Keene city councilor Terry Clark, a vocal opponent of the militarization of police, recently proposed that the Ballistic Engineered Armored Response Counter Attack Truck (BEARCAT) obtained through a Homeland Security grant in 2012, be returned to its giftors. The mayor of Keene successfully prevented the proposal from being considered by the full council, by filing the proposal as ‘informational’. When Clarke objected to the improper classification of his proposal, only two other councilors of fifteen — Emily Hague and Bettina Chadbourne — sided with Clarke, resulting in the defeat of the proposal before it would be seriously considered. Mayor Kendall Lane, who held the same office during discussion on the matter in years past, was caught on an audiorecording of a meeting hushedly whispering to another city official, “We’re gonna get our own tank”. Despite the lack of change in Keene’s status relative to the attack truck, statewide coverage of the situation in Keene has been featured in a video segment by WMUR, received front page coverage in today’s Union Leader, and has also sparked a hilarious satirical police blotter written by Lionel Beehner of the Huffington Post.
A delivery truck was double-parked in front of the Fun Suds Laundromat. Police called the EOD bomb squad to cordon off the block in search of suspected Iranian-made IEDs, while an F-16 provided air support. NSA was notified to check its foreign transcripts for any explicit threats made against Keene or the state of New Hampshire. No threats were made and no IEDs were found. The truck was towed.
Manchester Police have been granted permission by a Superior Court petition to conduct a DUI check point tonight. Such a check point violates the 4th Amendment of the Bill of Rights and also furthers the perception of living in a police state. If you are unable to make it to Manchester NH tonight on Sept 5th 2014 but wish to see dozens of Cop Block activists save motorists from being detained and searched by the police, never fear! Myself and Shire Dude will both be live steaming the activism that will take place. Both of us will be using Bambuser to stream the event. Shire Dude’s live stream will be available at bambuser.com/channel/Vermiglio. My live stream ill be available at bambuser.com/channel/VREBEL.
Ministers of three New Hampshire churches have filed tax exemption appeals with the Cheshire and Grafton superior courts. Peaceful Assembly Church, Shire Free Church: Monadnock, and Church of the Sword were each denied tax exemptions for their properties. Peaceful Assembly sought an exemption for their church building, while the other two sought exemptions for parsonages.
Brandon Ross, the attorney for Peaceful Assembly Church, was surprised by the town’s decision to deny exemption for their church building in Grafton, pointing out, “Peaceful Assembly Church has been around for several years. Seems plain as day they’re entitled to the tax exemption.” According to the filing by Ross in Grafton superior court, “the Grafton Selectmen argued that Peaceful Assembly did not ‘do enough’ for the community to earn a tax exemption (perhaps incorrectly believing that [tax exemption is] a quid-pro-quo arrangement).”
The filing adds, “the Town’s tax assessing agent, Avitar, basically recommended that the exemption be denied because they weren’t an IRS recognized church.” Of course, there is no requirement that a church apply for IRS recognition within NH statutes, nor should there be. Churches do not need government approval to exist and to be tax-exempt.
The ministers of the Shire Free Church: Monadnock argue in their appeal filed in Cheshire superior court that Keene tax assessor Mary Ann Robator engaged in viewpoint discrimination when she said, “When you refer to activists, I think that flies in the face of your church status.” (more…)
To The Honorable Mayor Kendall Lane and Council ,
Considering the lack of use of and practical need for, as well as the derogatory impact on our fine city’s name, I write to ask that the City of Keene withdraw from the Homeland Security Grant dated January 20, 2011 and return the Specialized Mission CBRNE/WMD Rescue Vehicle, aka BearCat, to the appropriate government agency.
Terry M. Clark
City Councilor – Ward 3
The proposal will be heard for the first time at tomorrow’s full city council meeting (7pm, city hall) where it will be assigned to a committee for a public hearing (likely next week – we’ll let you know).
Terry Clark
You may recall the internationalheadlines that Keene garnered in 2011-2012 when the council meetings were packed full of people of all political persuasions to oppose the insane militaristic tank, and despite the mass opposition, the council voted for it anyway.
Now, in the aftermath of Ferguson, more of America has been given a taste of the militarized police, and they don’t like it. Kudos to Terry Clark for making a stand – again. Hopefully he won’t have to do it alone this time and other councilors will get a clue and do the right thing and send this metal monstrosity back to the depths whence it came.
James “Robin Hood” Cleaveland was in Keene district court today for an arraignment on three class A misdemeanor charges of “Disorderly Conduct”, “Disorderly Conduct”, and “Resisting Arrest”. The charges stem from a bullshit arrest made at the scene of a suicide in Keene a couple of months ago where James was attempting to record video of the situation.
While an occasional flag is raised by YouTube over content contained in a given episode of AKPF #1, seldom does the generous video server host outright block an episode of the controversial cable access series. In the past, LiveLeak has been utilized to fill the gaps left by YouTube’s restrictive policies. It was not until this week, in a special Labor Day installment, Islemon State, that an episode has had the honor of being banned from both YouTube and the more gratuitous LiveLeak video sharing site. While a more permanent hosting option is being sought, our audience is free to enjoy the blocked episode by downloading the .mp4 file directly from the WeTransfer service:
Fans of the show consuming the content directly from Cheshire TV will have the privilege of seeing the original complete and uncut episode as it was originally intended. Sharing is caring! If you find any issues with the .mp4 format, you can also find an mpeg2 format copy here via WeTransfer for up to two weeks from publication, unless that platform also issues some form of ban.
