The lawsuits against Robin Hood and the Merry People in Keene have been dismissed in a 16-page ruling by judge John Kissinger dated December 3. On November 27, the Keene Sentinel published this diversionary piece on the state of parking in Keene, New Hampshire, given the costly news from the Cheshire superior court. Below is the city’s parking distraction article, tomorrow will be published much more on the victory for the meter fillers and their generous legal counsel. (more…)
Robin Hood and the Merry Men and Women are victorious over the lying, corrupt “City of Keene” in BOTH Robin Hood cases! The first civil case was filed by “the City” back in May seeking a preliminary injunction against the six named respondents, in hopes banning them from being near, speaking to, or recording video of the parking enforcers. It was heard over three full days of court “evidentiary hearings” later in the summer and afterwards, heroic free speech attorney Jon Meyer filed a motion to dismiss the case.
Attorney Meyer’s motion has now been granted in a 17-page notice of decision from Cheshire “superior” court judge John C Kissinger Jr., which also dismisses the second civil case against us that was filed by “the City” in September, seeking monetary “damages”. The second suit proved what we all knew and the city people had originally denied with their first lawsuit – that ultimately this was about their lost parking revenue.
Ultimately, the Robin Hooders have been completely vindicated. The city people were lying (as is typical of governments) when they claimed Robin Hooders were harassing, intimidating, and threatening their parking enforcement agents. Again, the proof that they were lying is that no Robin Hooder has ever been arrested for “harassment”. Even if Robin Hooders were saying nasty things (no evidence of that was presented in court, and I’ve never seen it happen), the job description of the parking enforcers makes it clear they must put up with “mental and verbal abuse” from members of the public. The city people tried to illegally oppress our right to free speech and to hold government agents accountable for their actions, and the court made the right decision and dismissed their frivolous, aggressive, unconstitutional cases against us.
In the notice of decision, judge Kissinger notes that the free speech rights of the Robin Hooders outweigh all of the claims of “the City”: (more…)
The 2013 Police Accountability Tour wrapped last Monday as Pete Eyre and myself parted ways at the Louis Armstrong International Airport. Carrying footage that has mostly completed uploading recently, Fr33manTVraw has seen a spike in recent views as what’s been captured on the tour is sorted for further editing. Much content will be submitted to CheshireTV for airing, and be additionally posted to the FreeConcordTV channel. One video from the tour has previously appeared on the AquaKeene channel, and check for more there from the tour as content airs on the controversial series AKPF #1 out of Cheshire county.
Embedded below is a playlist of my experiences with the TSA. First, going through the security checkpoint with two cameras running in NOLA, then wrapping with a brief exercise in filming the TSA from the public area of the airport after landing in Manchester. You can read an article from Pete covering the tour published to CopBlock last Friday. In my roughly five city addition to the tour, it was eye-opening to see how those portions of the world are changing and and how sheltered other areas can be from their issues. Expect text in addition to video content coming soon to the sources above. Keep cameras charged!
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…)
The Police Accountability Tour had the opportunity to meet with the creative individuals behind CopWatch of East Atlanta. Having been active in their area since the late aughts, the project established itself as a resource for the community, providing a phone number for people in need of a few individuals armed with cameras to reach out through. Following an experience-based set of collectively understood policies, CopWatch participants are also involved in other actions in the area, including Food Not Bombs.
A pixelated still image from footage damaged in police custody
Stemming from an incident in 2010, and complimented by a similar situation which occurred later, the Atlanta police department has now been specifically trained to permit videography and photography of themselves and their suspects and detainees from a reasonable distance. During the 2010 camera seizure, which helped shape CopWatch of East Atlanta’s policies as well as the police’s, a camera phone was taken from an activist by the police after multiple unlawful requests to terminate the recording. Eventually, the camera was wrestled away, and a revealing phone conversation with the property-seizing officer was documented and disseminated. The officer revealed that the person potentially videotaped being arrested may act as a confidential informant on an investigation. The camera phone would be returned on the condition that the police employee could be granted access to the footage and ensure its deletion. An audio recording of the telephone conversation would secure a $40,000 settlement for the group. Upon retrieving the footage, it was posted publicly in very damaged condition, possibly as a result of its poor handling in police custody, or through intentional sabotage. Since that time, CopWatch of East Atlanta has adopted policies to prevent the loss of objective documentation of a scene by working in groups, wearing uniforms, keeping distances between videographers, and observing numerous other safety precautions. Recently at the DeKalb County public library, the group offered to the public a know-your-rights training session. (more…)
Fifty years ago, the population of Gary, Indiana reached its peak with nearly 180,000 residents. Infrastructure was being built on estimates that the area may soon be home to nearly a quarter million people. Founded around the turn of the century and designated as the home of the Gary Works steel plant, soon automation replaced human labor and demand for domestically produced steel decreased. As the number of employees of Gary Works declined, so did the economy and tax base of the city, as well as its population, which now hosts less than 80,000 residents. During that time, another legal phenomenon swept the nation, which only contributed to Gary’s woes. The United States experienced the proliferation of the war on drugs. These two factors led to Gary experiencing high crime and poverty rates, which continue to affect the city that resembles a ghost town more each year.
The failure of central planning has also negatively impacted the city. City hall grossly overestimates property values in an attempt to recoup the tax base lost to other towns and cities as residents fled. While houses and businesses sit abandoned and in shambles, back taxes are claimed owed on them despite their negative value. Travelling through the city full of crumbling structures, it would seem the obvious solution would be to allow the impoverished residents to homestead and reclaim the land and property which is underutilized. Yet police in Gary still work to combat squatting in structures deemed to have potential future value, if only someone would purchase and refurbish them. (more…)
The lawsuits against Robin Hood and the Merry People in Keene have been dismissed in a 16-page ruling by judge John Kissinger dated December 3. On November 27, the Keene Sentinel published this diversionary piece on the state of parking in Keene, New Hampshire, given the costly news from the Cheshire superior court. Below is the city’s parking distraction article, tomorrow will be published much more on the victory for the meter fillers and their generous legal counsel. (more…)
