If you’ve been reading this blog for the last year-or-so, you probably know I and other activists were arrested at a city council meeting last year for playing a drinking game, quietly, with brown bottles mostly filled with water.
Over a year post-the-arrests, they dropped my charges – a tacit admission that the arrests were wrongful. Rather than do as many have suggested and sue, I merely asked, in writing, for an apology. I didn’t expect one, but I did get an amusing refusal letter from the city attorney, which I will share with you below.
The people calling themselves “the city of Keene” have an attorney on staff named Thom Mullins. Thom told me prior to receiving this letter that they wouldn’t apologize because according to him, even though I couldn’t be prosecuted for anything didn’t mean I should have been allowed to stay in their meeting. My real crime all along had been to not take them seriously. The government people can’t have us little people poking fun at them (even if silently) in creative ways. Had we stood in there with signs, we’d have been alright, because people have always done that sort of protest over the years. Drinking in unison from brown bottles however? They see it as a slap to the precious legitimacy of their system.
Of course, remember, the drinking game had a round two, two weeks later, where more people played and no one was arrested. So, if Thom is right and the drinking game was reason to remove people for “disruption”, why not do it when more people were there being disruptive?
Here’s his letter, rejecting my request for a simple apology:
(Oh, and it’s the first acknowledgement by a member of their state society that the Shire Society is an “entity”.)
Dear Mr. Freeman:
Your letter entitled “Request for Apology and Proclamation” dated November 15, 2011,
has been referred to me by the Mayor, P. Dale Pregent, for an appropriate response. The letter
written by you and apparently also on behalf of an entity called “the Shire Society,” seeks an
apology from the City of Keene with respect to the incident that occurred during a City Council
meeting in the City of Keene Council Chambers on August 4, 2010.
At the time of the incident, you and others of the so-called Shire Society, engaged in a
well-publicized event apparently intended to protest the prohibition of the possession of alcohol
on public property. During the event, you and the others sat in the front row of the audience
section, and in unison and upon signal toasted and drank from containers that were clearly
intended to be beer bottles. You continued to engage in the toasting and drinking activity despite
multiple requests by the Chair of the meeting, Mayor Pregent, to cease and to respect the
decorum of the proceedings. When you refused to cease the activity, or to remove yourselves
peacefully from the room, the Mayor requested that you be arrested by the Chief of Police. Your
arrest was occasioned by your own disruptive behavior and by your refusal to comply with a
legitimate request by the Chair of the meeting, and for no other reason.
The County Attorney has decided not to proceed with a criminal prosecution of you in
connection with that event. You believe that because the County Attorney has decided not to
proceed with the prosecution, you are entitled to an apology from the City of Keene. This
request is based upon a misconception of the difference between a criminal act and a disruptive
act. Simply because the County Attorney has determined that there may not be sufficient
evidence to convince a jury beyond a reasonable doubt that you committed a crime, does not
make the actions of you or your compatriots acceptable, appropriate, and non-disruptive to the
City Council proceedings. Your intention was to physically mock and interfere with the
proceedings and the participants, including those individuals elected to serve the interests of the
community, and others of the public who did not share your particular views, or appreciate the
manner in which you expressed them. It was clearly apparent that that the consensus of those
present, including members of the public, was not in support of your actions, and yet you
persisted. Appropriate methods exist for you and other members of the so-called Shire Society
to express your views and opinions. The City understands that you may not wish to avail yourself of those other appropriate methods. In tum, you should understand that the City will
take necessary steps to protect the integrity of its proceedings whether or not those steps
ultimately result in a criminal conviction. Accordingly, the City declines your request for an
apology.Very truly yours,
Thomas P. Mullins
City Attorney
