The Keene Sentinel reports the metal detector, installed Monday in the Keene City Hall, “comes as a temporary solution to safety concerns at 8th Circuit Court District Division in Keene, which has been denied official accreditation from the judicial branch since 2009. The lack of a metal detector was the main source of concern to state officials.”
What “safety concerns” are there at the Court? Have there been instances of assault with weapons in the court lobby? Or is this just another example of a phony concern to lure people into submitting to warrantless searches?
Mayor Kendell Lane said, the metal detector is located on the first floor of City Hall by the elevator and stairs, which means anyone who goes to the upper floors for other city business will have to walk through it, too.
So, is the “safety concern” for all parts of the City Hall except for the Clerk’s office and Vehicle Registration?
Larry S. Kane, clerk for the 8th Circuit Court District Division, claims The State provided the detector to the court at no cost.
I’d really like to know if he honestly believes the metal detector was provided at “no cost”? Surely he realizes that funding came from tax-payers before being funneled to whatever company makes metal detectors.
Lane also claims the metal detector will be in the City Hall lobby only until a new courthouse complex is built in 2013 .
It is yet to be seen if this “temporary” and supposedly “slight inconvenience” will remain a permanent fixture to give people a false sense of security where no threat exist.
In addition to previous Free Concord coverage of Barack Obama’s recent campaign stop in Manchester, Dave Ridley has posted four videos so far from his eye on the ground. Rather than playing it normal and objectively recording the event, as I tried, Dave walked along the periphery of the security perimeter, and interacted with police and secret service along the way. He asked poignant questions of the secret service, Obama staffers, and event attendees. Some of his questions pertained to Obama’s treatment of Bradley Manning, and there is one encounter early on with USSS in which it is insisted that he not film, though no action is taken. In the fourth video, a Manchester officer tells him that he is required to answer questions and are seen clearing the sidewalk of all people before the president’s entourage passes through. You can see the one brief encounter I had with a suited USSS agent when I tried to film from inside the secured area here. Ridley’s four videos are embedded below. Additional newsprint coverage is available from the Union Leader and the Concord Monitor.
Lifelong activist for indigenous rights Russell Means has passed away at the age of 72 in Porcupine, South Dakota. Known for his work with the American Indian Movement and Republic of Lakota, Means was also an accomplished actor and musician. His perseverance in the cause of liberty exemplified living freely despite occupying an unfree world.
New Hampshire Republican Liberty Caucus Chairman Carolyn McKinney has penned an excellent article explaining why it is important to vote in support of Question #2 on November 6th.
Question #2 is a proposed amendment to Part II, Article 73-a of the New Hampshire Constitution that will allow greater public oversight of those who have the power to make rules that literally have the force of law.
Chairman McKinney’s article mentions judicial abuses suffered by Keene, NH based judicial monitoring activists and journalists as examples of the abuses that justify greater oversight of judicial authority.
