Robin Hood’s Merry Men Meet Jane, Parking Enforcer

More than half-a-dozen activists did a Robin Hooding yesterday in downtown Keene and had a very entertaining encounter with newer parking enforcer, Jane. In it she calls me a cult leader and other activists my “minions” as well as reluctantly admitting that she took the job because she was hard up.

Part 1:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5KDwm3HvLM

Part 2:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2KGGY5bt8g

More videos from yesterday may be coming. Stay tuned here.

Ridley’s Visual History of Russell Kanning Arrests

Recently published was a new Ridleo chronicling a history of arrests of Russell Kanning in New Hampshire. Russell is partly responsible for the reputation of Keene area activists as civil disobedients, as he had originally moved to that area of the state as he made waves over a number of victimless offenses.

Kat-and-Russell_keene

Kat and Russell in Keene, NH

The video also features footage from Michael Fisher’s illegal manicuring event from 2005 in Concord. The headline-generating fingernail beautification by a Free State Project participant is referred to by Ridley as a “textbook act of civil disobedience”.

Russell currently faces federal chalking-related charges in Waco, Texas. Though he also had chalking charges from Concord, New Hampshire, Kat Kanning reports that the NH charges were dropped because, “[the] NH court said they thought he could be prosecuted adequately in TX, so they dismissed their charges.” Authorities may have prevented Russell’s legal adventures from taking him back to NH also because he would attract more supporters while in the Shire.

Jan 6 2013: Ridley has released a follow-up video.

Should Jails be Punishment?

Yesterday I called in to Keene’s open-phones local news show, Talkback, after the main host, Cynthia Georgina suggested jail telephone systems were too expensive. She didn’t understand why such an expense was necessary where jails are ‘supposed to be punishment’.

In the program, we were only able to touch on a few aspects of her belief, when there’s so much that could be said about that mentality. People who are not affected by jails can fail to recognize the unnecessary strain on human life created by conditions of caging. In the nation that has 25% of the world’s institutionalized inmates, it is still easy to ignore the plight of others when they are removed from sight and mind.

Staff photo by Don HimselThe state prison, ConcordBecause Cynthia was specifying jails, she was endorsing punishment of people held for either misdemeanor convictions (facing a penalty of under a year of incarceration) or those being detained pending trial. Detention pending trial could simply mean one is too poor to afford bail, or that they were in violation of any number of stringent bail conditions. When I brought up that New Hampshire jails are occupied by a large number of individuals convicted of driving infractions, Cynthia was surprised, unaware of the mandatory minimum prison sentence written into state law for those designated habitual offenders. (more…)

Independent Review Scolds AG, DTF on Fatal Raid

greenlandnh_patchThe Union Leader’s Sunday News edition published an above-the-fold article on the findings of an independent law enforcement review panel investigating the April 12 no-knock raid in Greenland. The article indicates Attorney General Michael Delany had suspended the Drug Task Force commander James Norris, who happened to be on vacation on the evening of the raid that resulted in three deaths and four wounded police officers.

See also: Seacoast Print Publishes Anti-Prohibition Editorial

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