I went to Keene City Hall to file the asinine “required papers” to capture video of the ‘public trial’ Burke is holding for Sam this Friday.  As I came into the 2nd floor lobby, the bailiff recognized me, and I gave him a friendly smile and a ‘Hello’.  The bureaucrat behind the window began looking for some information I requested, I noticed a state trooper walking around in the area behind the counter.  As he exited through the side door, and entered the hallway that leads into the courtroom, I could no longer see him; however, when he began to speak to the bailiff, I could hear him plainly:

“Hey, remember those Free Staters we got the other day?  We just got him again!”

He exclaimed this in a tone of absolute joy, and then began laughing.

Because the bailiff had recognized me upon entering the lobby, he had attempted to silence the trooper after the words ‘remember those Free Staters’.  Whether he was trying to protect the trooper from exposing themselves as the heartless thugs they are, or protecting me from hearing an official degrade my friends and family, is unclear to me.  However, when I shot him a look of shock mixed with sadness, and asked who it was, his tone became very ashamed and apologetic.

This brought front and center the attitude of the state towards peaceful people who object to their brutal treatment.  They are hunters and we are the game.

Looks like there may be a thin red line here in Keene. I went today to talk to John MacLean, the city manager. I wanted to ask him what the city’s policy was about employees who steal. He said he couldn’t do anything unless I complained to the police. As I’d mentioned in an earlier post, I’d rather forgive Ron Leslie, the thief in this case, and the captain of the EMS B squad. I was just curious what the city people would do about a naughty employee, and I wasn’t expecting much.

Turns out the situation is worse than I thought. MacLean suggested that the fire chief’s report said the EMS agents all reported that I was getting in their way and interfering with their ability to administer care to the patient, Kurt Hoffman. The truth? Not only did Kurt want us to record the scene, neither Sam nor I, (the two media members with cameras) in any way impeded EMS workers’ ability to do their jobs. Of course, the video footage proves this, but that won’t mean the EMS crew will be fired for lying or likely disciplined in any way. They are protected by a system that has virtually no accountability. Indeed, MacLean even justified the theft of the camera saying it was appropriate if I was in the EMS agent’s way. Even if I were in his way, stealing is not an appropriate response. There were several armed agents nearby who could have been asked to intervene. Why didn’t that happen? Obviously because I wasn’t in anyone’s way or interfering. If I was, they’d likely have removed me and possibly arrested me over it. Clearly there is nothing to substantiate their claims – but that doesn’t matter. They do what they want, and we’ll pay for it, or else.

In a normal business, when you talk to the manager as a customer with an issue, you will either have the issue addressed to your satisfaction, or not. If not, you can refuse to do business with that store. With city government people, it doesn’t matter whether they slam their “customers” into walls, knock them over a chair onto their head while handcuffed, or attack people just for toting video devices – you CAN’T stop funding them, or they will steal your home.

MacLean says I can just go file a complaint with the police and they may decide to take action if there is evidence of wrongdoing. Will I be compensated by the city for all of my time spent going through their “processes”? Of course not. Were I to follow his advice, I’d likely spend who knows how much time jumping through their hoops so down the line they can tell me they couldn’t find evidence of wrongdoing. EMS would likely claim I was interfering when the cameras weren’t looking. It won’t matter what the videos show or the other non-city-employee witnesses say. The thin red line is protecting its own.

Don’t like it? MacLean says to use their system they have set up to change how they behave. Just spend countless hours and dollars attempting to use the system to destroy the system. You can see how difficult it is just to get them to have a chat with their employees about stealing cameras from people – now imagine how much moreso it would be to actually remove their power over others.

My write-in “campaign”, which consisted of me mentioning it here on the blog the day before and once on the radio several weeks ago, only garnered nine of the ten votes required to qualify me on the general election ballot. Looks like the statists’ tactics were successful.

Of course, had I gotten ten votes, you can bet the clerk’s office would have continued to work hard at preventing my name from going on the ballot. After all, they don’t want to give people the actual opportunity to vote for someone who is running as “Nobody” and pledging to refuse to take office.

All that said, this story is proof that one vote really can make a difference in local elections here in New Hampshire. As more politically minded people move to Keene and get active in the system, things will get more frustrating for the statists. The bureaucrats are pretty fortunate most activists here at this time want nothing to do with the inside-the-system stuff. I bet we’ll see the movement in Keene expand to include more politically active people in the next two years. We already know that Andrew Carroll is planning a state house run in 2010, and Nick Ryder’s campaign for city council is still going, with him beating local snitch and busybody Clark “Pepper Pete” Anderson in the primary.

Hello CALEA Staff,

I’m writing to inform you of another incident with the Keene PD, which recently went though the certification process. I spoke with Barbara during the feedback session, but don’t have any further contact information, as your organization doesn’t seem interested in hearing from the public.

Today a man was found in contempt by an out of control judge. After being handcuffed, and taken into a back room, Keene Police Prosecutor Eli Rivera handled him in a way the ended up causing Mr. Hoffman to fall, landing entirely on his head. He was unable to move and screaming in pain. Medics were called in, the press was barred, when it came time to remove him from the building, suddenly the filming ban on public property was extended to any place that might show the faces of the officers involved today’s brutal attack.

Additionally, a paramedic attacked a man, stole his phone, and gave it to police who took over an hour to return it. The police don’t seem interested in taking any correcting action. Eli Rivera is the same man who brutalized me and told me to scream, “LOUDER! LOUDER” LOUDER” THEY CAN”T HEAR YOU” At least that’s what was captured by my camera before they broke it. It’s a $7,000 professional HD camera, and I’m a member of the Press.

I know you probably don’t care what the public thinks of the job police are doing, since all of your metrics are internally focused, and you seem to despise feedback from the public. However, hopefully after reading this you won’t be able to go on pretending that what your doing is fair and just. You won’t be able to go in telling yourselves that nobody is getting hurt by these men, and it’s ok to pat them on the back with your certification, and tell them their doing a good job so this kind of behavior can continue.

I hope Eli and the other sadists on KPD staff, can one day rejoin humanity. We are ready to forgive anyone who is ready to stop hurting peaceful people.

Sam Dodson

Here is the audio file of him being held in contempt.

Cheshire sheriffs demand we not record as Kurt Hoffman who minutes before was incapacitated by Eli Rivera, Keene PD’s prosecutor, is wheeled out from Keene District Court on a stretcher. They claim some words on paper called “HIPA” prevent the “free press” from recording people receiving medical care, even if the recipient requests cameras present:

Did you know that EMS workers are also now enforcers of some arbitrary words on paper called “HIPA”? (I didn’t – I thought they were good people who do their best to help. Guess that’s not true of all of them.) EMS workers and sheriffs claim that “HIPA” allows them to prevent you from recording video of what they do with patients. Apparently it doesn’t matter what the patient wants. Watch as this thug steals my camera. I then spent over an hour of my time waiting around to get it back. Watch for another angle and longer video coming from ObscuredTruth.com soon here at FreeKeene.com

Shaheen meetings targeted
Activists, staffers clash over format

A slew of town-hall style public forums on health care hosted by Democratic legislators across the country this summer have stirred up some heated debate.

Earlier this week, White House officials counseled Democratic senators on how to cope with orchestrated disruptions from opponents confronting them about President Barack Obama’s health reform proposals during the forums.

Recently, activists in the Granite State have used a similar approach at meetings with staff members for Sen. Jeanne Shaheen in communities including Grafton and Keene.

Shaheen staffers say they’ve been scheduling office hours to allow constituents to talk with them one-on-one about individual issues — not as public forums.

But messages on a handful of Web sites for conservative and liberal groups alike have dubbed them town-hall forums, with some even implying that Shaheen would be present, according to Michael A. Vlacich, state director to Shaheen.

And demonstrators have shown up carrying video cameras and demanding to be allowed access to private meetings between constituents and staff members, Vlacich said.

A group of activists, including some members of the Free State Project — an effort to recruit 20,000 people who prefer limited government to live in New Hampshire — showed up at Keene City Hall during scheduled office hours Friday morning.

They say they came because it was billed as a public event and they don’t understand why Shaheen representative Pamela Russell Slack (who is also a Keene city councilor) turned them away without meeting with them.

Slack did not return a message seeking comment.

Vlacich said staff members have to take their safety and the safety of the constituents into consideration during the meetings and the activists were making people uncomfortable.

Keene Police Lt. James A. Cemorelis said two officers were sent as a precaution after bailiffs from Keene District Court contacted them about a disturbance on the second floor of city hall.

The office hours format, with Shaheen’s staff members holding meetings in town halls and public libraries, goes back to when she served as governor from 1997 to 2003, Vlacich said. Staff members meet with small groups or individuals about concerns or questions they may have, ranging from how to navigate new bank and foreclosure processes to veterans trying to access medical benefits.

People from all points of view are invited to meet with the staff, including opponents of Shaheen’s stance on issues, but they are expected to treat each other and the staff members with respect, Vlacich said.

“I appreciate that folks demand accountability of elected individuals and their staff, but what stunned me was the harsh tone (the demonstrators) took with their neighbors and the constituents that were there,” Vlacich said. “You have to respect there are fellow neighbors here who have serious issues and all you’re doing is making them uncomfortable and in some cases turning them away because they don’t want to be videotaped.”

But Ian “Freeman” Bernard, an outspoken Free Stater who hosts a nationally syndicated radio talk show based in Keene, said he attended the session as a member of the press, and while Slack had already met with some other constituents, she told him she would not meet with the Free Staters.

She also said the video cameras carried by some of the demonstrators would not be allowed in the room where she was meeting with constituents, he said.

“She just doesn’t like video cameras and she doesn’t like tough questions,” Bernard said.

Vlacich said Slack was concerned about people filming her during one-on-one discussions with constituents. At one point, he said, Slack escorted an upset woman to her car and returned to find that some furniture in the meeting room had been rearranged to allow for a camera to be set up.

“People were having private meetings with her,” he said. “It wasn’t an appropriate place for them to be filming.”

Brooke Kelley, an activist who said she’s not tied to the Free Staters, said Slack sat down with her but ended the meeting after only a few minutes when she learned that Kelley doesn’t live in Keene.

Kelley, who calls New Orleans home, has been traveling the country for more than a year to promote Restore the Republic and Campaign for Liberty, groups she volunteers for. She said she was in town, heard about a meeting on the radio and wanted to talk with Slack about health care, but felt Slack had just been looking for a reason to end their conversation.

“I didn’t think that it was a public meeting where everyone was going to speak together and that was fine,” Kelley said. “But I’m a citizen of the U.S. and I’m one of the people that health care is going to affect, so for her to say she’s not going to meet with me because she’s not my representative doesn’t make sense.”

Vlacich says Shaheen’s staff members will continue to provide office hours for the public.

“We want it to be a welcoming forum for all constituents, including those who disagree with Sen. Shaheen,” he said. “But there has got to be a way to do this that does not intimidate people and chase them away.”

Casey Farrar can be reached at 352-1234, extension 1435, or cfarrar@keenesentinel.com.

This video sets the scene for the day:

This was my discussion with Pamela Slack who was there to hear concerns on behalf of Jeanne Shaheen:

Learn more and get the jail contact info at JailedActivist.info. Write to David at Mail-to-Jail.com.

Join us for his release party at the jail on Sunday at 9am. Details on this forum thread.

Videojournalist Dave Ridley has written this letter to the editor of the Sentinel:

Keene liberty activist David Krouse is in jail for several days because he quietly, briefly refused to leave the Keene District Court lobby. He chose to stay there partly in protest of an indie reporter’s arrest, partly out of concern for the reporter’s safety.

If you have a problem with authorities using your tax dollars in this manner, I invite you to join the FreeKeene.com activists who will celebrate Krouse’s release on August 9th. This will presumably ocurr outside the Cheshire County jail. Details are at Calendar.FreeKeene.com. The last such event drew over forty supporters, a hamburger grill and a mobile entertainment center.

Punishing folks for constructively monitoring the government…turns individuals into movements and movements into cultures. The latter is what’s starting to happen now.