Robin Hood Goes National – Washington Times Covers Lawsuit

Thanks to Seth McLaughlin of the Washington Times for his report on the people calling themselves the “City of Keene” suing the heroic Robin Hooders:

The city of Keene, N.H., is suing “Robin Hood and his Merry Men” – a group that has made a name for itself by paying people’s parking meters before they can get slapped with a ticket from local parking enforcement officers.
The Union Leader reported Tuesday that six “Robin Hooders” troll the streets of the city’s quaint downtown in search of cars parked at expired meters.

When they find one, the pay the meet and slip cards under a windshield wiper that says: “Your meter expired; however, we saved you from the king’s tariffs, Robin Hood and his Merry Men. Please consider paying it forward.” The note includes an address where people can send donations for the effort.

The city claims in the lawsuit that the “Robin Hooders,” are taunting and harassing the city’s three parking enforcement officers.

“They say video recording or talking to them is harassing them, but I don’t agree with that,” James Cleaveland, member of the group, told the Union Leader. “So they want to establish a safety zone of fifty feet.”

The lawsuit says that since December the group has “intentionally taunted, interfered with, harassed and intimidated” the parking enforcement officers “by closely following them on foot and in automobiles in groups of one, two or more, often with video camera equipment and coordinating their activities using radio communication
In the suit, a parking enforcement officer says the group has harassed her, according to the Union Leader.

“Besides following me, crowding around me, making video recordings of my activities, and placing coins in expired meters to prevent me from writing tickets, these individuals repeatedly taunt and harass me, asking why I am stealing peoples’ money and telling me to get another job,” the officer said.
The suit says another officer has been “bumped into, and taunted” by the group,” including profanities and derogatory statements relative to his military service.”
The “Robin Hooders” counter that the city – population of just over 23,000 – is losing out of lost revenue and claim to have prevented about 4,000 tickets from being issued.

The Union Leader reported that the group is tied to Free Keene, which describes itself on its website as a people who have realized that government is “the violent monopoly” and says that “aggressing against one’s neighbors, regardless of the goals one is looking to accomplish, is unacceptable and morally bankrupt.”
“The next great step for mankind is the step toward the voluntary society,” the website reads. “We are going to accomplish this using peaceful, market-based actions. This is not a revolution. We are not revolving, or going back to the beginning. This is evolution.”