The FKF will happen on April 25 rain or shine! (so I hope it shines)

I’m very sorry for this inconvenience. I hope I’ll still see you there on Sunday, April 25!

The Free Keene Fest is a public outreach festival held each Spring and Fall with the purpose of having fun while introducing people to the ideas of liberty. Join us for live music and food while also learning about many different avenues to achieve more liberty in our lifetimes.

The event will include exhibitors such as:

• Liberty Scholarship Fund
• Fully Informed Jury Association
• NH Free Press
• Free Keene Press
• Students for a Sensible Drug Policy
• Anarchy In Your Head
• Alliance of the Libertarian Left
• Free Minds TV
• FreeKeene.com’s Bloggers
• Free Talk Live
• Mail-to-Jail
• Robin Hood of Keene
• There will also be a gambling table, food vendors, and balloon animals

The following bands will be performing live:

• Josh Noone and the Federal Crime
• Rumors of War
• Jared Dubravsky (from The Colonials)
• A Minor Revolution

The Free Keene Fest is Sunday, October 18 from 11:00a until 3:00p at Railroad Square (82 Main Street) in Keene, and will be followed by a picnic in Robin Hood park until dark.

The event is free and a lot of fun. I hope to see you there!

I realize this is not very much notice, but we wanted to have the festival before it got too hot, yet we wanted to wait until Keene’s trial for “assembly without a permit” was finished. (FYI: In February of this year, Keene cops charged me with “assembly without a permit” for organizing the Fall 2008 Keene Freedom Fest. As I showed up for their trial on May 1, the cop/prosecutor Eli Rivera told me they dropped their charges because the government says you need their permit if you claim exclusive use of Railroad Square but Eli said he could not prove we were using it exclusively. Because we weren’t! So that means that they likely won’t attack us for “assembly without a permit” again, but keep on your toes – they may attack us for other made-up reasons. )

We already have at least one band and a food vendor signed up. Here is a list of organizations that participated in the Fall 2008 festival:

• Fully Informed Jury Association
• NH Free Press
• Free Minds TV
• NH Liberty Alliance
• Anarchy In Your Head
• NH Common Sense
• Liberty Scholarship Fund
• Libertarian Party of New Hampshire
• Liberty Conspiracy
• Alternatives Expo
• Bureaucrash
• Free Talk Live
• FreeKeene.com’s Bloggers
• State Nationals
• Rumors of War
• Josh Noone and the Federal Crime

Please post on our website forums if you represent one of these organizations and would like to participate again, or if you know any other organizations that would like to participate in pro-liberty outreach. Also, post if you can volunteer chairs, tables, gazebo-tents, or your time (for putting up and handing out flyers, etc.).

Visit our website for all the details and to volunteer and discuss the plans and make suggestions.

Thanks for your participation, and I look forward to another fun festival!

Mike Barskey’s charges for organizing Freedom Fest were dropped prior to the trial. Andrew Carroll was found guilty for possessing marijuana, and will likely turn himself in to the jail on Monday instead of paying any fines. In addition, many activists refused to stand as Judge Burke entered, and it was not even mentioned.

Video will be forthcoming tonight and throughout the weekend.

Andrew Carroll was arrested for holding marijuana in protest, and Mike Barskey is accused of breaking city ordinances by organizing the Keene Freedom Fest without a license.

The statist also makes an observation that liberty-oriented callers to the show have dropped off, and he’s right. Over the past two weeks, only OTN’s Sam and I have called. The unfortunate fact is, the authoritarians are still the bulk of call load on this show. If you are awake on Saturday mornings, we could really use your help! Please join us in calling the program with a pro-liberty viewpoint. Get details on when and how and discuss with other activists on this Free Keene forum thread.

Download the MP3.

ACCORDING TO THIS COMPLAINT, Barskey is accused of being in violation with the following Keene Ordinance

ARTICLE XI. OUTDOOR EVENTS*

__________
*Cross references: Environment, ch. 38.
State law references: Open-air meetings, RSA 286:2 et seq.; shows, carnivals, RSA 321-A:1 et seq.

__________

DIVISION 1. GENERALLY

Sec. 46-621. Description.
Outdoor periodic events shall include athletic exhibitions, public dances, circuses, carnivals, live performances, exhibitions, promotional activities and any similar periodic activity open and available to the public which is conducted outdoors. For the purposes of this article, “promotional activities” shall not include promotional sales activities which are held at the normal place of business of the sponsor unless they are activities of a type that involve exhibitions, public dances, circuses, carnivals, live performances and other activities of a similar type which do not relate directly to the sale of the product of the business.
(Code 1970, § 1814.0)
Secs. 46-622–46-640. Reserved.

DIVISION 2. LICENSE

Sec. 46-641. Required.
Any person who wishes to have an outdoor event as described in section 46-621 shall obtain a license from the city clerk.

Sec. 46-642. Fee.
The fee for a license granted under this division shall be as set forth in the schedule of fees in appendix B to this Code for the duration as specified on the license for activities of a commercial nature. However, no fee shall be required for activities conducted by charitable organizations, by governmental agencies, by neighborhood groups, or by religious organizations, unless such activity is generally considered to be a commercial enterprise.
(Code 1970, § 1814.0)
Secs. 46-643–46-670. Reserved.

While deciding whether Mike deserves this harassment or not, I encourage readers of this blog to consider not whether Mike has broken the letter of the rule, but who the rules are meant to serve. While ordinances often have good intentions behind them, only innocent people have been caught up in them this time. Freedom Festival was held on public, taxpayer owned land. Requiring additional work and money to get a license to use the land serves nobody but the City. When the government ceases to serve the people, and only itself, it deserves resistance.

Mike’s appearance date is set for the same day as activist Andrew Carroll’s. Stay on Freekeene.com for updates as that date arrives.

Perhaps another reason they decided against it was because they felt as though too many activists might come out and refuse to stand for “justice” Burke in protest of his recent crackdown on courtroom sitters.

Perhaps what he says in his letter is true and that he has discovered who the “actual organizer” of Freedom Fest was and is planning on going after him. I don’t know for sure, but I do have coffee scheduled with Mr. Rivera, so perhaps I can find out more at that time and dissuade him from going after anyone.

Hopefully these government guys will start to realize that the more they crack down, the larger the response from the activists. Eventually, they should come to the conclusion that leaving us alone is the best way to protect their precious cloak of legitimacy. If they ignore liberty activists, there won’t be as much news generated, meaning other activists won’t be as enthusiastic about moving sooner rather than later, which will help them extend their rule over the ignorant masses as long as possible. Basically, if they don’t want their little party to end sooner, they should stop inviting us to it.

Anyway, thanks to Eli Rivera for making the right choice. Hopefully, he and his associates will continue to do so.

Here’s the discussion thread about this on the Free Keene Forum.

Here’s a little more about Freedom Fest. Two bands decided to show up and provide entertainment and there were a number of booths up for people interesting in learning more about various freedom movements in New Hampshire, including yours truly and groups like NH Common Sense, NHLA, New Hampshire Free Press, The Red Amendment, and The Liberty Scholarship Fund. I know I’m forgetting someone. About an hour into the event, police showed up and started asking individual participants if they had gotten a permit to be in this supposedly public place. The term “public property” seems like an oxymoron to me. Property implies the ability to exclude others from the use of that property. Therefore, the enforcers “own” public property; not us. The Freedom Festival is just another demonstration of this fact.

The band I interviewed in the video has been playing unharassed for about 10 months in the same location, usually using the public power. In case you think this is an issue of size or numbers, there’s no evidence to support that. There’s nothing about size or numbers in the ordinance that was the supposed reason we were being ordered to leave under threat of citation or arrest. Also the police were going around to each booth or band and asking for a permit, most of which were no more than one or two people, no different than the band playing for tips a week later, so by their own actions, it was not about numbers. The Z Squared band has gotten occasional noise complaints from local businesses but the police decided to pardon them. I think it’s silly, frankly, to complain of noise in a business district in the middle of the day in a location that’s known for having live bands and other public events, but the point is Freedom Fest got no such complaints from locals apparently. The police were asked if anyone had complained and the only answer seemed to be the enforcers themselves.

The laws are weapons in the hands of the people in power. You have free speech on supposedly public property IF they like you and IF they don’t mind what you’re saying.