This story by the Keene Sentinel’s David P. Greisman is about the small group of mostly high schoolers that showed up to protest the cannabis celebrations on Saturday. I had a lengthy discussion with protestors Ann and Diana to try to understand where they were coming from. They did think that cannabis consumers should be left alone at home, but otherwise support putting them in cages as well as making cigarettes illegal. They think that putting addictive substances in your body is “immoral”, with the exception of caffeine, because… well, they drink it. They actually had cups of coffee out at their protest. Diana even admitted to being addicted to caffeine. I pointed out to them that I would never advocate their caging for such peaceful activities and asked if they believed in god. They answered yes, but that god has nothing to do with this. According to them cannabis is man’s fault because man plants the seeds. (They did not believe it still grows in the wild!) They did not answer my question about where the seeds came from beyond saying that not everything natural is good for you. Finally I asked them what Jesus would do to cannabis consumers. Wouldn’t he use compassion, love, forgiveness, and understanding? That was my final question as I bid them good day. Here’s the Sentinel’s story:
It didn’t matter to them that there were only a handful of them there. It didn’t matter to them that the occasional person who drove by yelled at them or gave them the finger.
It only mattered to them that they were there, standing Saturday afternoon in Keene’s Central Square, protesting against marijuana use after more than a week of seeing people protest in favor of the drug in that very same spot.
The gatherings in favor of marijuana legalization or decriminalization had drawn dozens upon dozens.
The gatherings against? Five, at most.
“We wanted to show that not everyone here does drugs or is all about smoking marijuana,” said Diana M. Stepka, a 17-year-old from Chesterfield. (more…)
Thanks to Phil Bantz for this article about the Keene police’s position on the cannabis celebrations at 4:20 everyday in Central Square. While KPD is doing the right thing and ignoring the peaceful people gathering daily and toking up, it’s amusing to listen to them attempt to explain that they are serious about cannabis use and would be arresting people if they could only just determine that laws were being broken. Maybe someday they’ll actually admit that what they have been doing in the name of some arbitrary words on paper has been WRONG, and they are sorry.
Until then, leaving peaceful people alone will suffice. Here’s the story:
The marijuana protesters in downtown Keene are getting high on publicity, while city police have adopted a wait-and-see strategy.
Every afternoon for the past week, protesters have gathered at Central Square to promote the decriminalization of marijuana. They upped the ante Sunday by showing up at the Keene Police Department lobby, where they cheered and smoked.
No protesters were arrested during the demonstration at the police station. So far, just one protester has been arrested and charged with marijuana possession. (more…)
Liberty activists traveled to the county jail in Westmoreland today to demonstrate on behalf of Kurt Hoffman when they stumbled onto an even bigger story – the prisoners held up signs in the windows indicating that the showers were broken and that they have no heat.
How long this has been the case is not known. It’s certainly not a way to treat human beings. See the footage here:
I just wanted to say that I forgive you for assaulting me and stealing my cell phone. I would also like to apologize for my immediate angry outburst. I really should have been thanking you for providing me with such wonderful footage. People as usual are saying I should “press charges”. Justice and revenge are not my intent, so you needn’t be concerned about that. I can’t say for sure there will be no fallout for you from within your organization, however.
There is a possibility the state agents in charge of your organization will be embarrassed into doing something about your unprofessional behaviour. From my perspective as one who is forced to pay your salary, it doesn’t seem like you were doing a very good job yesterday. As a captain in Keene fire/EMS you should be focusing on taking care of your patient instead of harassing members of the media. I don’t think you were acting in a manner that is appropriate for a leadership role in any organization. That said, you shouldn’t really be too concerned about fallout from within, as usually the government does a pretty good job of protecting their own from any sort of serious punishment (even with video footage of obvious criminal acts), so you’ll probably be alright.
I just wanted to share my reflections and let you know that I forgive you for your anger and what you did to me. Presuming you keep your job, I’d suggest you ignore the media from now on, or better yet actually try being friendly to them.
Keene liberty activist Kurt Hoffman was in Keene district court yesterday due to a charge of “disorderly conduct” for caring about Sam when he was arrested and tortured by police. Kurt was charged in April when he remained in the public court lobby to monitor Sam’s screams from the other room. Additionally, he was being tried for refusing to provide his “papers” to an armed man who pulled him over after rolling through a stop sign in the middle of nowhere (Roxbury, NH).
Here’s the audio of the court proceedings. Picking up where the audio leaves off is this video of his arrest. You can hear an apparently rattled Edward Burke, (the robed man calling himself “the court”) as he attempts to justify placing his fellow man, who has not harmed another human being, into a cage for SIX MONTHS.
Put another way, Edward Burke has decided to spend about $15,000 taxpayer dollars (over $80 per day to jail someone in NH) to show everyone that he’s in charge.
To write to Kurt in jail, please use this address:
Kurt Hoffman
c/o Cheshire County Department of Corrections
160 River Road
Westmoreland, NH 03467
To call the jail and inquire about Kurt – 603-399-7794
To call the Keene Police about their prosecutor Eli Rivera’s attack on Kurt, dial 603-357-9815
To call Keene district court about their jailing a man 180 days for speaking, call 603-352-2559
Thanks to Phil Bantz for 
Ronald,
Keene liberty activist Kurt Hoffman was in Keene district court yesterday due to a charge of “disorderly conduct” for caring about Sam when he was arrested and tortured by police. Kurt was charged in April when he remained in the public court lobby to monitor Sam’s screams from the other room. Additionally, he was being tried for refusing to provide his “papers” to an armed man who pulled him over after rolling through a stop sign in the middle of nowhere (Roxbury, NH). 
