LENCO’s head salesman, Jim Massery admitted on the phone today that he didn’t think it should be shown to the council as it’s intended to market to the police.
Of course, that’s the point. LENCO is not marketing the BEARCAT to police as a rescue vehicle, as the council has been told. The councilors should see how this monstrosity is being promoted. If you haven’t, please watch the video that the city attorney doesn’t want you or the city commission to see. (Also, note that LENCO changed the permissions on their video to make it so it is not searchable and also so it can’t be embedded on other websites…like this one.) Then come out on Thursday evening and speak out against it. It’s our chance to reverse the deal and say, “Thanks but no tanks!”
LENCO’s head of sales also said he’d be attending the Keene committee meeting, which tells me LENCO doesn’t quite think they have this sale in-the-bag.
Shire activist Ryan Maddox was arrested on Friday, February 3rd, 2012. His alleged crimes? Theft, disorderly conduct, and placing others in danger. Then when arrested, he was charged with another “crime,” resisting his own kidnapping. Listen to him describe the incident which started it all…
(*Note* The date on this video mistakenly shows 1.04.2012 when it should actually read 1.14.2012, which is the day after the incident occurred.)
Ryan will NOT be taking a plea deal for the outrageous charges that followed this incident:
Saturday, February 4th was a national day of action against agitation for war with Iran. With my camera charged up, I made my first stop on the mild winter day the Barack Obama campaign office in Nashua, which had an opening celebration at 10:00am. I showed up to meet Occupy NH participants who had brought literature to distribute. I went about my usual chalking, focusing on messages that I hoped would make supporters of the president question their commitment.
Some suits emerged from the building, looked around, and went back inside. As I was keeping the chalking away from a portion of pavement under an overhang, and in the public area of the sidewalk, I knew that there could not be a claim that I was chalking any private property. Aside from myself, only one other person chose to participate in the chalking.
As the NH house and senate return to a full schedule for public hearings, I’ve made an effort to maintain camera coverage for certain bills. Last week was a house hearing on HB 1705, which would heavily restrict, but effectively legalize home consumption of cannabis in the state of New Hampshire. The ‘tax and regulate’ bill was complimented with a decriminalization bill. The decrim bill, heard on February 2nd, would have set the penalty for cannabis possession of under an ounce at a $100 fine. The bill was amended to criminalize the third possession, so in a sense, this bill only decriminalizes cannabis possession for one’s first two offenses. The bills are imperfect, as all are, but both represent a very progressive step forward for cannabis policy reform in New Hampshire, a state which is far behind all other New England political subdivisions in this sense.
As is to be expected, those that escalate the drug war, the enforcers who invest their consciences into the fight, will speak at hearings impassioned to continue what they consider to be important work. Occasionally, those who are invested in such work recognize it to be harmful in nature, and separate themselves from the job that they do to speak out against the ill caused by the role that they play. Such rejection of the standard rally cry to continue the war on drugs is voiced by Richard Van Wickler, who in his day job is the administrator of the Cheshire county jail. He comes to the hearing acknowledging that he is not representing the role he plays at his job, and that he has taken a vacation day to express his personal feelings before decision makers in Concord. Richard is one of the few speakers on behalf of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition who is currently employed in the criminal justice industry, showing how unpopular holding such a viewpoint is while actively working in the field. Below is a link to his testimony favoring the legalization legislation, as filmed by Biker Bill.
Yesterday while handing out some information at a local high school, the principal mistakenly thinks that free speech doesn’t apply in public spaces. Despite repeatedly making threats to use force (call the police), a student-council representative tells us he doesn’t appreciate how disrespectful the FreeKeene activists are toward the principal.
Are we forcing anyone to take the information? Will the police use force against us at the whim of a government worker’s say-so? You bet. I won’t speak for others, but I was prepared to be arrested if my only “crime” was handing out literature in a public space. Why? This is why:
On Thursday of this week, I was getting ready to leave for the Manchester Airport with Kelly when “code enforcer” Fred Parcells was spotted pulling out of my next-door-neighbor’s driveway. Then I realized that I had a ticket on my windshield, and so did Kelly!
