Bradford Hutchingson, who has been known to call himself “King of Keene” in this blog’s comments, recently filed for a stalking order to be issued against Free Keene blogger Garret Ean. Hutchingson is known for his bizarre and sometimes dangerous
behavior. In fact, Hutchingson is facing criminal charges for an alleged attack on Garret Ean and will soon be back in superior court for a jury trial in that matter. Hutchingson is also the only city council candidate who did worse than me in the election of 2013.
The superior court’s John C. Kissinger conducted a hearing on Monday and firmly ruled against Hutchingson’s plea, as Hutchingson admitted that he had no fear that Garret was a danger, while Garret told the judge of the multiple occasions on which Hutchingson had attacked or threatened him and offered to show video of various incidents.
During the hearing, Hutchingson announced his candidacy for Keene city council in 2015 for the at-large seats. Here’s video of the full hearing:
“Keenevention was definitely the place to be if you have any interest in discussing productive ways to protest, work around, or blatantly disregard the State.” -Blogger Richard Masta
Most of Saturday and Sunday from Keenevention 2014 are described in detail on Richard Masta’s excellent blog, “Dispatches from Keenevention 2014“. The investigative journalist raves about the event and includes in-depth reviews of multiple panels and speeches, various encounters and conversations, and lots of photos from the panels as well as the HALLOWKEENE costume dance party.
The first person I noticed in the lobby was also wearing a stand-out hat. This fellow was Hunter S. Thompson — he had the cigarette, the Hawaiian shirt, the glasses, you name it. Oh, this was going to be a fun weekend…
This piece by AP reporter Lynne Tuohy is being published all over and the headlines vary from misleading to acceptable.
For instance, the worst headline of them all is WCVB‘s, which says, “Keene’s parking meter ‘Robin Hooders’ must back off.” When the people calling themselves “the city” tell you you must do something, generally that means it must be done, or else violence will be used against you. In this case, that’s not at all what has happened. The city of Keene folks WANT Robin Hooders to “back off” and they’ve filed a lawsuit to try to force us to. “We want” is very different from “You must”.
The article itself is more honest, and reveals that in fact the city lost their case at superior court and is appealing to the NH supreme court. Obviously, the author of the article does not choose the headlines, that would be one of the editors of the paper. Thanks to Lynne and the AP for the coverage, despite the awful, seemingly default headline.
Here’s a sampling of headlines that various news outlets chose for this story:
Seacoast Online, Concord Monitor, KSN-TV in Wichita: “City: Quarter-toting ‘Robin Hooders’ must back off” (There were more than one of these. Perhaps AP suggested this particular headline.)
As documented here, controversial “Anarchist Atheist Asshole” Christopher Cantwell has moved out of the Keene Activist Center neighborhood. New-mover-to-Keene Nolan from New York and Keene Cop Block‘s Centurion are now in the house across from the KAC. Today, Centurion hung out a peace flag after cutting down the bushes in front of the house, officially terminating the Cantwell-inspired “Brutalist House” name.
As has become fairly common, people are talking about Keene activists across the web. In this case, thanks to the recent hilarious Colbert Report spoof. Here are a few of the many sites featuring the video:
It’s not VICE’s first time reporting on a Free State Project participant. They last covered Free Keene blogger Rich Paul facing down decades in prison for selling cannabis. Now, they turn to alcohol in this report on deregulating nanobreweries featuring FSP participant and early mover Kevin Bloom.
