Thanks to James “Puke” Schmill for donating his time as a photographer to create the high quality Shire Society Declaration documents The document was signed by a number of wonderful activists from Porcfest, with a final few signatures from the Keene area.
Here’s the feature story from the Union Leader’s Michael Cousineau:
Expect local officials across the state to review state and local nudity laws following weekly protests by topless women in Keene, according to the head of a police association.
“It will cause people to look and review their policies … and make sure they are protected about this issue,” said David Cahill, president of the New Hampshire Association of Chiefs of Police.
“Sometimes, the worst thing you could do is create a knee-jerk reaction,” said Cahill, Sunapee’s police chief.
More than a half-dozen people were either ticketed or arrested last Sunday after police received reports of people drinking alcohol and taking off their clothes in Central Square.
Keene police Lt. Jay Duguay said no women were charged for being topless because it wasn’t deemed lewd behavior. The city prosecutor concluded a man painting a woman’s breast didn’t violate the state’s public decency law either, he said, adding the city has no local nudity law.
The topless women sparked discussions involving public morality, free speech and the political Free State Project, whose members were involved in last Sunday’s incident. (more…)
You’ve gotta give the Union Leader credit for their headline.
UPDATE: The Union Leader has re-written parts of the article, presumably after Sam gave them a call. The new article is posted here. I will leave the old one up so people can see the differences.
By MELANIE PLENDA
Union Leader CorrespondentKEENE – Being bare breasted on the streets of Keene may not be illegal, but breast painting, drinking in public, blocking police cars and harassing officers is.
At least seven people were arrested Sunday shortly after 6 p.m. when bystanders reported people were drinking and taking off their clothes in Central Square in downtown Keene.
Keene Police Lt. Darryl Madden said the people in the park were not arrested for nakedness, which is not illegal in Keene.
“One woman was toples and she was getting her breasts painted by another woman,” he said. “There’s no law against being naked, but you can’t be lewd or lascivious. And one person groping someone’s breasts and saying lewd things certainly qualifies.”
(more…)
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This comic was inspired by a controversy over the Shire Society Declaration. The construction of the declaration was begun with a work by Libertarian author, L. Neil Smith. Many changes were made after a lengthy discussion, but they remain quite similar according to a number of people. I haven’t actually read the original work and I got turned off to the discussion for reasons described here. I did ultimately find myself in enough agreement with the final product to sign it. (more…)
Greetings from PorcFest 2010.
I just wanted to share with you what I feel is an amazing and encouraging thing.
In a mere day at the Porcupine Freedom Festival I have met dozens of people from across the United States (and world) who have come to this gathering. What I find particularly encouraging is that so many people who are planning to move to New Hampshire have been paying very close attention to what has been happening here. They watch the Ridley Report. They read Free Keene. They listen to Free Talk Live. They participate in the various discussion forums …
… and they’re all coming.
To the people reading this who think that society will continue forever to use the violence of the status-quo to solve social problems: the days of this are numbered. There are far too many people who believe in peace, liberty, and handling the problems of the world without violence for the archaic practices of the now to continue.
If you were unable to make it to PorcFest, no worries. Your home, friends, and family anxiously await your arrival.
The state of our peaceful evolution is strong 😎
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This pretty well describes my experience at The Porcupine Freedom Festival last year. I don’t have the excuse of not knowing about the events though. I had several I was looking forward to attending but I was having such a good time just hanging out and enjoying the nice camping experience with great people that I lost track 0f time and missed all or some of most of what I had planned to attend. I was even late for an event I was supposed to speak at! I felt so bad. Sorry, Carla! This year I will be careful not to have so much fun that I completely lose track of what day and what time it is.
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