Jared Goodell is a Keene native and local independent journalist. Yesterday he was the host for EIGHT hours during Pumpkin Fest 2014 on Cheshire TV, the local public access channel. Jared also put thousands of dollars of his own money into producing the all-day event coverage. For this amazing effort to cover the yearly festival (it would not have been covered on CTV without him), he is rewarded with an evening visit by Pumpkin Fest organizer Ruth Sterling who behaves in a ridiculous manner:
Sterling attempts to grab his microphone multiple times, as well as block the camera’s view of Jared, accuses him of frightening the guests of the festival and demands he stop talking about the riots happening just a few blocks away in the college neighborhood.
Since Jared is a newsman at heart, he feels obligated to report on what is happening in-town, and tangentially related to Pumpkin Fest. He defends his right to be the media and she responds by telling him she’ll “pull the plug” (which she has no control over) and that he should behave because she gave him the physical location for the CTV remote studio. As though she somehow was doing him a favor – he’s the one who spent over $5,000 of his own money to make the coverage of her event happen!
At one point in the beginning of the video, Sterling accuses Jared of being a “Free Stater”, this is the new pejorative to describe anyone who stands up for their rights. It’s not Jared’s first time causing controversy for reporting the news. Earlier this year he stirred it up for reporting from the scene of this Summer’s suicide and on the resignation of a despised school principal. Jared is not afraid to break the official city narrative of Keene being a perfect, blemish-free New England town, and is willing to take the heat. Keep up the good work, Jared – we’re all Free Staters now!
Pumpkin Fest 2014: I’d heard there were police with riot gear breaking up a party so I headed down to the college neighborhood yesterday around 6pm after a successful afternoon of handing out Foundation for NH Independence fliers and Bitcoin fliers. Blake Street was packed with people when I arrived, but police were at about a block away in each direction. I asked one house if I could get up on their porch to get a better shot of the crowd and he was gracious enough to invite me up into his room to get a shot from the second story. In the few moments it took to get up there, the large crowd had split and bottles were being thrown. While I don’t think the police should be arresting people for victimless crimes, this was actual criminality. People were getting hurt, property was destroyed and littered upon. Of course, because they have no obligation to protect you, Keene Police decided to stay safely down the street. Here’s video from the middle of the bottle war:
More Pumpkinfest Riot coverage to come here at Free Keene.
People are rioting near Keene State and police from across NH and Mass are in the area and incoming. Hear it happen from the comfort of your home: Listen via Tunein or your favorite listening program. We had some technical difficulties earlier – thanks for bearing with us – demand is very high tonight.
Thanks to the Keene Sentinel’s Martha Shanahan for coming up to Concord on Wednesday to report on the City of Keene vs Robin Hood case. Here’s the story she filed:
CONCORD — The N.H. Supreme Court heard oral arguments Wednesday morning in the city of Keene’s lawsuit against six people it accuses of harassing and intimidating city parking enforcement officers.
The six defendants named in the case are Graham Colson, James Cleaveland, Garret Ean, Kate Ager, Ian Freeman and Peter Eyre, all affiliated in some way with the Free Keene activist and blogging group that regularly protests government actions in Keene.
The Robin Hooders’ attorney, Jon Meyer of Manchester, said asking the court to allow the city’s request for a buffer zone of 30 feet between the six people and the parking officers would be circumventing existing laws. The Robin Hooders have not been charged with any crime, he said. (more…)
