Free Keene

Westmoreland busybody and statist Pam Martens has continued her uninformed hit pieces on Free Staters. Normally they don’t get mentioned here, but this time she mentions Keene activism (it’s such a great quote, I added it to the “unintentional endorsements” section of the 111+ Reasons to Move to Keene.):

the Free State Project holds extremist views and their participants have wreaked havoc in areas like Keene and Grafton. We’ve seen a steady stream of Free Staters taunting the Keene police and ending up in the Westmoreland jail, costing taxpayers dearly.

You can see her full hit piece below. Wreaked havoc? What exactly has been ruined or destroyed in Keene besides old ideas? Are the 420 celebrations wreaking havoc on the idea of prohibition? Quotes like these make it clear that the liberty movement is really bumming out the statists up here. You should come join the fun – just over 25 more signups before the Free State Project reaches 10,000 participants!

We also had a youtube critic send me an angry message where he accuses liberty activists of making an “unimaginable blunder” by holding candlelight vigils outside the homes of government aggressors. (I posted the full text of his message and my reply here.) In it he claims FreeKeene.com is “failing”. Really? By what measure? Failing because some people are upset? What about all the people who appreciate the liberty activists? I imagine liberty activists aren’t too popular amongst those who work for or benefit from the state. We can’t please everyone and shouldn’t try. To say this website is failing, however, is simply a denial of reality. Let’s look at the numbers, shall we? (Read on …)

I submitted a letter to the editor to the Keene Sentinel on Sunday in reply to a letter that appeared in Saturday’s paper, full of misinformation, from the owner of Fritz. Here’s her letter, followed by my reply:

Imagine my surprise when my boyfriend, a member of the Keene Fire Department, informed me that my restaurant, Fritz, had become the “Free Staters” Sunday meeting ground.

In an act that may have begun with good intentions, I am put in a position that requires clarification.

Despite the unwitting representation of my business on the Free Keene Web site, I never consented to their choosing Fritz as a new meeting ground. (Read on …)

Discussed on last week’s “Talkback” on WKBK: speed bumps, oppressive federal and state government, corrections of the misinformation that a former cop spread on last week’s episode about my use of the megaphone at the cannabis celebrations, and a silly attack on liberty activists from local politico Steve Lindsey (who I think was upset because some liberty activists gave him a piece of their mind when he was at the pro-govt healthcare demonstration).

Grab the archive.

Please join us for our NEW weekly chat and calling sessions on Saturday mornings from 11a-12p in the Free Keene Chat room. If you’re online, you can listen to Talkback streamed live via the Liberty Radio Network and if you’re in the Keene area you can tune in to WKBK 1290 AM or 104.1 FM. The Talkback discussion thread is here on the Free Keene Forum.

In the name of “the children”, Keene’s daily 4:20pm cannabis celebration will move from Central Square across the street to where young, innocent eyes should never be – city hall.

Event promoter Rich Paul, the one man arrested for possession of marijuana since the beginning of the incredibly successful daily celebrations over a month ago, has announced that out of respect for the very small amount of public space available in the park, that the celebration will move to the front of city hall at 3 Washington St. in Keene. The event will return to Central Square as of Sunday.

Paul expects that tomorrow may be the biggest 4:20 celebration ever in Keene. Due to the threatened crackdown from Keene police, it is recommended that those who plan on toking bring joints and plan for a high arrest potential. Peaceful police countermeasures will be in effect. Please bring your recording devices. See you there!

From the Keene Sentinel:

My name is Jenna, I’m 18 and am from the Keene area.

I stand with my fellow “stoners” at 4:20 when I can on my days off from work. I read the paper and keep up with the media on this topic every day.

As to the article in the Sept. 30 paper, “Weeding out lawbreakers:” I was appalled as to what some of the residents feel should happen to us protesters, such as one resident called for the police to use tear gas, riot batons and Tasers on us. (Read on …)

About two dozen liberty activists’ peaceful candlelight vigil for Kurt Hoffman in front of Eli Rivera’s home (KPD’s prosecutor) resulted in a confrontation by KPD officers on duty, followed by Eli himself. Here’s some grainy blackberry footage:

Activists later brought the vigil to Edward Burke’s home (the robed man) – four cops responded there and were offered free pizza. The officers refused, and went away. Look for more video soon from the Obscured Truth Network.

I’d just like to clarify something. As activists were leaving after gathering in front of Eli Rivera’s home as part of a candlelight vigil for the man Rivera attacked, Kurt Hoffman, other Keene police officers showed up and engaged us in conversation. During said conversation, one of them, Matt Griffin suggested that I was the “leader” of the activists.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

There are no designated leaders. I understand Matt’s confusion – after all, his organization is structured from the top down with very distinct roles of who’s-in-charge. It’s only natural for him to presume we are structured similarly, however we are not. This is a decentralized movement. No one is in charge. Each activist decides what interests him or her and does it. Other activists that agree will join in.

Is my voice a little more prominent because I have a radio program? Sure, but I’ve never told anyone what to do. They don’t follow my orders, and I wouldn’t give orders in the first place. It wasn’t I who put together the cannabis celebrations and candlelight vigils in front of Rivera’s and Burke’s homes. Those were other people. I merely supported these events.

Hope that makes it clear. Each activist is his or her own leader, and none is in charge of another.

Mark your calendar for 11a-12p, this Saturday 10/17. Last week there was only one call to WKBK’s Talkback about Kurt Hoffman’s imprisoning for 180 days. I called this week, asked what they thought of Burke spending $15,000 to put a man in a cell who just wanted Burke to use the word, “please”, and didn’t get answer from the show’s hosts. (The hosts are Keene city councilors.)

So, let’s be heard and focus on the third hour of the show, 11a-12p. This will give late risers the ability to sleep in and still participate. Get calling info on this thread about how to listen to and call WKBK’s Talkback.

Also, in concert with this we are going to retool the weekly chat session. It used to start at 9am, but that has proven to be quite unpopular as only a handful of people will just pop in and out throughout the three hour show. The chat has been basically dead for months. So, we’re going to reschedule the weekly chat for Saturdays from 11a-12p in the Free Keene chat room. This tightened window should bring more people into the chat at the same time. Please join in to help strategize our calls about Kurt.

This story by the Keene Sentinel’s David P. Greisman is about the small group of mostly high schoolers that showed up to protest the cannabis celebrations on Saturday. I had a lengthy discussion with protestors Ann and Diana to try to understand where they were coming from. They did think that cannabis consumers should be left alone at home, but otherwise support putting them in cages as well as making cigarettes illegal. They think that putting addictive substances in your body is “immoral”, with the exception of caffeine, because… well, they drink it. They actually had cups of coffee out at their protest. Diana even admitted to being addicted to caffeine. I pointed out to them that I would never advocate their caging for such peaceful activities and asked if they believed in god. They answered yes, but that god has nothing to do with this. According to them cannabis is man’s fault because man plants the seeds. (They did not believe it still grows in the wild!) They did not answer my question about where the seeds came from beyond saying that not everything natural is good for you. Finally I asked them what Jesus would do to cannabis consumers. Wouldn’t he use compassion, love, forgiveness, and understanding? That was my final question as I bid them good day. Here’s the Sentinel’s story:

It didn’t matter to them that there were only a handful of them there. It didn’t matter to them that the occasional person who drove by yelled at them or gave them the finger.

It only mattered to them that they were there, standing Saturday afternoon in Keene’s Central Square, protesting against marijuana use after more than a week of seeing people protest in favor of the drug in that very same spot.

The gatherings in favor of marijuana legalization or decriminalization had drawn dozens upon dozens.

The gatherings against? Five, at most.

“We wanted to show that not everyone here does drugs or is all about smoking marijuana,” said Diana M. Stepka, a 17-year-old from Chesterfield. (Read on …)

Ronald,

I just wanted to say that I forgive you for assaulting me and stealing my cell phone. I would also like to apologize for my immediate angry outburst. I really should have been thanking you for providing me with such wonderful footage. People as usual are saying I should “press charges”. Justice and revenge are not my intent, so you needn’t be concerned about that. I can’t say for sure there will be no fallout for you from within your organization, however.

There is a possibility the state agents in charge of your organization will be embarrassed into doing something about your unprofessional behaviour. From my perspective as one who is forced to pay your salary, it doesn’t seem like you were doing a very good job yesterday. As a captain in Keene fire/EMS you should be focusing on taking care of your patient instead of harassing members of the media. I don’t think you were acting in a manner that is appropriate for a leadership role in any organization. That said, you shouldn’t really be too concerned about fallout from within, as usually the government does a pretty good job of protecting their own from any sort of serious punishment (even with video footage of obvious criminal acts), so you’ll probably be alright.

I just wanted to share my reflections and let you know that I forgive you for your anger and what you did to me. Presuming you keep your job, I’d suggest you ignore the media from now on, or better yet actually try being friendly to them.