. Even if it stands, Judge Kissinger did note at the end of his ruling that the three parking officers may well have other remedies if the harassment continues, though they would likely be pursued through a civil lawsuit at their own expense, unless it doesn’t rise to the level of a criminal offense. Or, he said, the city might find a way to enact an ordinance that would give the officers some protection, providing it also didn’t run afoul of constitutional rights. Good luck figuring that out.

In the big picture, the court got it right. For the greater good of society, it was a win.

But for those of us pulling for basic human decency, some aspects of it sure feel like a loss.

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