I arrived on-scene as Heika was being loaded up into a KPD cruiser. Her crime? “Free” speech over a megaphone. We were kicked out of the court earlier by the robed man because a bunch of activists stood for Rich Paul when he was called. It was because we were kicked out of court that Monica went to get the megaphone – I had run home at this time to make a phone call I was late for, and when I returned, Heika was being arrested for “disorderly conduct”. According to witnesses, Heika was not on the megaphone when police arrived. They didn’t give her a warning that she was being “disorderly” – they just came up and arrested her. They are calling it a bail violation, so she’s in jail at least for the night and the arraignment is expected for tomorrow. Hopefully she won’t lose her job. 🙁
Please move to Keene and help us end this madness!
Really heartfelt journalism Sam. Does this mean you're the press now?
Excellent work
Great job Sam. This is perfect for the people who want to "help people" through government regulation, I'm sending this around.
Guy lives in a tent, but he has money for beer and cigarettes!
My favorite video from OTN yet.
"Guy lives in a tent, but he has money for beer and cigarettes!"
Yeah, because the price of beer and cigarettes are right on par with housing costs. Way to show yourself as a jackass.
Perhaps if he cut back on the Bud lite and cigs he could get up in the AM, go get a job, and save money at the same time. No sympathy here.
Thanks guys! I agree Andrew, it's my favorite one to date. Meg has been helping me with some of the practical aspects and I'm getting comfortable with the new gear.
Per Meg's suggestion I bought them the 6-pack of beer, but they did have cranberry and vodka (in plastic bottles).
Their behavior certainly contribute to their situation. I hope people see that, and how the government seizes the opportunity wield it's powers over others, usually out of alignment with their stated purpose.
Sam I think you have set a new standard for yourself and we're all better off because of it.
Thank you!!
Nice video. On a lighter note, I like how the homeless (at least these fellows) and the elite both drink cape cods. I guess we all aren't that different.
bob – try getting a house w/o a job. Try getting a job w/o an address. Even assuming these guys had the means to dress up, shave and be sober for a job interview, employers aren't about to hire middle-aged people without resume skills and experience. Maybe if you didn't drink, didn't waste time online, didn't sleep in on Weekends, then you'd be in a better position too. But how much do you think those marginal alterations will really change your situation in the face of enormous external limitations that you have absolutely no control over? The best these guys… Read more »
"…employers aren’t about to hire middle-aged people without resume skills and experience." He begins the first video with the comment that he was laid off last November. That means he has had a job, and therefore has experience. If he saved up some beer and cigarette money, got a decent haircut and maybe a new shirt, he could greatly improve his chances of finding a job. Don't get me wrong – I think that what the government is doing is ridiculous. How a tent can be considered "safer" housing is beyond me. I just think that these guys contributed greatly… Read more »
why do you care how they live? if they want to be homeless, drink beer, and smoke cigs. who fucking cares. this doesn't mean you can crush them with government tyranny.
How can they trow people off when they're already off. Who gives a shit if they have enough for money smokes and beer. Maybe someone came through and gave it to them. It kills me to see that they have no way to keep a home. I see people talking shit about the beer and smokes, but how long do you think it would take to save the money for an appartment and keep it paid for for a few months until they can get a decent job and pay for it regularly? Sam, this was heart wrenching. I feel… Read more »
Yaah!! kick'em when they are down!! Let them freeze to death in the winter. It's the law!
Very good piece,this is journalism,this is the type of piece that will give you credibility in the 'real' world. Years ago I worked with Todd on a couple of jobs-admittedly a lot of his troubles are self-inflicted,but that doesn't mean they don't exist.These guys are down on the bottom,how many of us could end up there.it doesn't take a lot,get hurt on a job,no health insurance,no money for rent,but you may have made too much to get any govt help-where do you go?? These guys are making the best of a bad situation.Kudos to the landowner for letting them stay.Anyone… Read more »
Excellent work Sam and Meg.
I saw people living like that in Iraq. It's crazy to think that in America it's the same. There is more to come as well as the gov't continues to destroy the economy.
Thanks to property tax there's no affordable housing, thanks to income tax you can't make enough money, thanks to minimum wage laws no one can hire these guys for a few bucks a day.
Where is the freedom I thought I was fighting in the desert for?
Really good small documentary. Thank you.
I don't think it particularly matters how much sympathy you have for them, because they aren't asking for sympathy. They simply ask to be left alone, something government will not do. However bad their situation is because of their own actions, government is making it worse.
To anyone out there that might be tempted to look down their nose at those people, remember this little bit:
Few people save their money for emergency situations. I'm not too good at it myself. That means that about half of you are likely to be in their situation should you end up minus about 3 months in a row of paychecks.
Awesome video. Everyone likes to look down on others who choose to survive in the way they can figure out. I love the comments about beer and cigarettes, especially the negative ones. Talk about a narrow view of the world. The best comment was Puke's and also the comment over how much further the negative commenters would be without buying smokes and beer themselves. I quit smoking over a year ago and have saved $4000 by doing so. Everyone can do this. Everyone could also survive on 1 meal a day, but we choose not to. CHOICE is the key.… Read more »
I'm not sure if Sam is watching this thread, but if so, I have some concerns / a suggestion that I'd like to bring to your attention… a constructive critique…
http://forum.freekeene.com/index.php?topic=2115.0
Helping them get jobs would be great. Kicking them out of their homes would not. They are not children, as you suggest in your conversation, nor is the government mommy. They are free adults who have the right to make their own choices. The government has no right to threaten them, or boot them out of their homes, even if they believe in the dubious notion that it would benefit them.
Lol @ you rehashing that argument anyway… Being an adult, vs being a child, comes with responsibilities. One of the key responsibilities of being an adult is to be able to provide for yourself, and to not leech off of others… What happens if the food donors stop feeding them? If they are grown adults, why are they spending money on cigarettes and beer when they cannot afford rent? Shouldn't an adult act like one? Your argument is about what the government should do, my discussion has moved well past and beyond that – I take it as a given… Read more »
"What I am discussing is an issue of public perception with regard to the videos, and to the actions of the Keene liberty activist community . . . you are probably missing many much larger issues . . . you are not coming off as concerned for the well being of these people. . . . That is detrimental to your message, if people see Keene liberty activists as single minded and unconcerned with the consequences to their actions…" Oh, I get it. It's the topless / 420 / "Oh, my God, when people see this, it's going to ruin… Read more »
Kind of… but not really. There are major differences, one is that on top of public opinion, there is the issue that you are getting involved with hurting people that you are trying to help. You weren't hiring crack whores to strip naked for the topless protest… You weren't having babies smoke weed for the 420 protest…. So the difference in this case is that you are enabling people to harm themselves. You are missing the larger point. Sure you can take the tact that the MOST IMPORTANT thing is to IGNORE what the public might think of you… I… Read more »
They took the initiative to build their own shelter, which the city now wants to take away from them (allegedly "for their own good," but really just to show them and sundry who's in charge, and don't you forget it!). Beyond that, how they live their lives is their own concern.
This article has some relevance:
Charles Johnson, "Scratching By: How Government Creates Poverty as We Know It," http://www.thefreemanonline.org/featured/scratchi…
I'd definitely support an effort to help these people get jobs, if that's what you're getting at, Johnson.
"Beyond that, how they live their lives is their own concern." That's one way to look at it, but as a journalist Sam, you are interacting with these people. Many people, including myself, look at that interaction journalists have with their subjects, and questions arise when the journalist could be changing the story they are in. Do you sit idly by and film the dingo walk up and eat the baby as a commentary on irresponsible parenting, or do you scare the dingo off at the last second… still getting the story, but possibly a less sensational one. Does the… Read more »
@Paul – That is definitely what I am getting at.
Beyond that, I am getting also at the opportunity to show how private organizations do a better job of it, through their capacity to actually CARE… and not simply use force to make it happen.
The opportunity to document that is huge.
Johnson, you need to know: I'm not the Sam who filmed the video–I'm the one who writes the songs. (Hmm-"Intensity in Tent City," maybe? "Rat" rhymes with "bureaucrat"; now what rhymes with "poverty" . . . ?)
AH, big oops on my part… I wasn't looking carefully enough for "SAMIAM" I just saw Sam, and assumed…
WHOOPS.
Well, I think the points are still essentially the same… and this is really a critique for OTN Sam… so… yeah.
Although, I think you might have brought up some points he might have… so… that works.
I think the analogies with the dingo or the sandwich don't perhaps completely apply here — there's no way Sam could have stopped them from being homeless right then and there.
I think, however, your ideas are good Johnson. I don't think there was anything wrong with this documentary, but it would be good to follow it up with some real help for these people. What organizations are there in Keene that could help these people get back on their feet?
Sam, this is good man. Your other stuff too, but this? Top notch! Nice job
Paul, I think and feel that a piece is missing from the documentary. That missing part is really the main part of my / constructive criticism for Sam. Aside from food donations, I don't KNOW if these people are getting real help or not. Are they getting actual motivation and counseling to move on and get back on the horse and get their lives going again? Or, are they merely getting a pittance of subsistence level donations that MIGHT keep them going, and allow to continue affording smokes and booze without starving. These church groups MIGHT already be doing things… Read more »
I didn't get "heartwarming" as an overall message at all. There were definitely negative implications about what the government was doing, but the impression I got was certainly not that everything would be hunky-dory if they were to stay there indefinitely.
Hi Johnson – (I was drafting this while listening to FTL before we talked!) I've been reading most of the comments and posts about this. I'm getting ready to head home for a few weeks, and I'm busy wrapping up a few things here. I agree with some of the things your pointing out. However, My work captures their story not mine. That's why I'm not really talking in the video, other than asking questions. The story is theirs – high and low spots on the table. I agree, the people helping them are, to some extent, enabling their self-destructive… Read more »
I wouldn't blame you for eating while filming in Africa, I was more making a reference to the cameramen who eat a big sandwich but then don't offer any to the starving people they are filming. It was less a commentary on self denial, and more of a commentary on whether or not the journalism is participatory. Being a journalist gives you a particular tool-set to be an engine of change through how the subject is covered – even if you are trying be merely a watcher and capture stark reality, the mere act of filming it somehow changes it.… Read more »
Oh, and as far as the skeptic thing… I just haven't ever seen any magic or special powers personally… so it makes it really easy to be skeptical. I have seen many many people lie (IE: Most people) about such things, and reading about how such flimflam artists make their money through those lies, and what tricks they use makes it really obvious where the motivations are, and how they work. Almost all flimflam hoaxsters use very similar tricks to accomplish their lies, so for me, disbelieving in magic that I've seen repeatedly disproven, is as easy as disbelieving that… Read more »
This is the first time I've seen the homeless used in the service of the libertarian agenda. I thought that stupidity was a liberal specialty.
Can we agree that even in a libertarian, small gov't world, society will not be perfect and there will still be unhappiness, failure, crime, addiction, homelessness, and poverty? The question is, which type of government arrangement minimizes social pathology, not eliminates it completely–that's impossible.
I can agree with that.
I'm glad your perspective on possible ways to minimize this kind of misfortune are not limited by government's problem solving abilities.
Few points: (a) These guys are not homeless. They have a home. It's that very home that the government wants to take away because it doesn't conform to the city's regulations. (b) Johnson, what if they are able to reach a state of self-sustaining (or closer to it) through their garden and Timothy Robertson continues to allow them to stay there? I think it is a great idea to offer them assistance if they want it, but I do not get the impression Todd's terribly depressed and unhappy there. In fact, I got the impression he's hoping his garden does… Read more »
Why do you assume they want to get jobs and re-join the working world? Isn't that imposing your standards on them?Maybe some would like to progress into that world,and others have built their own comfort zone,not everyone fits into todays society.It would be nice to think that if we got them a clean place to live,good food,addiction help,and jobs,they would then be happy,productive members of society.Some would,others would be back in the woods. There are many causes of homelessness,a lot is due to addiction and /or mental health problems.No matter what you do,there is a certain percentage of the population… Read more »
I agree that the state should leave them alone. As far as your belief in offering help, no one is currently offering that help. Help consists of basic food and sustinence as of now (and I've found this out even though I live ~ 150 miles from Keene) Sometime leaving someone alone is good, sometimes it's not… If you have a family member become hopelessly addicted to say, heroine to the point the they no longer function for any other reason than to get that drug, are you going to leave that person alone until they die on the floor… Read more »
I am suggesting none of the above.As posted way up in the thread,I have worked on the same jobs as Todd.He himself admits his aflictions are self-induced. I am also not saying there shouldn't be any help for them,public,private,or personal.I also believe that if someone has reached a point due to addictions or mental issues that they cannot make rational issues,there should be some sort of remedy availlable. Since the discovery of horrendous conditions [back in the 60s,I believe the main case was a place called Creedmore] the government has not been allowed to just scoop up and keep people… Read more »
The scary part is that the real cold has not even started… I love the suggestion of showing an alternative to the big government solution. So far as these people finding purpose… My experience is that finding meaning and purpose is pretty hard to do when you cannot keep warm , and your stomach is gnawing your backbone. It is commendable that people are leaving food. But leaving food is only a first step. It takes care of the today needs, but it does not set these people on the road to feeding others, or even themselves. It just makes… Read more »
How great, refreshing & humble are these folks!
They labored and didn't rob, they built their home and family using little but creativity, they don't throw hapless souls out into the cold, and it ain't any of their business or judgment what goes on outside the gate.
None of which can be said about the scum & tax-feeding leeches inhabiting the Keene GOVMNT. Or the pompous cretin slaves often supporting it.
It's obvious from the dialogue bursting from this thread that you accomplished what you intended Sam. One thing that caught my attention was the man's comment that all of the local shelters were exhausted. It seems apparent to me, that the type of help Johnson, Bil, Sam, and other commenters talk about does exist. In reality it is possible for society to provide a private shelter (Paul) that doesn't have curfews (Sam), allows for freedom of choices (Puke), mediates and educates (Johnson), and increases self fulfillment. Now take that reality and realize the hundreds of regulations, taxes, licenses, permits, and… Read more »
There's a few important facts that you all are missing. No, I haven't yet read every word in these posts, but I know you new-comers don't get it. Who owns the land these "homeless" people are squatting on? Some is owned by PSNH, for their power lines & poles. Some is owned by Tim Robertson & his sister. The exact property line boundaries are unclear. Tim Robertson has wanted to develop that land for years. It's not really suitable for development, floodplain & wetland considerations aside…So Tim's support of these guys keeps the issue in the news. It lets him… Read more »
The city knew they were out there. Heck they had medical emergency, a tent fire with someone burnt, and the cops have dealt with illegal issues, some in the news some not. They kept it hush hush and left them alone, but the Sentinel blew this one for the guys who want to be left alone. They went in and did a three day, "front page" story, which got picked up by others and before you know it the officials now have to deal with the issue due to liability. Wanna thank someone, thank the sentinel for trying to sell… Read more »