Sign the online petition to keep Keene Bearcat-free!

LENCO’s head salesman, Jim Massery admitted on the phone today that he didn’t think it should be shown to the council as it’s intended to market to the police.

Of course, that’s the point. LENCO is not marketing the BEARCAT to police as a rescue vehicle, as the council has been told. The councilors should see how this monstrosity is being promoted. If you haven’t, please watch the video that the city attorney doesn’t want you or the city commission to see. (Also, note that LENCO changed the permissions on their video to make it so it is not searchable and also so it can’t be embedded on other websites…like this one.) Then come out on Thursday evening and speak out against it. It’s our chance to reverse the deal and say, “Thanks but no tanks!”

LENCO’s head of sales also said he’d be attending the Keene committee meeting, which tells me LENCO doesn’t quite think they have this sale in-the-bag.

Since implementation, the following observations/feedback has been noted:
- Numerous mechanical difficulties have arisen with the machines and they continue to present.
- The public is finding the technology difficult to operate.
- The technology is not conducive to customers of the downtown businesses.
- Downtown merchants have reported constant complaints about the new kiosks and have reported down-turns in business as a result.
- Space usage and enforcement is down due to the mechanical issues and the difficulties the public has had with using it.

Although a 90 day trial period was requested, it appears that the trial period already undertaken is sufficient to indicate this technology will not work at this time within the City of Keene and that it will not produce the benefits originally believed.

Consequently, we will be suspending the trial period, removing the pay-by-space machines, and re-installing the coin operated parking meters.

Of course, what they should do is take down all the parking meters. It works during the week in the holiday season where only the two-hour limit is enforced – it would work all year long.

I would first like to take a moment and say thank you to Terry Clark, for his quiet attempts in educating the city of the Lenco BEARCAT and opposing its being in Keene.  I feel I made the right choice in voting for him, as he truly listens and cares what people in this city want. I hope the rest of the city council takes note of him and follows suit.

With that said, I am flabbergasted as to why there is even consideration for this war-like machine for Cheshire County. Keene is the biggest town/city in the county, and we certainly don’t need it! Thermal cameras so whoever is in the BEARCAT can see what’s going on in the ‘privacy’ of homes? Gun stands? We, in NH are able to boast that we live in one of the safest places in the country. Now you want to make it a military state? People feeling threatened and nervous by the sheer SIGHT of this monstrous ‘truck’?

I have personally done a bit of research on these machines, and have found that this would not be beneficial in the least to our area. When it needs to be serviced or a part replaced, we need to take it to MA (there are only 4 places in the country that service them). I understand the government (thanks a lot, Bush and Obama) will give Keene a grant of about $285,000  to purchase the BEARCAT, but will the grant also cover the cost of repairs and upkeep? I do believe that will be coming from taxpayers such as myself. No thank you! What about the money/resources to effectively train people to use it? I do not want to see many of the KPD have such a powerful tool as they already abuse the ones they have. You, as city council, have done some great maneuvering and compromising with certain situations in the past, but you have NOT been good with taxpayers’ money. You have continued to blow it on ridiculous things that we don’t NEED and many people don’t WANT. I strongly urge you to think VERY carefully about this piece of equipment.

As cited from the MSNBC website, “Other criminal justice experts have questioned whether police need minitanks, saying they’re often used for mundane tasks such as serving warrants, and create a sense of police as military soldiers rather than neighbors. They also contend that BearCats and other SWAT machinery do little to prevent violent crimes, which have fallen steadily in the past decade.”  The crime rate in the US is the lowest it has been since 2002, despite the population being at its highest since then.

Its bullet-proof armor sounds great, but really, how often do we have shoot outs in Cheshire County? Here’s a fact for you: Roughly 50 officers die per year in the US while on duty. That is in the entire COUNTRY. Not much!  One other thing to consider: The only people this ‘tank’ will protect are the 2-10 people inside it.  Please don’t hide behind the guise of this being an all-terrain vehicle that will assist in the once in a great while rescues that occur. BEARCAT stands for Ballistic Engineered Armored Response Counter Attack Truck. Again, utter nonsense!

I know that MANY people in Keene feel the same way I do about this machine. Please take another look at the petition that has been going around town. You will see that not only “the free keeners” don’t want this image for our quaint and beautiful town, but business owners, city workers, political figures, teachers, parents, and people that voted for YOU are also saying THANKS BUT NO TANKS!

(*Note* The date on this video mistakenly shows 1.04.2012 when it should actually read 1.14.2012, which is the day after the incident occurred.)
Ryan will NOT be taking a plea deal for the outrageous charges that followed this incident:

To learn his charges, continue reading…

In the words of the state agents who arrested him, Ryan did “purposely exercise unauthorized
control over the property of another, to wit, a $4.00 parking fee, which was owed to the Manchester-Boston regional Airport with the purpose to deprive the owner thereof, AGAINST THE PEACE AND DIGNITY OF THE STATE.”

This is a Class B Misdemeanor, which means it is punishable by a fine of up to $1,000.

The charges continue:

The agents claim Ryan “recklessly created a risk thereof, by disrupting the orderly conduct of the business, Manchester-Boston Regional Airport, by refusing to pay his fee and block traffic, AGAINST THE PEACE AND DIGNITY OF THE STATE.”

This is a Class A Misdemeanor, which is punishable by up to a year in jail AND a $1,000 fine. This second charge seems to contradict the first. If he was being a thief, then he wouldn’t block up traffic; he would escape. This charge seems to suggest that he was having a conversation with the toll collector, as he states in his video testimony. This language is flowery and severely written by an agent who was not present at the scene of the alleged “crimes.”

The charges continue…

A 3rd charge, another Class A Misdemeanor, “Placing others in Danger” “The defendant did recklessly engage in conduct, by quickly accelerating his vehicle forward and backwards, causing the tires to spin, while in a confined area where people and other vehicles were located, which placed, or may have placed, the public in danger of serious bodily injury, AGAINST THE PEACE AND DIGNITY OF THE STATE.”

This seems highly unlikely to me, seeing as I know Ryan and spend a great deal of time with him. I know him to be a peaceful person who is level-headed and calm as a buddha. There’s no way he went on a crazy spin-out like some hot-headed redneck.

To add insult to injury, agents of the state charged Ryan with a 4th crime, “Resisting Arrest.” In the words of the state agents, “the defendant did knowingly physically interfere with a person he recognized to be a law enforcement officer, to wit Police Officer Kevin M Mulcahy of the Keene Police Department, by clasping his hands in front of his chest and twisting his body in an effort to resist being handcuffed, while said officer was seeking to arrest Ryan Maddox, AGAINST THE PEACE AND DIGNITY OF THE STATE.”

I can’t be sure of the intention of any particular law, but do you the reader think that the intention of the “Resisting Arrest” charge was for actions like those described above? Call me crazy, but that sounds like a pretty typical arrest to me. What law enforcement officer doesn’t expect the people they come after to struggle? Are free people supposed to just freeze and stick out their wrists whenever a man in uniform comes by? I would imagine that if the people who wrote the “Resisting Arrest” law had any good intentions whatsoever, it was to give justice to those law enforcement officers who had been beaten and seriously injured as a result of them carrying out the course of their duties (arresting people). Someone “clasping his hands” and “twisting” should be easily overcome by any officer, especially when the person being apprehended is Ryan, who is a pretty small guy.

Why is Ryan coming forward to the public with all of this information about his case? Because he hasn’t done anything wrong, he hasn’t hurt anyone, and if anyone is committing wrongdoing, it is the agents of the state! So… will he be taking a plea deal? No way in Hades!

Saturday, February 4th was a national day of action against agitation for war with Iran. With my camera charged up, I made my first stop on the mild winter day the Barack Obama campaign office in Nashua, which had an opening celebration at 10:00am. I showed up to meet Occupy NH participants who had brought literature to distribute. I went about my usual chalking, focusing on messages that I hoped would make supporters of the president question their commitment.

Some suits emerged from the building, looked around, and went back inside. As I was keeping the chalking away from a portion of pavement under an overhang, and in the public area of the sidewalk, I knew that there could not be a claim that I was chalking any private property. Aside from myself, only one other person chose to participate in the chalking.

Three police cars eventually arrive. An officer politely asks the group to be sure that they do not block the sidewalk, as they had received complaints. He was brief, leaving after having relayed the information.

Up the street, the officer from the lead car was speaking with a man in a red jacket. I filmed from a distance, and noticed when the police began moving away from him. You could hear him yell, “These people have no right! No right to deface public property!”

You can see in the video his profane reaction when I try to converse with him after the police leave. He went on to deny the first amendment freedom of speech, and imply that I was morally transgressing by speaking against “your president” and “your country”. Yet another example of an individual so detached from his fellow man that when he is offended by an action (chalking) he first goes to an agent of aggression, rather than have the courage to politely and respectfully address the issue himself.

Kudos to the Nashua PD for choosing not to interfere when there was clearly no wrongdoing going on.

My next stop of the day was an Antiwar Rally at Veterans Park in Manchester, which began at noon. Coverage of that event coming soon.

This article originally published at freeconcord.org.

As you might imagine, many people in Keene do not want these parking meters, but they should speak for themselves. The Keene Sentinel recently published a letter from Luann Udell that outlines some great reasons the city council should say no to these awful meters. (Of course, ALL the meters should go, but that’s another issue entirely.) Here’s Luann’s letter:

Parking kiosks are a problem

To whomever makes parking meter purchase decisions:

I am not enjoying the new parking meter system in downtown Keene. And if we can judge by the unusually high number of empty parking spaces in that area lately, I have a lot of company.

I’ve had to wait in line at the kiosks, even when I simply need six minutes to run an errand.

No matter where I park, I have to detour to go to the kiosk. In fact, this system completely eliminates the concept of a “great parking spot.” It’s no longer in front of your destination store, because you still have to go out of your way to get to the kiosk.

When the weather is lovely and my arthritis isn’t acting up, and now that I no longer have small children in tow, a detour to a kiosk is no big deal. But when snowbanks are piled high, when it’s raining or freezing out, when sidewalks are icy, when I’m in a hurry, when I’m carrying a child or two, when I’m recovering from yet another knee surgery, that extra trip is just a pain, literally and figuratively.

The kiosks don’t accept debit cards or credit cards, so we’re still stuck fumbling for change. However, it looks like it will be lucrative for the city, because when the kiosks misfire and refuse to accept change, you have to put a dollar in no matter how little time you need. And when it refuses to make change, well, we lose again.

But who really loses? Downtown merchants.

This morning, I went to Prime Roast for coffee. The row of spaces in front of their store was completely empty, except for one car. I haven’t seen the street that empty, on a weekday morning, in 20 years.

If you make it a hassle for customers to patronize downtown businesses, they will go somewhere else to shop.

I’d rather have the old meters back. Simple and quick. Or better yet, a meter (no kiosk, please, God! ) that accepts change, dollars and debit/credit cards.

Or a parking pass card, like EZ Pass.

Pay a monthly or annual fee, get a car sticker or a swipe card, and never worry again about how many quarters I have.

Please — just make it less annoying to shop downtown, okay?

LUANN UDELL

271 Roxbury St.

Keene

Sign the online petition to keep Keene Bearcat-free!

The public will have an opportunity next week to speak about the Keene Police Department’s acquisition of a new grant-funded armored vehicle.

Last month, the Keene City Council approved the acceptance of a $285,933 federal Homeland Security grant to purchase a LENCO BearCat Special Missions Vehicle. But some residents questioned whether such a vehicle is necessary in a community of Keene’s size, and a petition signed by more than 100 residents asked the council to reconsider accepting the grant.

Councilor Terry M. Clark submitted a letter to the council requesting the issue be sent back to the council’s finance committee to allow the public to speak on it, and the full council approved the request, supported by the committee’s chairman, Mitchell H. Greenwald, Thursday night.

“I think it’s good they decided to do that (open the topic for public discussion), but it’s unfortunate that it took Terry Clark to do that when we had a petition with over 140 signatures,” said Ian Bernard, a member of the Free Keene group who signed the petition and goes by the name Ian Freeman. He and other members of Free Keene attended Thursday’s council meeting, some holding signs that read “No Bearcat,” and “Thanks, But No Tanks.”

The vehicle comes with thermal imaging and off-road capabilities, as well as hazardous gas detection equipment, and police said the vehicle would be valuable when responding to extreme weather events, suspects with weapons and suspicious packages, among other situations.

u The finance, organization and personnel committee meets Thursday, Feb. 9, at 5:30 p.m. in City Hall.

Here’s a facebook event for the upcoming meeting.

Sign the online petition to keep Keene Bearcat-free!

LENCO, the manufacturer of the BEARCAT, has this video on their youtube channel. As you can see, this vehicle is all about making the police feel as militaristic as possible – it’s not a “safety” vehicle as is being touted in the Sentinel. Searching google for “Special Missions Public Safety Vehicle”, as it has been referenced, reveals articles about Keene, but nothing from LENCO or elsewhere. Clearly, LENCO didn’t just go and make up a new model just for Keene, NH, so it’s more accurate to call it by its actual acronym: “Ballistic Engineered Armored Response Counter Attack Truck”

This is not a rescue vehicle…at least not for you. The “LE”, or Law Enforcement iteration of this armored personnel carrier has on its website as a feature: “open floorplan allows for response and rescue of downed personnel“. (emphasis added)

Please come out this Thursday and speak to the city commission on this matter. They need to hear from as many people as possible that it was a mistake to listen to the cops over the people. They need to get the message that Keene doesn’t want this monstrosity.

Cameraman Jason Rapsher is working on cutting up the full version, but here’s a taste of what to expect:

For a full-screen slideshow of the event, CLICK HERE.

If you enjoy this type of activism, help us keep it going by sponsoring these projects at FR33Agents.com!