News came out yesterday following a press conference that the state of New Hampshire was sponsoring a special edition vodka in a decorate new bottle featuring the late Old Man of the Mountain. At 29.99usd, the maple-syrup bottlesque hard liquor was made available to state liquor dispensaries in Concord, but likely will not be arriving into the Cheshire county area until Friday. Profits attained from the drug sales will be directed towards repairing dilapidated flags of some historical value. Walking through the local liquor store in search of the bottle to document, I was amazed at how casually the state promotes and distributes the world’s most destructive drug. How long could it possibly be before a New Hampshire governor introduces an official state strain of cannabis to the public in celebration of the holiday season? The Nashua Telegraph captured some video from the parodist press conference. No mentions of liquor or drug-related issues facing New Hampshire are mentioned in many of the corporate news stories republishing the state’s alcohol marketing through the frame of selling “commemorative bottles”.
In an undated video uploaded today to the Ridley Report, Peter ‘Sturdy’ Thomas, a member of the three-person board of selectman in Dublin, tucks his head, shuffles a flight of stairs and grumbles a question away with, “I’m not answering any questions from you.”
While it would be exposing, but not completely unprecedented to have observed any other politician behave in such a way, Peter’s behavior seems to demonstrate a desire to conceal, especially given his own activities behind a camera as part of DPRK‘s case against Robin Hood of Keene. While he was sometimes friendly when dealing with myself, in videos where he meets other Robin Hooders he displayed a relatively hostile tone and behaved as though he was entitled to deliver orders to others around him. During his time filming he was even shoved by a passing female pedestrian who said nothing to him while Peter was filming a Robin Hooder and an enforcer on a North Main Street sidewalk. He called out to the person and the retired detective presumably flashed a badge, or some sort of authority symbol. On one occasion he took to asking interrogatory questions about specifically who pays for what different tools used in the process of Robin Hooding. In other encounters with Ian Freeman, he would refuse to disclose that he was working for the city when directly asked, and would repeat a drone-like opening greeting in response to any questions.
A slouching ‘Sturdy’ hangs his head before fleeing the videojournalist
On one occasion in which Peter and myself conversed in the city hall parking garage, he was quick to tell me that he was proud of all of his conduct over the course of his career in police work. Generally trustworthy as firm words may be, I found his eagerness to avoid the discussion of unnecessary conflict revealing of a potential lack of self-reflection.
Seeing Ridley’s video, actions speak volumes over Peter’s words.
For video captured by Peter ‘Sturdy’ Thomas and used by unknown City of Keene bureaucrats in a public relations campaign against Robin Hooders, check out AKPF #1 episode 08 Dolus. The entire records request received from DPRK officials of Peter Thomas’ over six hours of Robin Hooding footage is available on a playlist at Fr33manTVraw. (more…)
the money to pay for attorney Charles P. Bauer of Concord and his legal team came out of the city attorney’s line item budget, and estimated that cost to be somewhere between $20,000 and $25,000. The city hired Bauer’s firm because it has more experiences with these kinds of cases than the city attorney, officials said.
Was the city manager able to authorize this spending on his own without consulting the city council? IF the council was consulted, what was the vote and relevant discussion?
In reality, Gallagher, Callahan, and Gartrell was hired because they are the go-to law firm for NH government agencies. That’s what MacLean (or presumably MacLean – the Sentinel story cites city “officials” as the source of this claim) means when he says the firm “has more experiences with these kinds of cases”. Bauer’s clients are frequently cities, towns, and likely state agencies. He and his associates live off the taxpayer trough in all manner of frivolous and aggressive court litigation on behalf of municipalities.
Now, Bauer will likely be pressing to appeal to the NH Supreme Court, and it should be interesting to see how “the City” handles the prospect of an appeal now that people know how much “the City” has already spent. (more…)
A shocking trend of gang-related shootings plagued New Orleans following the hurricane infamous for destroying much of the city’s infrastructure. As national news media was reporting exaggerated claims of street-level violence occurring in understocked refuge centers, heavily armed and trained mobs were targeting and killings innocent civilians. Following the attempted murder of Donnel Herrington and the murder of Henry Glover on September 2, 2005, Danny Brumfield was killed with a shotgun blast to the back on September 3 near the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. The Danziger bridge shootings were perpetrated on September 4, resulting in the deaths of James Brissette and Ronald Madison, with four other victims suffering injury in the attack. Who was responsible for these mob killings?
It would be years before a critical inquiry into the senseless killings would occur, primarily sparked by intrigued journalists and eventually followed up by the United States department of justice through the federal bureau of investigation. Potentially more disturbing than what is known is what is not known. With reports of bodies being spotted throughout the city that appeared to be victims of gunshot wounds rather than storm-related injuries, there is no way to know exactly how many homicides occurred during the post-storm havoc. Survivors have cited numerous bodies buried beneath debris showing gunshot wounds in Algiers Point, an area which was not flooded after the rupture of the levees. In various journalistic reports, drunken neighbors in largely wealthy, european-american residential areas admit to operating armed patrols and firing on people who, “didn’t belong.” (more…)
As some of you are already aware local bully and tyrant, Fred Parsells, submitted a letter to the Keene Sentinel titled: Stealing from Keene taxpayers, early last week. In it he actually suggests that the residents of Keene should blame their high property tax on the Robin Hooders. I immediately submitted my own rebuttal but it was denied because it did not meet the Sentinel’s standards. It would seem that it is quite alright for Fred to call the Robin Hooders thieves but not for me to call him a busybody and a parasite. Here is my submission:
In response to Fred Parsell’s letter “Stealing from Keene taxpayers.”
Sorry Fred, you got it wrong. The Robin Hood of lore was not stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. He was in fact taking money back from an oppressive government that stole through forced taxation and giving it back to the rightful owners. The taxpayers. A lot of folks don’t seem to understand that part.
Something else people might not be clear about: This year the city estimates it will take in $634,406 from meter collections and fines, but will end up spending $602,000 on the parking enforcement operating costs for a whopping total gain of $32,406. Does anyone not see a problem here? The fines and collection barely pay for the enforcers and their uniforms. So why even have them? If the city managers believe it’s so important to get folks to visit downtown and spend their money, why risk scaring them away with nasty tickets?
The bottom line here: Fred, who has been living off the backs of the taxpayers his whole working career, can’t fathom the idea of a community operating with any efficiency without the heavy hand of a tax-payer funded city government making every decision for us. The answer is the free market. If Keene is to survive the coming days, it must evolve past this mentality that government is the only solution to all of its problems.
Fred, what do you actually do? Besides collecting $56,610 a year in pension and $x/year as a housing inspector. Every time I’ve seen you downtown you’re either helping the parking enforcers write tickets or washing chalk off the sidewalks with your little spray bottle. You’re nothing but a busybody and a meddler. If you really cared about the taxpayer, you’d quit your job and give back some of that pension.
Conan Salada – Candidate for City Council – ward 4