Politicians have been experiencing increasing resistance to out of control government policies. People showing up to express their disapproval are labeled as disruptive protesters harassing constituents. The police in both Grafton and Keene disagree with that viewpoint. What’s behind Keene City Councilor Pamela Slack ‘s refusal to answer questions on the record for the media?
This video sets the scene for the day:
This was my discussion with Pamela Slack who was there to hear concerns on behalf of Jeanne Shaheen:
Public discussions about health care reform have soured amid protests. Senator Jeanne Shaheen has had three such events affected by large numbers of individuals who voiced disapproval with the current legislation in Washington D.C. Sen. Shaheen put out a press release yesterday calling the protests a “disgrace” and insisting that good people had their “rights trampled on.” The Senator’s press release also states, “Protesters were present at office hours held today in Grafton and yesterday in Hampstead.”
“These are not town hall meetings but rather office hours that we host in Town Halls across the state in order to make our caseworkers available to New Hampshire citizens who need help,” said Shaheen. After visiting Sen. Shaheen’s website most of the “office hours” are listed as “Town Hall” lending the impression that they are meetings to be held in a public place.
This was not the case in Keene today as Sen. Jeanne Shaheen’s constituents gathered on the second floor of the City Hall for a chance to speak with Keene City Councilor Pamela Slack, Ward 2, who was there on behalf of the Senator. The individuals were taken in for one on one conversations with Councilor Slack who would not allow any cameras into the room.
As journalist and videographer Sam Dodson was screaming from another room, David Krouse and other activists were ordered to leave the lobby of the allegedly public Keene district court. Krouse sat down and remained peacefully noncooperative. For this, he was arrested and charged with “disorderly conduct”. Last week he was sentenced to six days in the Cheshire jail and that sentence began this morning, as activists gathered to see him off.
At Keene District court today Patrick Shields, a resident of Keene, was put on trial by the State for charges stemming from the April 13th Court Lobby incident. At the start of the trial Patrick was informed that the Disorderly Conduct charge was being dropped leaving only the Resisting Arrest charge on the docket.
The trial was very similar to the two held on Monday, July 27 where David Krouse and Nick Ryder faced charges of Disorderly Conduct from the same incident. Police Prosecutor Eli Rivera provided the State’s Testimony, repeating the same statements heard Monday. Mr. Shields’ argument focused on the fact that Officer Rivera, the arresting officer per the summons, had no physical contact with Mr. Shields and because of this there was nothing to resist as far as a physical arrest.
Patrick also testified that his thought process at the time, given the situation, provided him with one moral option. He chose to attain a purely passive state and not interact with the Officers.
Judge Edward Burke first congratulated Mr. Shields on his preparation for the trial and then found him guilty. The punishment handed down was a $1000 fine – suspended. Should Patrick be convicted of a Class B or greater misdemeanor or a felony within the next year he will have to pay the fine or serve roughly 20 days in jail.
Coming changes to the Keene Free Press include expanding the number of pages and coverage. I am looking at opening up the paper to local reporters and photographers. My idea at the beginning was to establish a more “open source” media resource allowing individuals in the liberty community and community-at-large a voice. So send me an email at press@ freekeene. com . I am also looking for people who would be willing to take assignments.
(FYI-those girls in the pic don’t live in Keene, and are actually wearing pasties. Click for the full version.) Apparently just having some ladies discuss the idea of a liberty event wherein women and men would go topless in public has already begun the next activist “schism”. If you’ve been paying close attention to the movement for a while, you’ll recall the first “schism” was between the politcos and the agorists. There was much forum drama, but the end result was that another forum was born, and the agorists (outside-the-system activists) had a place of their own. Most people still get along just fine, and many still mix their activism between both worlds, but there was much drama and sometimes it still raises its head.
This time, the ideological split is between the sexist prudes and their apologists (it’s not fair of me to call the apologists prudes – some claim to not be) and the freethinkers or as we have been labeled, by the apologists, “libertines”.
As journalist and videographer Sam Dodson was screaming from another room, David Krouse and other activists were ordered to leave the lobby of the allegedly public Keene district court. Krouse sat down and remained peacefully noncooperative. For this, he was arrested and charged with “disorderly conduct”. Last week he was sentenced to six days in the Cheshire jail and that sentence began this morning, as activists gathered to see him off.
(FYI-those girls in the pic don’t live in Keene, and are actually wearing pasties. Click for the full version.)
