Thanks to the Union Leader’s Melanie Plenda for this article:
KEENE – Several marijuana protesters are facing misdemeanor charges after being arrested during a demonstration at last weekend’s Pumpkin Festival.
About two dozen protesters, who meet daily in Central Square in Keene at 4:20 p.m. to protest drug laws by allegedly smoking pot in public, set up camp in front of City Hall Saturday with signs and bull-horn messages promoting legalization.
State and local police stood on the outside of the group, which managed to draw a small crowd for about 30 minutes, but largely allowed the protest to proceed. But at 4:20 Richard Paul, 40, of Keene, allegedly lit a marijuana cigarette.
Paul was arrested without incident.
Though the crowd booed when he was led away, the demonstration remained peaceful. (more…)
[Transcribed from Kurt’s “Mail From Jail” letter, which can be found here. Be sure to visit Mail-to-Jail to write letters to Kurt in jail.]
Tuesday, October 19, 2009 A.D., Day 19
It appears as though the names of the three individuals that are still in the holding cells (aka “the bubble”) are still NOT “processing.” THank you Sam for starting a trend. I refused as well. No photo, no prints, but they put me back in what they call a “day room” (God only knows why they are called that). The quiet, reserved, seemingly nice social worker I warned not to push me at the tax-payers expense, against their will and can you imagine what they would think if they knew why most of these people (including belligerent me) are actually in here? He said only what a person does who knows what they do for a living is deceptive, but they must still protect themselves and each other and say nothing. We all know the score. They may smile and act friendly but their hearts are black or at least misguided… but that excuse seems to be going away now. These days they just shut up until they get a chance to frame you for some supposed “crime.” We all know that the police have lied and embellished, and do it often. All I want them to do is examine their reasons and get honest about why they do it… not just with their “buddies” but with the people they oppress daily. The drug war is an obvious failure. There is a man here who is now on his 17th marijuana charge. He’s a very nice guy really, and he knows what treats his A.D.D. properly and that he has been able to make a living for himself and his family. He’s also told me about how a Swanzey cop framed his once as well. It’s awful that he spent (lost) an entire year and a half of his life in prison and… it’s so, just so sad. We’ve managed to put up our “pumpkin” in a way. The article and photo in the Sentinel about the “4:20 EVERY DAY” pumpkin has been torn out and toothpaste has adhered it to the wall.
While I was still in “the bubble” I heard them (the guards) telling people who were leaving not to go to the 4:20 celebration and that there would be people there trying to force or influence them to join “their cause”… it sounds like they know a) that the gig is up and b) that they are afraid of losing control… Keep up the good work and rest assured people, that the “cause” isn’t “us,” it’s the one that has been in the heats and minds of everyone they have abused and surely LTOS of people in here. (more…)
Brandon of Keene was arrested this morning for wearing a hood in a court room. You read that correctly, “wearing a hood” was the criminal act. Apparently it is alright to wear a costume consisting of a robe or a costume consisting of a uniform and various bits of metal but one cannot wear a simple hood that is attached to your standard hooded-sweatshirt. This is beyond ridiculous it is outright tyranny carried out under the auspices of of what? Etiquette? Safety?
Hardly, this is what you get when you allow a Judge like Burke to reign from on high. Brandon did not obey and the court saw violence as the remedy. As I understand it he heroically went limp during the arrest – making it extra difficult on the police due to his large size.
Strangely, the robed man, Edward Burke has decided to allow hats on prior occasions, so this is just another example of the arbitrariness of the “justice” system.
Activists were in the court this morning attending the arraignments of Ryan, Evan, and Yadra. Ryan and Evan agreed to “personal recognizance” bail on the condition that they complete processing at KPD, while Yadra refused to identify himself and will remain in Westmoreland jail as John Doe #1.
It is believed Brandon’s arraignment will be tomorrow at 9am. Hope to see you there!
To call the jail and inquire about Kurt, Yadra, or Brandon – 603-399-7794
To call the Keene Police: 603-357-9815
To call Keene district court: 603-352-2559
[Transcribed from Kurt’s “Mail From Jail” letter, which can be found here. Be sure to visit Mail-to-Jail to write letters to Kurt in jail.]
Tuesday, October 20, Day 19
Today, I’m a bit irked; why do I never cease to be amazed? SO, here is how I’m starting to see why they are so incentivized to cage people for whatever they want here in NH.… This facility is quite literally giving slave labor to the COuntry Nursing Home just across the street so they can say to the tax payers “look what wonderful things we are doing for you!” The salves… ahhh, ahem! I mean “inmates (wink) are punished for rotten and awful things such as “not asking permission to drive to work to feed their family” or “self medicating” by inhaling the smoke of a burning plant. If you think the Military Industrial COmplex has a good gig then this stuff happening in your backyard really takes the cake… and we all know what happens if you say that you disagree with it… you soon are framed in some bologna conspiracy to be shamed into slavehood, never to make a peep against the establishment gang of things again… “Use the system!” they exclaim or “you’re not going about it the right way!” Well, I now see it this way: imagine for a moment that you are on the Peaceful Pirates baseball team and you are scheduled to play a game against Beelzebub’s Braves. As you are warming up, the umpire arrives, stumbling over home base carrying a white cane and wearing a pennant reading “Go Braves Go!” The umpire shouts “PLAY BALL!” What are you going to do? The ump is obviously blind and favors the opposing team. If you move into position to play and do not object to the umpire, you’ve accepted him and the decisions he makes. If you object to the blind umpire, you expose his deficiencies… thank you Paul [Roane?] and Deb Kalinowski for leading me through this so far. (more…)
[Transcribed from Kurt’s “Mail From Jail” letter, which can be found here. Be sure to visit Mail-to-Jail to write letters to Kurt in jail.]
Monday, October 19, 2009, Day 17
Not being on death row is exciting! Okay, I can hardly contain my excitement, even through day 17 of head and neck wrenching pain. The word from some of the guys (and the guards asked me not to share their names 🙂 ) I have been reported to about Yadra, Yahoo (or “Hey You”) and “Maddox.” I know Yadra, but I’m not yet sure who the others the government educated guards are calling “Free Staters.” The word is that they are not “giving out their real names”… Um, why on earth do that and who are you to demand it or lock a human in a cage until they say uncle? Yes folks, they are being tenacious in their quest to expose yet more awful deficiencies (do they do ANYTHING good? (or well)) of the system of top down thuggery.
One thing I want you all to know is that even the warden came and saw me early on. It was the following Monday when according to Van Wickler, the Sentinel was on the way. Well, I couldn’t then (and still can hardly walk more than 6 feet without excruciating back/neck/head pain) walk and because the left side of my face was still all bruised and I would be requiring the ONE filthy wheel-chair they had, they called it off… I would have preferred any of the following superior publications/media sources, FreeKeene.com staff, Keene/NH Free Press, Obscured Truth Network, or Free Talk Live folks, but Ian has kindly informed me that the jail folks say that the bias publication is “not biased”… huh? Yeah, the “main stream” paper. Sorry if I may sound “biased” in my philosophy (by the way, Yadra is telling them he’s a philosopher, as his occupation, and the idiots laugh… oh how I’m enjoying this) but they sure are late bloomers now, aren’t they?
One more quick update; there are four or five protesters outside as I write this and I’m on cloud nine… Oh, and none of the “inmates” told anyone outside I was still in a wheelchair. Wink wink! Think and be peace.
I wasn’t actually thrilled with the idea of having the rally during the Pumpkin Fest. I suggested we carve some creative Jack-O-Lanterns having a 420 rally and place them in the square as a quiet alternative. Well, others chose to continue, which is their right, so I did what I could to support them and at least make sure as many people as possible can witness police victimizing innocent people who own their own bodies with the tired excuse of “just doing my job”. If my job required me to victimize innocents, I would quit. I’d sooner flip burgers or sweep streets or something.
UPDATE: I took out the two-bit whore comment. It was a bit over the top as well as just not a very nice thing to say. I apologize to any prostitutes I may have offended.
Thanks to the Union Leader’s Melanie Plenda for this article:
