by toby | Jul 19, 2010 |
You’ve gotta give the Union Leader credit for their headline.
UPDATE: The Union Leader has re-written parts of the article, presumably after Sam gave them a call. The new article is posted here. I will leave the old one up so people can see the differences.
By MELANIE PLENDA
Union Leader Correspondent
KEENE – Being bare breasted on the streets of Keene may not be illegal, but breast painting, drinking in public, blocking police cars and harassing officers is.
At least seven people were arrested Sunday shortly after 6 p.m. when bystanders reported people were drinking and taking off their clothes in Central Square in downtown Keene.
Keene Police Lt. Darryl Madden said the people in the park were not arrested for nakedness, which is not illegal in Keene.
“One woman was toples and she was getting her breasts painted by another woman,” he said. “There’s no law against being naked, but you can’t be lewd or lascivious. And one person groping someone’s breasts and saying lewd things certainly qualifies.”
(more…)
by Ian | Jul 19, 2010 |
The Keene Sentinel is reporting today on yesterday’s mass arrests in Keene. It’s nice to see an article from them that doesn’t mention “Free Staters” or “Free State Project”. Only Free Keene is mentioned here, and that’s far more accurate as liberty activists are not all “Free Staters”. Heika, for instance, is an awesome activist and Keene native who was activated by Pete and Adam of Liberty on Tour. She started coming out to the Nightcaps and then yesterday courageously defied the aggressive Keene PD, which led to her kidnapping and the subsequent arrests. Here’s the article:
Several people affiliated with the libertarian Free Keene movement were arrested in Keene’s Central Square after police responded to a report of a group of people drinking and disrobing Sunday evening, police say.
Police were called to Central Square about 6 p.m. by a passer-by who reported seeing people drinking and taking off their clothes.
When they arrived, they found Heika Courser, 26, of Richmond drinking a beer, partially undressed, while someone painted on her breasts, according to Keene police Lt. Darryl W. Madden.
Courser was charged with having an open alcohol container and resisting arrest. Jonathan E. Ray, 33, of Keene was also issued a summons for an open container.
As Courser was being put into a police cruiser, other people from the group stood in the way of the cruiser trying to pull away, Madden said. (more…)
by toby | Jul 12, 2010 |
All Charges have been dropped against Christopher Micklovich who was arrested after being beat up by four off-duty Manchester police officers. Micklovich was charged with criminal mischief, disorderly conduct, simple assault and resisting arrest.
As previously reported, three of the officers were suspended after an internal review found that they violated standard operating procedures. Jonathan Duchesne, Michael Buckley and Matt Jajuga were all suspended without pay for an undisclosed period of time. The fourth officers, Lt. Ernie Goodno faces no penalties as he retired from the force shortly after the incident.
Although an internal review found the officers did not act in a criminal manner, the Hillsborough County Attorney, Robert Walsh, has decided to review the matter himself. This has enraged two different police unions, who insist the public should be left in the dark as to what actually happened outside the Strange Brew Tavern on March 3, 2010.
(more…)
by toby | Jul 9, 2010 |
On March 3, 2010, Chris Micklovich was asked to leave a bar in Manchester because he had too much to drink. Once outside the bar, Chris was met by four off-duty police officers. The officers proceeded to cause 26 facial fractures to Chris’s face before arresting him, although they claim they did nothing wrong.
After an internal review, the officers were found to have “violated standard operating procedures,” although their actions were “were not criminal.”
If it takes four officers to beat a drunk guy half to death in order to take him into custody, the officers are either acting criminally, or they are so incompetent at their jobs that they should never be given a badge again.
Instead of going to jail, as anyone else who did this would, the officers are being suspended without pay for an undisclosed period of time.
What is particularly disturbing about this case is the fact that four officers participated in this. Michael Buckley, Jonathan Duchesne, Matt Jajuga and Lt. Ernie Goodno either participated in this act of aggression, or stood by and watched it happen. All but one of these officers, Goodno who recently retired, will be back on the beat in no time, “protecting us.” I know I feel safe.
Full Story
by Ian | Jul 6, 2010 |
Local-turned-activist leader Mark Capuzzo is still jailed in Massachusetts on drug charges. You can send mail to him courtesy of Mail-to-Jail.com. Mail-to-jail makes it easy. Write your letter or pick a postcard and MTJ takes the time to print, address, and mail it. You don’t even have to pay the postage, though MTJ would appreciate a donation – look for the chipin in the right column of their site.
If you want to do it the old-fashioned way, here’s the current address where he can be reached. Visit this thread on the Free Keene forum for the latest.
by Ian | Jun 28, 2010 |
We recently hosted a guest blog by local talk radio personality Mark Edge who announced he’d challenged a parking ticket and after scheduling a trial and then rescheduling it, the charge was “nol prossed” (that’s legalese for dropped) by the city’s persecutor.
That made me curious. I had actually gone to trial in April over the parking ticket that was left on my car back in November. At the end of the hearing, the robed man, Howard B. Lane, said he’d take the matter under advisement. I hadn’t heard anything from Keene District Court on this matter since the trial. I thought perhaps this was due to me changing my address and having a notice fall through the cracks. So to satisfy my curiosity, I dropped in on the court this afternoon, a full two months past the date of trial. The helpful young lady behind the counter retrieved the case file for me. I discovered that I had been found Not Guilty on the same date of the trial! (Here’s the proof, though I never pleaded not guilty as Lane indicates on the complaint.) There was no record of any notice being sent to me about the decision. Apparently the court has no obligation to provide notice when the finding is in the favor of the defendant.
Before you go calling this a win, remember that every time the bureaucrats involve themselves in your life, you will lose at the very least your time. That said, it’s great to have an explicit “Not Guilty” in a parking ticket case here in Keene! It should help encourage others to similarly refuse to pay and instead take the tickets that are littered on their cars to court. Load up the system with parking ticket trials until they stop enforcing that ordinance!
Noncooperation wins again!!
