Dave Ridley continues his series of videos from the Keene School Board meeting last month. As usual, his ambush-style interviews capture more ridiculous, unaccountable behavior from the school board members and school staff.
In this video, one school board member refuses to agree to support ANY kind of budget cap. No amount of taxing is too much!
In this video, Ridley confronts school bureaucrats who do not want to answer questions about anything as well as another school board member who refuses to support a budget cap: (more…)
This afternoon the hypocrite governor of New Hampshire spoke at Keene State College’s 2015 graduation ceremony. Maggie Hassan, the boss of the state’s executive branch, is likely to veto the cannabis decrim bill if it makes it through the NH senate. It already passed the NH house with a supermajority of votes. It’s clear that decriminalization is what the people of New Hampshire want (it’s also the humane choice), but Hassan throws her loyalty into the camp of the police and cares not one bit about the lives that continue to be ruined because of her inhumane war on pot.
Oh, and to make her position even more outrageous, it turns out she herself has used cannabis in her college days. That raging hypocrisy didn’t stop her from showing up at Keene State College and acting like she actually gives a damn about the very same students that her police regularly threaten and harass over victimless crimes like cannabis and alcohol possession. Rich Paul and I went down to KSC today to confront her on these things and were accompanied by local education activist Ed Bryans who was upset with Hassan’s veto of the anti-common core bill. We found her at the end of the commencement and had plenty of time to give her a hard time while she was unable to leave, much to the dismay of a few of her sycophants. Here’s the video:
It’s not too late for cannabis decrim to pass, but Hassan and the NH senators need to hear from you. Please reach out to your senator here and ask them to support HB618, the cannabis decriminalization bill. Then please call Hassan’s office and encourage her to do the right thing and let decrim pass.
One month of treasure hunting. What have I learned? • Penn J. Loses a bunch of weight. So does W • NH hands free law. Doin it for the kids • No douchebags in Kroger. Open carry welcome • Grand Theft Cantwell • Political, Spirtual, Revolutionary Hip Hop • Can’t escape ALDI • Interstate 60 movie review • Signs everywhere! • Darryl, Rapsher, and X join.
Mention government corruption, wasteful spending, crony politics and most minds will undoubtedly go straight to the sleaze pit we know as Washington D.C. Try to convince your neighbor that that same ooze may lie closer to home at the municipal level and you’ll likely run into some opposition. After all, we’re talking about our neighbors. Our co-workers. These are local heroes who take time out of their busy lives to make ours better.
They are also human. Just as corruptible and just as likely to misuse public funds as the parasites in DC. Let me explain.
Last year the Keene School District unabashedly spent $24,000 of our money to advertise its very controversial Article 1 that dealt with the acquiring of a $13 million bond for school renovations and the subsequent closing of Jonathan Daniels Elementary. They placed pro-article 1 ads in the Sentinel, the Shopper, on WKBK radio, and blanketed the city in campaign signs. For those unaware, the act of using government property to influence the results of a vote is known as electioneering and is illegal in the state of NH (RSA 659:44-a). The school board justified this act by claiming a need to “educate” the folks on current affairs. This is nothing new, really. Governmental departments across the country are guilty of using public funds to perpetuate their own agenda. The problem is no one is calling them out on it.
When asked what he thought of this misuse of taxpayer money, KSD attorney, John Wrigley, had this to say: “I think the school board has an obligation to inform and to educate… In 30 years I’ve been doing this I’ve seen the board over-extend itself more than once. I sit there and I look at something and I say, “Whoa I hope no one asks me about that.” But those are specific details that sometimes I trip across. I think on the whole, the board does it right, it has public hearings to inform and to educate. …but, I think sometimes they over-extend themselves. But I think it’s all in good faith…we’re not talking about Richard Daley in Chicago and that sort of thing.”
So in other words, it’s ok to break the law as long as it’s for the kids and as long as it’s not Richard Daley level. Had you or I attempted this same stunt, we would be looking at fines and or imprisonment. It’s true. Badges and titles do grant special privileges to some.
Need another example of how KSD spends your money? (more…)
The bullies over at the Keene School District along with their supporters in the community showed their true colors once again at this year’s town hall style deliberative session.
“We don’t need a very small minority of people in this community — that do not in any way represent the will of the people — telling us how to do our job.” That was School board member, Susan Hay.
It seems in her world, it’s perfectly acceptable to steal money from her neighbor to pay for her sacred cow as long as it’s the majority making the decision and as long as she’s on the winning team. I can only imagine the ruckus she would have made if we had had another 60 or so supporters in the room–one day we will.
There were 13 ballot initiatives up for discussion. Nine were created by the Board itself; aimed at raising the already bloated and unsustainable budget. That’s how they “do their job,” which Ms. Hay takes extreme pride in. Four submitted by petition were focused on reducing the budget.
The purpose of the deliberative session is to discuss, debate and clarify the articles before being placed on the upcoming ballot in March. Instead of leaving my four warrants in their original wording for the voters to decide on, former school board member and local busybody, Ted Parent, made it his goal to neutralize all four and extensively added an additional 2 hours to the already-lengthy proceedings.
After the meeting, I was approached by a good dozen participants who were all sympathetic and urged me to continue the fight, knowing that the entire proceedings had been unfairly stacked against us. I wish they had all stepped up and told the entire room instead of just me in private. This at least is encouraging. The seeds have been planted.
The most ironic part of this entire process is the anti-bullying stance these school authorities spout off on a regular basis. Don’t they realize their entire system is fundamentally built and supported by the practice of bullying others? You give us your lunch money or we’ll take your house. If you don’t like it run for office yourself ( join the ranks of bullies). Or Move to another playground (and take your chances with another gang).
The people came out to the State House to overwhelmingly say “YES!”
A bill proposed by Senators Bradley and Boutin and cosponsored by JR Hoell would remove the requirement for a Concealed Carry License. This means that anyone legally allowed to open carry in NH could also carry discreetly. This is a big deal for me, since currently I am fighting an uphill battle against my local police chief for denying my license despite NH supposedly being a “Shall-issue” state. The reality is that if the police don’t like you, they can deny you by claiming you’re “not suitable.” What does “suitable” mean? It’s not defined anywhere in the law!
Clearly a change needs to be made, and the people know it. About a hundred people came out to the State House to speak in support of the bill that would make New Hampshire more like Vermont by loosening restrictions on free people to protect themselves. Only 4 people spoke against the bill. 2 of them were law enforcers who were, by the way, wearing guns openly (I don’t think anyone else can do that). Are there 2 classes of men? (more…)
