WMUR’s Kristen Carosa came to town yesterday to report on the War on Chalk:
Also, the Keene Sentinel ran a story reporting on Matthew “Yankee” Oldershaw a local chalker who was the victim of a recent attack in central square. Oldershaw is currently hospitalized with serious injuries. The alleged attacker has been identified as James Michael Phillips, originally from Virginia, another violent transplant from outside NH. Here’s the Sentinel piece by Alyssa Dandrea and Ella Nilsen:
A dispute that’s simmered for days over people marking up parts of Keene’s Central Square with chalk turned violent Tuesday, as a man was injured when he was pushed into the granite fountain, police said.
Matthew Oldershaw, 30, of Keene suffered a head injury when he hit the fountain, police said.
Oldershaw, who is also known as “Yankee,” was taken by ambulance to Cheshire Medical Center/Dartmouth-Hitchcock Keene following the incident. A hospital spokeswoman said this morning that Oldershaw is not on a list of patients whose conditions she can disclose, and that she had no further information.
The extent of Oldershaw’s injuries is unclear at this time, according to Keene police.
People who blog on the Free Keene website have been chalking designs, including peace signs and smiley faces, on the Central Square common recently, while a group that’s opposed the bloggers and recently “adopted” the common has been washing the markings off.
Oldershaw, who Free Keene bloggers say is not a part of their group, was photographed chalking a large peace sign on the back of the Civil War monument at the common earlier this week.
On Tuesday evening, local businesswoman Dorrie O’Meara, who owns Pedraza’s Mexican Restaurant and the Pour House on the square, noticed her name and business were being chalked on the common by Free Keeners, she said this morning. She went over with another person to wash off the markings, and was dipping a bucket into the fountain to collect water when Oldershaw grabbed her arm, she said.
O’Meara said she did not see the melee that followed, but believes a man tried to move Oldershaw off her and in the process Oldershaw was shoved into the fountain where he was injured, she said.
“I don’t think there was any intent to hurt him; his intent was to push (Oldershaw) away from me because he had my arm,” O’Meara said.
In a Tuesday blog post written by Free Keene member Ian Freeman, Freeman said Oldershaw is not a Free Keene blogger, but has chalked with the group in the past.
“I don’t support violence and nor do I support being mean to others, yet because Yankee claimed to be part of Free Keene in a conversation he had with Pedraza’s owner Dorrie O’Meara, I now get blamed for his actions,” Freeman wrote.
Keene police responded to Central Square at about 6:43 p.m. Police said they are still investigating who was involved in the altercation and no one has been charged yet in connection with the assault.
The Free Keene group recently posted several YouTube videos of themselves chalking in Central Square at night. One video, taken on Monday night, recorded a verbal altercation between Free Keene group members and other members of the public that also escalated into a physical fight, although police were not called.
Members of Stop Free Keene, a group that has since changed its name to the Monadnock Community Coalition, have, in turn, been washing off the markings.
Group member Andrea Whitcomb said in the past few weeks the group has regularly made trips to the common with buckets of water to wash chalk off the Civil War monument, cannons and sidewalks.
“We’ve gone down and cleaned on several occasions, and now it’s become a game with (Free Keene members),” Whitcomb said. “They go down and they chalk or come down when we’re washing and try to chalk in the water.
“It’s not something pleasant to see what’s become of the common,” Whitcomb said.The Monadnock Community Coalition recently adopted the Central Square common as part of the city’s Spirit of Place Program, according to Keene Parks and Recreation Director Andrew S. Bohannon. Through the program, private groups can choose parts of the city to improve without costing taxpayers money.
The coalition has committed to cleaning the area at least four times per year, Bohannon said.
But group members are washing chalk off sidewalks much more often than that, according to Whitcomb.
Whitcomb said her group is planning to sand down and repaint the Central Square bandstand on Saturday to help clean off marks from previous chalking.
