Yesterday I was engaged in conversation with Keene police’s Fintan Moore regarding a small chalking that was cleaned off of a barrier wall on a parking garage ramp downtown. Supposedly the city attorney considers there to be legal protection for sidewalk chalkings, but not chalkings on vertical surfaces.
There is a question as to what public property can lawfully be chalked and what cannot. The wall of a handicap ramp at the Manchester district court has been decorated with chalk numerous times in the past as bailiffs have looked on, only acting when the wall of the building itself has been marked. The spot in question in Keene was in a location which would have washed away naturally, and there are plenty of sidewalk areas covered by a canopy which prevents chalk from washing away. While I may not agree with the determination of the city’s legal agent, I did inform his messenger that I would relay his communication to the chalking masses. Here’s the video of our dialogue.
According to the 2013 Thumbtrack.com Small Business Survey, New Hampshire is #3 for small business friendly states. New Hampshire is #2 for ease of starting a business and licensing regulations. New Hampshire is #4 for regulatory friendliness. New Hampshire also receives an A+ in ease of hiring, health and safety and tax code.
On March 26th, Ridley was trying to interview local officials including Gatsas who told the independent journalist that he must get permission from the City Clerk’s office before recording. According to Ridley, “an enraged security officer shortly appeared and made similar demands.” He describes the upcoming demonstration:
“In the absence of some major unexpected event, there will be an anti-censorship demonstration outside City Hall starting 6 p.m. on Monday, April 8. Then I intend to enter the lobby *with* my camera recording and *without* asking permission. I’ll try to record, non-disruptively, the outskirts of a City school-committee meeting. I’ll likely remain until arrested or until 7:30 p.m…whichever comes first! I invite all peaceable folk to join me.”
This past Friday morning, Keene State College was host to parents and prospective students from around the country. During a campus open house event, which gathered in the Mabel Brown auditorium, current KSC students organized a protest directly in front of the venue’s doors inside of the student center.
Organized actions are rare for Keene’s campus, and no one present was able to recall the last sit-in style protest. According to a 1990 Nashua Telegraph article, over 250 students camped out in front of an administrative building for multiple days following the questionable firing of an administrator at the time.
Students were, and continue to be discontent with the unfunding of the Multicultural Affairs Department, which is reported to receive less of a budget them some of the student clubs. A correspondent for the school’s newspaper, The Equinox, was present to collect perspective from the students, accompanied by a photographer and videographer. I was asked by participating students to provide documentation of the event. As I arrived (more…)
As you may know, NH is the only state with a law affirming the right of a jury to nullify bad laws (thanks to Free State Project liberty legislators). Now the NH Bar Association’s Mark Sisti and Jared Bedrick weigh in with an opinion piece about the issue:
This past September, Judge James D. O’Neill, III of the Belknap County Superior Court instructed jurors that they could find the defendant not guilty, despite proof of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, if they had “a conscientious feeling that a not-guilty verdict would be a fair result in [the] case.”
In that case, Barnstead resident and Rastafari practitioner Doug Darrell had taken the stand and admitted to each and every element of an indictment alleging that he knowingly manufactured marijuana at his home. The judge was essentially allowing the jury to base its decision on something other than law or logic – its concept of justice. This is known as “jury nullification,” and it’s the subject of a recent law and heated debate. (more…)
A very revealing video from Dave Ridley where various Manchester city alderman as well as the mayor express that they don’t care about the first amendment:
