Holding Bureaucrats Accountable

by | Jan 12, 2013 | 1 comment

In New Hampshire government officials are supposed to be accountable to “the people” at all times. Anyone who pays attention knows that is not the case. This lack of accountability was seen, or rather heard again on TalkBack this morning.Garret Ean and James Cleaveland both called into the weekly radio show to ask bureaucrat Andy Bohannon questions about his actions on “National Chalk the Police Day” in which he refused to identify himself and assaulted a cameraman.Today on TalkBack, Andy stated that he had “learned from the incident” and there was a mention of people harassing public officials. Garret called to clear up the story to inform Cynthia that Andy had approached him, not the otherway around. Andy refused to apologize to Garret for hitting his camera. When Garret called back in a second time, he was rudely cut-off and host Cynthia Georgina said that such calls will not be accepted.
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Speeding Ticket Dropped!

by | Dec 20, 2012 | 3 comments

November 2011 – I am pulled over for speeding on the way back from some activism in Concord with a car full of activists. Trooper Kelly Healy asks my passengers for ID – I remind her that as passengers they are in no way obligated to show her ID. As I reach for my car registration she asks about my driver’s license and why there was an NH address on a FL license. I decline to answer her probing questions, instead asking her questions of my own, like, “Am I being detained?”. Healy returns to her car and later comes back with a speeding ticket, to which I ask her if she really wants to go to court, and she claims that is my choice. I remind her that it was her choice to aggress against me and tell her I’ll see her in court.

Or, maybe not. Trooper Healy never showed up to a court hearing scheduled for this week and the case was dismissed on my motion to dismiss for failure to appear on the part of the complaining party. I “won”! Here’s video from the pullover and court hearing:

I put quotes around the win because it took many hours of my time, for which I will not be compensated. Allow me to detail the process: (more…)

Victory in Defeat

by | Dec 13, 2012 | 3 comments

On December 13, 2012 I had a trial in Newport District Court for expired vehicle registration. Specifically, I was charged with violating RSA 261:40. For those who aren’t familiar, Newport is a much smaller town than Keene. Normally in Keene, as well as Manchester, Concord and I would guess most other District Courts throughout New Hampshire, there are many people scheduled for trial at the same date and time. This was not the case in Newport. Aside from myself and seven others from Keene, the only people in the court were Trooper Hickox (who was prosecuting his own case), one bailiff, a court clerk and the judge.

Before the trial began, the judge issued an edict that only one camera would be allowed to operate during the trial, despite the fact that three individuals filed notices to record. He immediately took a brief recess so that the camera situation could be straightened out and stated that if a decision wasn’t reached on which camera was to be the camera to record the trial, that NO cameras would be allowed.
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