by Ian | Oct 16, 2009 |
The Union Leader is reporting that in the name of the children, Keene police and prosecutors plan to make arrests in Keene’s Central Square, a piece of “public” property. Will tomorrow’s Pumpkin Fest event be a tragedy of the commons? “Public” property is allegedly owned by everyone, which also means it’s owned by no one. While ideally all property should be owned, as long as the concept of “public” property exists, any peaceful individuals should be allowed there. Because of the children though, Keene’s armed gang has decided that smokers of cannabis will be kidnapped while smokers of tobacco will be left alone. Sure, this is completely arbitrary, but that’s how they roll.
What will happen tomorrow afternoon at 4:20pm is anyone’s guess. Remember, no one is in charge. Will the tokers stay away that one day? Will they show up and be arrested? (If they are arrested, will they take jail time and cost the gang, or will they pay the gang?) Are the cops bluffing? If both sides show up, how many will there be?
“What about the children?”
Why not tell your kids the truth about cannabis? You do know the truth, right? (more…)
by Ian | Oct 15, 2009 |
From the Keene Sentinel:
My name is Jenna, I’m 18 and am from the Keene area.
I stand with my fellow “stoners” at 4:20 when I can on my days off from work. I read the paper and keep up with the media on this topic every day.
As to the article in the Sept. 30 paper, “Weeding out lawbreakers:” I was appalled as to what some of the residents feel should happen to us protesters, such as one resident called for the police to use tear gas, riot batons and Tasers on us. (more…)
by Ian | Oct 10, 2009 |
Discussed on last week’s “Talkback” on WKBK: marijuana decriminalization, the imprisonment and attack of Kurt Hoffman, the daily 4:20 cannabis celebrations, and wild allegations about “the skinny guy with the megaphone”.
Grab the archive.
Please join us for our weekly listening, chat, and calling sessions on Saturday mornings from 9a-12p in the Free Keene Chat room. If you’re online, you can listen to Talkback streamed live via the Liberty Radio Network and if you’re in the Keene area you can tune in to WKBK 1290 AM or 104.1 FM. The Talkback discussion thread is here on the Free Keene Forum.
by Ian | Oct 9, 2009 |
Thanks to Brian Anderson at the Keene Equinox (Keene State College’s campus newspaper) for this story:
At 4:19 p.m. a one minute contdown excites a crowd in Central Square at Keene. A man in a shirt reading “4:20 everyday at 4:20” paraphrases Thomas Jefferson and yells, “I hope for the day when people don’t fear their government, but the government fears it’s people.”
As 4:20 p.m. arrives, cars passing by honk and yell out their support.
This has been the typical scene at Central Square for the last two weeks, as protestors have shown up in large numbers to protest the country’s drug laws by smoking marijuana in public.
Keene residents Noah Wood and Rich Paul started the movement after the TEA party in Central Square two weeks ago.
“We thought, what better way to protest drug laws then to smoke pot,” Wood said. “Then we thought, why not come back tomorrow? Then it kind of evolved from there.” (more…)
by Ian | Oct 5, 2009 |
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…)
