A candlelight vigil is being held this Wednesday, October 20th, at 5:30 pm in Central Square to draw attention to suicides by teens blamed on anti-gay bullying.  AIDS Services for the Monadnock Region is sponsoring the Keep Spirit Alive vigil.  Participants are asked to wear purple to represent spirit in the pride rainbow flag.

Organizers said nine young men between 13 and 19 and a 19-year-old woman committed suicide in the United States between July and September after being harassed in their schools and communities.  A high turnout at events like this shows struggling kids can see that they’re not alone, that there are people in their community who want them to lead full and fulfilling lives.

I’m strongly encourage Keene activists and other readers of Free Keene to show up at this event.  I’ll bring some extra candles.

A lot of people don’t have purple in their wardrobe.  Please don’t let that discourage you from coming.

The NH Free Press was once titled the Keene Free Press when Kat Kanning, the paper’s creator, lived in Keene.  Now like a seed inside a piece of fruit the next iteration of a local Keene newspaper  is borne within the pages of the former one.

My goal is simply to have one more avenue of communication with the individuals who inhabit the Keene area.  I will not shy away from controversy or contentious content but instead I hope to give insight where there is confusion.  I have plans to expand this paper and to do some actual investigative reporting but for now it will start out small and grow into whatever it becomes.

If you have any ideas or thoughts in how to make this a better paper please share them and if you would like to lend you time in any way be sure to let me know.

You will find a .pdf of this first issue among the links to the right, titled Press.  http://press.freekeene.com

Please direct any special comments or inquiries to press@freekeene.com

Thank you,

James B Schlessinger Jr.

I might catch hell from my friends for posting this but I’m the type of person who speaks his mind regardless.

In general the Keene Police Department and the local Sheriffs have acted in a very professional manner and have shown a great deal of restraint in dealing with activists.  Most notably, Lt. Shane Maxfield.  In every incident I have seen involving the Lt. he has been calm and communicative, dare I say honorable.  This is reality.  Whether you like the job they do, the actions they take or the orders they follow, we are fortunate to have good humans in those uniforms.  And they are human, just as we are, subject to the same flaws and features, the same mistakes and misjudgments.

I do take issue with the way Patrick was carried today and the way Sam was likely treated, I do take issue with the orders to arrest peaceful activists for victimless crimes and I do take issue with the use of force in general to achieve a hegemony of the State over the Individual.  One need only read my previous blog entries to see how I feel.

You want to see bad cops search “police abuse” on google or Youtube and you will get an eyeful.  You want to see what a lack of restraint truly looks like or what a jackbooted thug really does, see my previous sentence.

This is the reality we live in.  No Photoshop, no bullshit just the real truth.  We ( the activists and the police ) may not see eye to eye but at least we are given legs to stand on and not lying on the ground with a knee on our throat.

I left the police station this afternoon mulling over a blog post describing the event as merely an exercise in intimidation, which it was, but after cooling down and reading some private information I realized that we were giving up our most potent weapon.  The Truth.

We talk and debate about the truth that the State is merely a monopoly of violence and that they do not and can not produce anything because they must first take from the producers.  We talk about the truth involving the drug war and victimless crimes.  Why then can we not speak the truth about how we are treated for the most part by the KPD with respect and civility.  Obviously there are exceptions but they are few.

Here is some more truth.  Police Prosecutor Rivera lost his wits today.  A dozen or more upset but PEACEFUL activists in the lobby concerned over the screams of a friend in captivity and he calls in the hammer squad to bust up the circus.  He knew given our history that we would not harm him physically but the truth is he knows (don’t deny the truth Mr. Rivera) that what was going on was wrong.  His position in the argument was morally bankrupt.  Arresting someone in a public court room for wanting to video tape a public arraignment is just asinine and asking for civil dissent.  Couple that with the fact that no other arraignments were going on at the time and the only people in the court room, other than civil servants, were activists and your left with a What the Fuck situation.  There was no reason to not allow cameras other than the whole power trip obey-and-comply bullshit.  This is the truth.

One final piece of truth for you the reader.  The ONLY reason cameras are not allowed is because Judge Burke embarrassed himself with his little outburst and Youtube ate it up.

When confronted with the truth an individual can choose to do one of the following: deny it, cover it up, ignore it or accept it.  Which one are you going to choose?  Rivera?  Burke?  Maxfield?  Which is it going to be?

Man up or STFU.

Senior Freelance Field News Corespondent Jim Johnson filed this report:

Click here to view the embedded video.

4/19, Noon-3p, Railroad Square in Keene (the small park adjacent to 82 Main St.)

The following organizations/people are confirmed to be attending the event:

• FreeKeene.com’s Bloggers
• Keene Eye on the News’ Mark Edgington
• NH Free Press
• NH Liberty Alliance
• NH Common Sense
• Alternatives Expo
• Free Minds TV

Food and drinks will be available via nearby vendors like Armadillo’s Burritos, King’s Garden Chinese, and Amicci’s Pizza.

More discussion about the event can be found here on the forum.

See you there!