Joseph “Jay” Noone owned a house in Palmer, Massachusetts, or so he thought. Last Summer, the house was seized by the Town of Palmer after Jay failed to pay rent in the form of property tax. Noone holds a land patent on the property and says that he owns no real-estate, which can be taxed, whereas personal property can not be taxed.
On October 25, Palmer held a “public auction” on what they claim to be town owned property. Roughly half a dozen friends and supporters joined Noone outside of the house at 10 am. Jay Noone said, “I’m making people aware this is stolen property.” One supporter, David C. from Keene, NH, held a sign that read, “TAX SALES ARE THEFT!”
Jay, David and the others were told by Palmer PD that there was a “protest area.” During most of the 90 minute open house, the protest area was not occupied.
Around 11:30, Jay and friends went to the Palmer Town Hall to observe the “public auction” of this and other stolen houses. Upon arrival at the Town Hall, signs were spotted that read “POSTED: No video recording at Town Hall.”
Ian Freeman decided that he would record anyways to see what would happen. After we entered the building and asked where the auction was taking place, we were informed that only registered bidders were allowed to attend. Members of the media were barred as well as other members of the public. A Palmer Police Officer instructed Ian that he was not allowed to film. Ian stated that he intended to film and had filmed in that Town Hall previously.
After a brief back and forth in which Ian asked if the Officer was familiar with the Glik decision, Ian was escorted to the Police Department in another part of the building. He was then taken into the booking area on the other side of a Police door.
Shortly after being taken into custody, I heard them say that he was being arrested for “disorderly conduct.”
I immediately asked one of Jay Noone’s freinds if she could send a message to Keene 411 and contact someone in New Hampshire. The news of Ian’s arrest was quickly spread across facebook and via twitter. As Jay’s friend was talking to someone from New Hampshire, Palmer PD told us that we had to leave and go outside into the “protest area.” I replied that I was trying to find out what was happening with my friend who had just been arrested. I was told that he was being booked and would be taken to the court, but that I needed to go outside. As I was walking towards the door, another officer said that I, and the others, needed to go outside. I asked if members of the media could stay inside, and showed him my Press Badge. He responded that everyone that wasn’t registered for the auction needed to go outside into the “protest area.” I asked if he was stifling the free press, and he said “yes.” I complied, as I didn’t want to join my friend in a jail cell.
Around 12:30 we were informed that Ian was being booked and would likely be done in about an hour. Jay Noone said that Court returned from lunch at 2pm and that Ian would likely be arraigned at that time.
We entered the Court around 2:15pm, however no video is available as all cameras, cell phones and other electronic devices are banned from the Court. Ian was initially called before the judge around 2:30 and stated that he would not be taking a plea and would not be using a lawyer. He was released from his handcuffs and shackles and allowed to join the gallery.
Ian was instructed to speak with the Prosecutor and that he would be called back up. Ian was offered a plea deal, which would require him to claim “responsibility” (apparently Massachusetts lingo for “plead guilty”). He stated that he wanted this to go away and that he didn’t want to return to Massachusetts for court. The Judge offered to let Ian pay $50, he asked if he could donate that money to charity, she denied that request and set a court date of December 10.
After leaving court, I took Ian to the Police Station so that he could reclaim his property (cell phone and camera) that was being held as evidence. The Police Chief returned his property to him, only after Ian emailed copies of the audio files from his phone and make copies of the video on his camera. Ian gladly complied in order to reclaim his phone and camera.
Ian must now prepare for yet another trial and return to Palmer, Massachusetts on December 10 to fight this unjust charge of “contempt of cop.”
In addition to previous Free Concord coverage of Barack Obama’s recent campaign stop in Manchester, Dave Ridley has posted four videos so far from his eye on the ground. Rather than playing it normal and objectively recording the event, as I tried, Dave walked along the periphery of the security perimeter, and interacted with police and secret service along the way. He asked poignant questions of the secret service, Obama staffers, and event attendees. Some of his questions pertained to Obama’s treatment of Bradley Manning, and there is one encounter early on with USSS in which it is insisted that he not film, though no action is taken. In the fourth video, a Manchester officer tells him that he is required to answer questions and are seen clearing the sidewalk of all people before the president’s entourage passes through. You can see the one brief encounter I had with a suited USSS agent when I tried to film from inside the secured area here. Ridley’s four videos are embedded below. Additional newsprint coverage is available from the Union Leader and the Concord Monitor.
How did it happen? Looks like someone posted the video to reddit with the title, “We’ve seen lots of bad cops treating citizens poorly; Here’s some bad citizens treating a good cop poorly.”
The comments section is full of Stockholm Syndrome sufferers who excuse the officer’s aggression by claiming he’s just doing his job and was “respectful”. They ignore that officer Harrington aggressed against a peaceful driver who had not endangered anyone, then attack Derrick for daring to keep his privacy (and the heat in the car) by only cracking his window to talk to the officer. (Among other nasty, vitriolic comments.)
The reddit comments are a sad reminder of how worshipped the police are – how people will excuse their aggression so long as they are nice-seeming about it. It really highlights why its so important for liberty-loving people to move to NH and get together – lots of people love their oppressors and we are highly diluted across the country and world. If you haven’t signed up yet, hop on over to the Free State Project site and get onboard – we just crossed 13,000 signers!
It was almost 8:00am, and I did not have a ticket to enter the expansive, barricaded area of Elm Street and other roads surrounding Veterans Park. Bulldozers and other large construction machines formed a fortification of the streets to vehicles, and metal barricades monitored by suits and badges kept out pedestrians. The gates were slated to begin receiving unarmed civilians on foot at 9:00am. I was unsure if I had missed my opportunity to get a ticket when I received a text message. “Bailing”, it said, “Obama wont be there til noon”.
After a brief telephone conversation, I had learned that a group of occupiers, who had planned to mic check the president, would be ditching their plans to slave for the empire. Almost all willing participants had a taxpaying job that they could not afford to miss at some point later in the day. Many had woken at 5:30 to get tickets from the Radisson at 6:00am, tickets which they would not be able to use with the president not scheduled to speak until after noon. The actual timeframe of events was not revealed until that morning. “The occupy movement has been destroyed by jobs”, one activist joked. (more…)
Yesterday’s article featured video of a police encounter from May 17 that resulted in no searches or arrests outside of the initial detainment. Today’s entry features another encounter from later that same day, this time elsewhere in the bay state.
Earlier that Thursday, myself and a large group of Occupiers were stranded at South Station in Boston after our bus to Chicago had broken down twenty minutes outside of the city. We had spent the night prior inside the disabled vehicle at a rest stop while a mechanic tried futilely to revive it. We returned to Boston around 8:00am, and had our itinerary restored by 3:00pm. Once we discovered that we would be getting flown to Chicago the following morning, we made our housing arrangements for the night.
I had taken a bus out of the Shire to Boston the evening prior, and rather than traveling back and fourth again, I was invited to await departure with young occupiers from Acton. It was my first time in the quaint town, and in my short time there I met many wonderful people. But as is often the case, when too much of a good time is had, the police are bound to arrive and investigate. (more…)
