Free Keene

A recent mover within the last year, Andrew Mercer has kept a fairly low profile as far as activism goes, but he’s certainly still been active. He has gone to court hearings when he can, he’s been to a few 4:20 rallies, and he’s accompanied Sam on quests into City Hall for open records requests, he’s even been on a few CopWatching missions. Though he hasn’t gone out looking to push boundaries and engage in disobedience, but he was recently held in Vermont by state troopers just because one of them suspected he had an illegal plant in his possession.

However, Andrew just went to trial on an unrelated case out of Keene involving him being caught driving a car that didn’t have the correct license plate on it. At trial Andrew’s councel, FreeKeene blogger Nick Ryder, argued that the State could not prove that Andrew attached the wrong plate to the car, or allowed anyone else to.

See the officer’s arrest report on Andrew (PDF)
Hear the audio of the trial (27 min length)

Nonetheless, Judge Lane of the Keene District Court found Andrew guilty, and because of his resistance to paying fines to the government, Andrew will be committed to 50 hours in jail over two separate occasions. The first beginning this Tuesday afternoon (02-02-10).

He may be critiqued for “playing by the rules” in trying to defend himself “by the system” in court, but he’s costing the State several times the price of his $150 ticket. And if more people did that, the system would easily grind down.

As previously reported, Andrew from Keene was held for 2.5 hours by Vermont troopers on December 2nd after he was pulled over, refused a search, a drug dog came out, alerted on the vehicle, and the police tore it apart looking for drugs.

Andrew’s supporters who had driven from Keene to help him were told if they didn’t leave the scene then the police would tow the car away. The previous video left off at the point where Andrew is going to be left alone with the troopers. Part 2 of the video completes the story.

If you’re not going to watch the entire video, skip to timecode 4:45 to watch how happy the trooper is when he thinks he’s found something.

A FreeKeene supporter was pulled over on Wednesday afternoon around 5:20pm for a broken headlight. He was not released until nearly 8pm after the State police brought drug dog out, claimed it alerted on his vehicle, and searched every single thing in his car and on his person, including his shoes and socks. In the end, no drugs were ever found.

Andrew M refused consent to let troopers search his car. They waited 25 minutes for the canine unit to come and walk around it, and then the troopers claimed the dog alerted on the vehicle. Andrew was then given 2 options: Consent to a search, or the car would be taken in. Andrew chose the lesser of two major inconveniences and indicated he’d let the police search him and his car.

Nick Ryder, a FreeKeene blogger, and Chris Miranda, another FreeKeene supporter, arrived on scene with a camera. However, when the trooper wanted to begin his car search, he claimed he would seize the car if Chris and Nick did not leave, so the camera stayed behind in Andrew’s hands while Chris and Nick monitored the situation from afar.

Below is part 1 of the video taken from Wednesday night.

When videographers tried to document Kurt Hoffman being taken out of the Keene District Court on a stretcher, they were met with extreme resistance, forced into a side room, and issued threats of being penalized for violating HIPAA.

Not once has anyone been able to show us the text of HIPAA that restricts people from recording patients in public. In fact, you may be surprised to see that in the video below, a videographer in Keene openly records the scene of an accident and the patient, without his consent, and the police don’t even seem to acknowledge it as an issue.

November 3rd will be the local City Council elections. Polls are open from 8am to 7pm. This will be the culminating day in FreeKeene.com Blogger Nick Ryder’s campaign. Over the past month, he and his campaign staff have spread out about 2000 fliers over the city, and placed local Cheshire TV and radio ads.

Ryder’s brochure points to things like property rights, personal rights, a hands-off government, and the abolition of unnecessary licensing as some issues he stands on. (See the entire brochure).

So for the voice of smaller government, and the principles FreeKeene.com supports, vote Ryder tomorrow at your appropriate polling location:

Ward 1: Wheelock School
Ward 2: Keene Recreation Center
Ward 3: Fuller Elementary School
Ward 4: Symonds School
Ward 5: Trinity Lutheran Church

Judge Howard Lane, filling in for our friend Burke, found Sam “guilty” today for driving after suspension in relation to this incident.

Sam raised a few objections regarding conflicts of interest and why Burke has not yet ruled on his previous case, but he played by the court rules for the most part (except for standing). Below is a cut-down video from the trial including Sam’s objections and a few other highlights:

And here is the longer, full trial video:

Two weeks before election day, the crew behind the campaign to elect Nick Ryder to City Council has released 4 promotional clips. They play back to back in the below embedded video:

Campaign staff will also be ramping up brochure distribution in the final weeks to spread Ryder’s name and idea recognition. He is the only candidate bringing anything resembling a new perspective to the Council race saturated with incumbents and former councilmen. This is made clear when he is the only candidate that media hosts debate with during interviews.

A couple Keene Police Officers, who we’ve been told are open and respectful, continually run from one simple question: “What is your name?”

Police arrested and soon released a protester named Evan downtown on Sunday afternoon. He was let go after the police realized he wasn’t actually in possession of marijuana.

Lt. Shane Maxfield continued his undying urging of activists to “work within the system.” I was taught in school that democracy was defined as “Majority rule with minority rights.” When the rights of minorities are stripped by the majority, democracy falls apart, and the time, money, and effort needed to win back just one measly right is so extreme and so costly, that activists often burn out before one victory.

The system is broken when it proves is has unlimited purview in controlling the private lives of citizens. The system is broken because it has no restrictions. The system is broken because 1000 people stealing from or enslaving 100 is not moral, even if they voted.

The system is broken, Shane. Stop following immoral orders.

Rich Paul, one of the original organizers of what has become a daily anti-prohibition rally, was singled out and arrested today by Keene Police.

He was later released on $1000 PR bond with a November 2nd court date.

Heard on the police scanner afterward: “I think what we needed to do is done. I don’t know if there’s any reason to go back and stir the pot again.”

The question: Will they “stir the pot” again on Sunday?