Crime streak: Keene police arrest nude freedom lovers

by | Jul 19, 2010 | 46 comments

You’ve gotta give the Union Leader credit for their headline.

UPDATE: The Union Leader has re-written parts of the article, presumably after Sam gave them a call. The new article is posted here. I will leave the old one up so people can see the differences.

By MELANIE PLENDA
Union Leader Correspondent

KEENE – Being bare breasted on the streets of Keene may not be illegal, but breast painting, drinking in public, blocking police cars and harassing officers is.

At least seven people were arrested Sunday shortly after 6 p.m. when bystanders reported people were drinking and taking off their clothes in Central Square in downtown Keene.

Keene Police Lt. Darryl Madden said the people in the park were not arrested for nakedness, which is not illegal in Keene.

“One woman was toples and she was getting her breasts painted by another woman,” he said. “There’s no law against being naked, but you can’t be lewd or lascivious. And one person groping someone’s breasts and saying lewd things certainly qualifies.”
(more…)

Keene Sentinel Reports on Yesterday’s Mass Arrests

by | Jul 19, 2010 | 24 comments

The Keene Sentinel is reporting today on yesterday’s mass arrests in Keene. It’s nice to see an article from them that doesn’t mention “Free Staters” or “Free State Project”. Only Free Keene is mentioned here, and that’s far more accurate as liberty activists are not all “Free Staters”. Heika, for instance, is an awesome activist and Keene native who was activated by Pete and Adam of Liberty on Tour. She started coming out to the Nightcaps and then yesterday courageously defied the aggressive Keene PD, which led to her kidnapping and the subsequent arrests. Here’s the article:

Several people affiliated with the libertarian Free Keene movement were arrested in Keene’s Central Square after police responded to a report of a group of people drinking and disrobing Sunday evening, police say.

Police were called to Central Square about 6 p.m. by a passer-by who reported seeing people drinking and taking off their clothes.

When they arrived, they found Heika Courser, 26, of Richmond drinking a beer, partially undressed, while someone painted on her breasts, according to Keene police Lt. Darryl W. Madden.

Courser was charged with having an open alcohol container and resisting arrest. Jonathan E. Ray, 33, of Keene was also issued a summons for an open container.

As Courser was being put into a police cruiser, other people from the group stood in the way of the cruiser trying to pull away, Madden said. (more…)

More Video: Sunday’s Activist Arrests

by | Jul 19, 2010 | 10 comments

Nick Ryder has published the latest video to show the arrests of 5 people in downtown Keene that took place on Sunday. It all began after one woman was arrested for drinking a beer on a City bench.

As of Monday Morning, all arrested activists except for Rich Paul and Ian are out of custody with pending charges. It is unclear why either is still in, or what they are charged with, but the most updated information will be found on our forum thread about this subject at http://forum.freekeene.com/index.php?topic=3564