Throughout some STOP FREE KEENE!!! members’ War on Chalk, chalk has always been made available to them by liberty activists so that the SFK!!! members can express themselves and add their ideas to the mix, rather than deleting other people’s ideas. Until now, they have refused to participate in the chalking.
Now, in a pleasantly surprising turn of events, one of the 20 silent protesters from a few weeks back has broken the silence and chalked his own message! His message was found this morning outside of the Shire Free Church’s parsonage in Keene. It says “THIS HOUSE IS A FRAUD!”, with an arrow. Rich Paul chalked above it earlier today, adding, “Boston Strong Can Chalk!!!”. The SFK!!!-supporting man was in Central Square on Monday night washing chalk off the sidewalk when he and another local man who was chalking got into a verbal confrontation. The man allegedly claimed to be from Boston and allegedly threatened the local chalker. He was given the moniker of “Boston Strong” as a result. At this time his identity is unknown.
“Boston Strong”
Boston is most certainly the chalker from this morning. Not only did he hold a sign with a similar message in the silent protest, but he also lives a few houses down River Street from the church parsonage. Plus, a man wearing a hoodie was seen leaving Boston’s house, chalking the message, then returning to Boston’s house at approximately 5:17 this morning.
It was during the verbal confrontation at Central Square involving Boston on Monday night that alleged Pedrazas/Pour House employees threatened and attacked the local chalkers. Interestingly, one of the men who threatened and came at the chalkers (who also stole appears to steal and smash Garret’s camera) is from Washington DC. Funny that some people critique Free State Project participants for coming here wanting to live free, all the while people fomenting violence and destruction of artwork in the streets of Keene are also NOT from New Hampshire. (more…)
Apparently last night at Central Square, a couple of Free Keene bloggers (Garret and Rich) were chalking and were joined by a couple of locals. This is a fairly common occurrence – many families and individuals have joined in the fun of chalking the common over the last few weeks. FK bloggers always make chalk available, even to those who oppose freedom.
However, just because someone picks up a piece of chalk does not make them part of Free Keene. Even if someone CLAIMS to be part of Free Keene, that does not make them part of Free Keene.
Apparently the couple of locals (one goes by “Yankee”) last night who joined the FK bloggers in chalking began to be very rude to one of the STOP FREE KEENE!!! members who was there cleaning up the chalking. This escalated to a shouting match, and then two men who appear to work for Pedraza’s/Pour House came over and attacked one of the men who was agitating the SFK!!! guy. 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. (Because, you know, I am a cult leader and puppet master and everything that any person claiming to be with Free Keene does must have been at my behest!)
I don’t know how many times I’ll need to say it: The only people who are part of Free Keene are listed with photos and bios on our Bloggers page. If someone claims to be part of Free Keene or with Free Keene and they are not on that page, they are not being honest. (more…)
Superintendent Rick Van Wickler of the Cheshire “House of Corrections” aka the Keene Spiritual Retreat has been featured on this blog several times in the past for his heroic advocacy for ending the insane war on drugs. He’s no stranger to press coverage and now has been made the subject of a recent VICE.com feature that focuses on both his support of drug legalization and his more-humane manner of running a jail.
In the article when asked about drug users, he relates,
The majority of people who drink alcohol in this country have no problems with it. They’re alcohol users: They drink on the Fourth of July, and barbecues, and at the Super Bowl. Then think about somebody who is an abuser of alcohol, meaning that they use alcohol much more than they should. But they’re still working. They still have a house. They’re still in a relationship. Finally, think about an alcohol addict—an alcoholic. Their lives have been destroyed by alcohol. Now, you can take the exact same analogy and just replace alcohol with drugs. Heroin? Cocaine? Meth? You have users, abusers, and addicts in pretty much the same ratios. Let’s not be so damn naïve and say that we in America don’t have professional people that are addicts, because we all know that’s not accurate. We have professional people who are heroin addicts, who have been heroin addicts for years, and are meeting the standards of their employment. That’s happening, and to deny it is an atrocity.
Interestingly, Van Wickler is listed as “Formerly” part of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, a group of mostly former law enforcement who now speak against prohibition. I wonder what the reasons for the split were. I’ve emailed Rick with the question and will post the reasons if he chooses to make them public.
As you know, the people calling themselves “the City of Keene” are appealing their loss in the Robin Hood case to the NH Supreme Court. In order to appeal a case, the appellant must pay a ridiculous amount of money for a transcript of the case being appealed. In order to get three nearly full days of the Robin Hood hearings’ transcripts, the city folks spent $2,200 of your money. (That’s after city boss John MacLean admitted they’ve spent over $20,000 on the initial case.)
Apparently there are several errors with the transcripts (like when Pete said “decentralized” in his testimony, the transcriber wrote that as “centralized”). Would you like a copy? You paid for it, so here you are:
A local heckler, allegedly named George Parkhurst, decided to get into it with Robin Hooder Garret Ean this week. In this RAW video, Parkhurst threatens Garret, insults him, and blocks both Jane the parking enforcer and Garret from doing their jobs by covering up the parking meters. According to Garret, Jane called Keene police on Parkhurst on her own volition.
Throughout some STOP FREE KEENE!!! members’ War on Chalk, chalk has always been made available to them by liberty activists so that the SFK!!! members can express themselves and add their ideas to the mix, rather than deleting other people’s ideas. Until now, they have refused to participate in the chalking.
