Interestingly, he admits that he was the one who chalked the war monument and says that when police asked him to remove it, he did.
Finally, he clarifies that he’s not with Free Keene, but instead part of the Occupy movement.
The Sentinel interview was conducted from Yankee’s hospital bed, where he has been diagnosed with a broken shoulder blade, fractured collarbone, several other hairline fractures and a concussion. He has since checked himself out of the hospital, rejecting their recommendation of surgery. He can barely walk.
This week on Wednesday at 6pm a city committee will hear a proposal for a new graffiti ordinance with “teeth”, because chalking must be stopped! Looks like the War on Chalk continues to escalate as the peaceful chalkers continue to occupy the square with happy, positive artwork. Indeed, a new community group has been formed, the Hopscotch Preservation Society.
Rich Paul, who was out on probation after spending nearly a year in jail for the “crime” of selling flowers has been arrested and taken straight to the jail aka Keene Spiritual Retreat. The probation department alleges that he has continued to consume the evil flowers and that Rich was in possession of a weapon at the recent attack on chalkers Monday night. (Rich had a monopod on his camera and detached it and held it at the ready for self-defense as two potential assailants approached him.)
UPDATE: He will have a bail hearing Friday at 9am and at this time he is facing the prospect of years in prison. Stay tuned to Free Keene for the latest. Here’s the RAW video of his arrest:
After being trounced in the 1st federal circuit court, the Town of Weare and the notoriously corrupt Weare Police Department have settled with Free State Project President Carla Gericke to the tune of $57,500!
After Weare police had arrested her for “wiretapping” for recording a traffic stop then dropped the charges, Carla sued. She had recently won an “interlocutory” appeal case where the 1st circuit decided (again) that there is an established right to record government police doing their job in public and that police cannot claim “qualified immunity” from personal liability when arresting videographers.
The civil case against Weare, the WPD, and the individual officers was remanded back to the federal district court to move ahead to trial, but now that trial has been canceled with the news that Weare has given up and settled the case for over $57,000! Plus, there are no restrictions on her discussing the case, as are typically found with settlements. Congratulations to Carla and her attorneys for this epic win!
Yesterday (6/3/2014) at about 7:30PM, approximately 40 minutes after a man was slammed into the fountain, a man entered the square, walked past myself and a few others, then lifted his shirt to display what appeared to be a glock pistol, pointed to it with his hand which was very close to it, and then came back later (still armed) and sat on the gazebo steps nearby the group who saw his exhibit.
Rich managed to catch this display on video despite his camera being mechanically defective (it keeps zooming in).
I posted pictures of this man to Facebook and was soon contacted by a source that told me he is Craig A Faulkner, a member of Stop Free Keene and son of Dorrie O’Meara. (Note the ear on photos below).
I have no problem with people carrying tools for self-defense, but I feel that the display was an attempt to intimidate and threaten the people at the square with violence and not for his defense.
The following pictures show further evidence he might not be a peaceful-minded person.
![Gericke_Carla2008[1]](https://i0.wp.com/freekeene.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Gericke_Carla20081.gif)
