I called into the morning show here in Keene to discuss last nights Keene City Council drinking game and the Anti-Free Keene hecklers that showed up to disrupt filming. Keene City Councilor Pam Slack called in to announce that Heika’s letter would be addressed on Wednesday at 6:30.
Grab the Archive here to get my perspective on this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVX5i3jXYT8
Here’s an Update based on the comments:
I’m currently editing the video for the event. The full footage from this incident is shown in the beginning. This version seems to have cut two previous occasions where he was disrupting my interview by holding the cup in front of the camera. He was repeatedly asked to stop interfering.
He then went over to Puke, and said I think I’ll just stand here. I asked him what his cup said, and what it meant. He read the cup and said he wants to “get you morons out of here.”
That was fine with me, and I started the interview. When he saw that he was unable to prevent me from interviewing Puke, he then again started putting the cup in front of Pukes face. This is Disorderly conduct. That’s when I walked over to him (and this video starts) to again ask him to stop interfering with my business.
He did hit me in the face with the cup; He was obviously hostile and engaging in name calling. I didn’t know what was in the cup, and he had a lid on it. When he hit me with it, that was assault, and I honestly didn’t know if he was planning to throw something on me or hit me in the face while I can’t see past the cup.
I felt threatened by his actions and took steps necessary to ensure my personal safety.
That said, I was also frustrated that there were no Keene Policeman around to inform him that his behavior was disorderly and causing alarm. I was also under a time crunch to get the interview before the meeting started.
The second time when he hit my camera I again grabbed his arm because the camera is very expensive, and he has already shown hostility towards me. He apologized, and unfortunately because of his attitude and demeanor, I did not believe it was sincere.
James was warned about his behavior, and told that he attacked me and my camera with the cup. I informed him that if he touched me again that I would take him down. Meaning remove him from my space because he was threatening me and my equipment with unwanted physical contact while interrupting my interview.
He then went and stood behind Puke (after I repositioned him elsewhere), and as the video will show,the interview was completed, while James was acting irrationally in the background causing a scene. (but not interfering with my interview)
I do agree that in the situation I was angry and did move in close to James after he was warned to stop. I certainly could have responded differently, and apologize for my aggressive behavior. I also apologize for escalating the situation, as I could have handled it better.
I do not feel I owe you a new cup, as it was a closed container you shoved in my face, the writing shows you planned this, and I truly felt threatened.
However, I would invite you to sit down and talk about real issues related to Free Keene, and the Liberty Activists here in Keene. If you want to do this on camera, I think this would make great footage, and would be happy to film this in front of your coffee shop. This would be great advertising or the people that support your viewpoint. I’ll even buy the drinks.
I think this would go a long way to help you understand some of the changes that are happening in Keene and around the state. You seem to be suffering from the rumor mill which has fed you a lot of mis-information.
You reference a girl stealing my sign at the middle school outreach event. Did you know it was a parent who first stood in front of my sign? I had no problem with this, and simply held it over his head. It was another parent who then came up and attacked me knocking the sign down. Cody (a boy) who was encouraged by the juvenile behavior of the adults, then ran up to rip the sign from my other hand, run off, and destroy it.
So James if you would like to set that up on camera or off, please let me know.
Sam
