As you may recall, last June the Keene Activist Center was raided by code enforcement and the fire department. They contend it was being operated as a “lodginghouse” or “tourist home” and cited claims posted online in early 2012 by former tenants to make their case to the judge to receive the search warrant. Despite having no evidence the current tenants at the time of the raid were doing the same things the previous tenants were, they issued a “NOTICE OF VIOLATION” in September. I challenged that notice by responding that the judge (Burke) is biased against Free State Project participants and should recused himself, invalidating his warrant.
Later in the year in December I received an “ORDINANCE VIOLATION” from the fire department. In it, they allege that I am in violation of the city’s smoke detector ordinance 2-2011-02. It appears the ridiculous ordinance in question requires all homes in Keene to have multiple smoke detectors, all hooked to AC power, and all interconnected (meaning if one goes off, they all go off).
I don’t know about you, but I’ve never lived in or heard of a home that has a system like that. I can see the benefit in having one smoke detector on each floor, and the KAC has that, but the rest of the ordinance is ludicrous and who knows what it would cost to have AC-powered interconnected detectors installed in a home. I suspect most homes in Keene do not have such a system. Does yours?
It’s pretty clear that I am being targeted because of my activism. Fred Parsells, one of the city’s code enforcers, has told me that he thinks I’m going to leave Keene. His continued campaign of harassment against me and my tenants is clearly designed to encourage me to leave through constant threats and court engagement.
I responded to their “ORDINANCE VIOLATION” and contested their violation to district court. I received a “SUMMONS” to come to court for an arraignment on a criminal town ordinance violation for the smoke detector issue. I showed up and a trial date was set for 5/29 at 10am. I then filed the following: (more…)
In August of last year, I received a parking ticket in Concord, NH. As part of my principles to never immediately pay a fine, I requested a hearing.
My court date was set for January 29, unfortunately I was unable to attend that trial due to new employment that I began that day. I attempted to have someone represent me as an “Attorney In Fact” which was denied by the court; though a continuance was granted.
Upon arriving at court this morning, the prosecutor told me that he would place my ticket on file without finding. The initial offer was 90 days on file, I negotiated that down to 60 days.
I had a very winnable case, as I was never notified of the witness to testify against me pursuant to Rule 2.10 (B), though Rule 1 of the court is that all rules may be waved at any time. It’s not a win, but the court spend time and resources that could have been put to better use going after real criminals with actual victims and I am satisfied with the outcome.
Posted hours ago to Vice News was an article connecting the zealous prosecutions of Aaron Schwartz and Bradley Manning. John Cornyn, a US senator from Texas authored a letter to current US attorney general Eric Holder inquiring as to whether Schwartz’s FOIA requests related to Manning’s treatment were a motivating factor for his own prosecution. See DJ Pangburn’s article Aaron Swartz and Bradley Manning: How the US Government Contains Those Who Would Free Information.
When Swartz walked into the MIT server room to liberate millions of academic papers (freeing knowledge in the process), he was unwittingly opening the door to his very own cell alongside Manning. One need not be in a tiny room to feel the walls closing in. The law does a great job of that—the shadow of America’s boot heel spreading all around, snuffing out the light. Defendants are forced to deal: plead guilty and serve a short sentence, or fight the system and serve much more time. Justice indeed.
Last month the NH Supreme Court announced a new registration process making recording court hearings a little easier for people who take the time to register as news media. Basically, the new process is once your registration is approved, one need only show a copy of the approved registration form to a court security officer to gain access to recording hearings, rather than having to fill out a form at the clerk’s window on each visit. So, it makes the process a little easier, plu
According to the registration guidelines, in order to qualify as “news media” an organization must meet certain criteria:
News media are defined as established organizations, or individuals, that regularly gather, report, edit, broadcast and publish news or matters of public interest, either in print or electronically. The definition of “news media” includes Internet-based “new media” that regularly update content. The definition does not include personal websites. It is the responsibility of online organizations to demonstrate that they meet the definition of “new media.”
Local radio fans will know Scott Antonivich from his many mornings as “Parker Springfield” rocking the Monadnock area on 101.9 K-Rock. Sadly, the parent company flipped formats to country, as reported here last year. Scott was offered a position in Lebanon with the company, but did not want to make the commute. Not long thereafter, his wife of six years allegedly decided to cheat on him and break up with him. He has a young son and so began his odyssey into the horrible family legal system of NH.
Here’s a recent post he made to his facebook profile that he gave permission to share with you regarding his thoughts about the Free State Project:
For those of you that follow or hear about Free Keene and the Free State Project and think that the members are into ‘shenanigans’ or worse you believe New Hampshire State Representative Cynthia Chase who believes that the principles of liberty, sound money, and free markets are a threat to NH and actually wishes to pass measures that will restrict the “freedoms” of those in the Free State Project I’d like to voice my opinion. Sure, there are times when perhaps they “get in the face” of people. Perhaps they goto extremes with their views: the counsel chambers drinking game comes to mind. Before you judge these folks….listen to the underlying message first. The rest is pure promotion so that you WILL LISTEN. Did I stop and look at the video of the topless TSA protester at the Manchester Airport? You bet your ass! After staring at her breasts…I realized she had a good point. I wouldn’t have given the video the time of day otherwise. Remember, sometimes you have to use sensationalism in order to be heard in today’s society. I’ve been experiencing FIRST HAND some of the issues they have been talking about for years. When a police officer tells you that he will not get involved when your name is FORGED on a check written to you….in order for it to be illegally cashed….you have to wonder what laws they use. It’s certainly not the law’s I’ve been told I had.
Recently published was a new Ridleo chronicling a history of arrests of Russell Kanning in New Hampshire. Russell is partly responsible for the reputation of Keene area activists as civil disobedients, as he had originally moved to that area of the state as he made waves over a number of victimless offenses.
Kat and Russell in Keene, NH
The video also features footage from Michael Fisher’s illegal manicuring event from 2005 in Concord. The headline-generating fingernail beautification by a Free State Project participant is referred to by Ridley as a “textbook act of civil disobedience”.
Russell currently faces federal chalking-related charges in Waco, Texas. Though he also had chalking charges from Concord, New Hampshire, Kat Kanning reports that the NH charges were dropped because, “[the] NH court said they thought he could be prosecuted adequately in TX, so they dismissed their charges.” Authorities may have prevented Russell’s legal adventures from taking him back to NH also because he would attract more supporters while in the Shire.
![smokeDetector[1]](https://i0.wp.com/freekeene.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/smokeDetector11-150x150.jpg?resize=150%2C150)
As you may recall, last June the Keene Activist Center was raided by code enforcement and the fire department. They contend it was being operated as a “lodginghouse” or “tourist home” and cited claims posted online in early 2012 by former tenants to make their case to the judge to receive the search warrant. Despite having no evidence the current tenants at the time of the raid were doing the same things the previous tenants were, they issued a “NOTICE OF VIOLATION” in September. I challenged that notice by responding that the judge (Burke) is biased against Free State Project participants and should recused himself, invalidating his warrant.
It’s pretty clear that I am being targeted because of my activism. Fred Parsells, one of the city’s code enforcers, has told me that he thinks I’m going to leave Keene. His continued campaign of harassment against me and my tenants is clearly designed to encourage me to leave through constant threats and court engagement.
Local radio fans will know Scott Antonivich from his many mornings as “Parker Springfield” rocking the Monadnock area on 101.9 K-Rock. Sadly, the parent company 
