There’s a restaurant in Keene called The Stage. But there’s no stage quite like the one that sits adjacent to it: Keene Central Square. Made famous by dozens of courageousarrests, Central Square plays host to the most bizarre encounters ever to be imagined.
In this video, activist and FreeKeene.com blogger Garret Ean records as he and members of the group “Stop Free Keene!!!” are locked in a never-ending chalk-removal battle. Some people are chalking while others are removing the chalk with water.
Local cop (and occasional persecutor for ‘the State’) Jason Short arrives and asks if there is a problem. Immediately the cries come from both sides, like children reacting to daddy coming home and finding siblings fighting.
Paraphrasing:
“We are just trying to clean up the park, and these mean people keep making it dirty!”
“They sprayed water on me! Don’t we have a right to the first amendment?”
“Yes, yes, calm down children. Behave. You’re both right. Now just get along, will you?”
“Don’t tell us what to do!”
One girl with bleached and fading pink hair faces a much taller Jason Short as if confronting a bully, and then, teary-eyed, dramatically walks away. Hamming it up.
Crass comedian Christopher Cantwell has made the move back to New Hampshire, though this time not as part of the Free State Project. Chris is one of a handful of people to be kicked out of the FSP in over a decade. However, he is still a believer in the idea of moving liberty-oriented people to the same place so we can be more free together, and he knows that NH is the place to be to be around others who care about freedom. So, he’s back, having left New York, ostensibly for good this time.
I wrote this editorial when he left originally, explaining what went wrong with his first stay in NH.
Many of the personal issues that Chris has, including anger, are still present. However, he has gotten his drinking under control, which I am happy to see. Many within the liberty movement are very understandably upset with Chris over various things he’s said over the years. Many wonder why I’m so friendly to him.
The reason I’m friendly to Chris, despite the bridges he’s burned in the liberty community, is the same reason I’m friendly to the police. I want to communicate the ideas of peace and liberty to others, even with those I disagree, and yelling or being mean doesn’t build bridges. I want to be forgiving and model peaceful evolution. (more…)
UPDATE: You never know who’s watching. Vigilant videographer Garret Ean captured the moment with his video camera. The video is so funny, I made it a GIF:
Superintendent Rick Van Wickler of the Cheshire “House of Corrections” aka the Keene Spiritual Retreat has been featured on this blog several times in the past for his heroic advocacy for ending the insane war on drugs. He’s no stranger to press coverage and now has been made the subject of a recent VICE.com feature that focuses on both his support of drug legalization and his more-humane manner of running a jail.
In the article when asked about drug users, he relates,
The majority of people who drink alcohol in this country have no problems with it. They’re alcohol users: They drink on the Fourth of July, and barbecues, and at the Super Bowl. Then think about somebody who is an abuser of alcohol, meaning that they use alcohol much more than they should. But they’re still working. They still have a house. They’re still in a relationship. Finally, think about an alcohol addict—an alcoholic. Their lives have been destroyed by alcohol. Now, you can take the exact same analogy and just replace alcohol with drugs. Heroin? Cocaine? Meth? You have users, abusers, and addicts in pretty much the same ratios. Let’s not be so damn naïve and say that we in America don’t have professional people that are addicts, because we all know that’s not accurate. We have professional people who are heroin addicts, who have been heroin addicts for years, and are meeting the standards of their employment. That’s happening, and to deny it is an atrocity.
Interestingly, Van Wickler is listed as “Formerly” part of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, a group of mostly former law enforcement who now speak against prohibition. I wonder what the reasons for the split were. I’ve emailed Rick with the question and will post the reasons if he chooses to make them public.
An apology to Ian was needed and a great thing that it happened, But the story stays the same, just need to change the name “Ian” and replace it with a Free Keene member and blogger, requested the page be removed. At the end of the day the over all story doesn’t change, just the name of the guilty party, but Free Keene as a whole was behind it. We need to take note from this, once you are part of a group and do something for/with the group, it affects the entire group, good or bad, You are no longer an individual when you speak for a group. We succeed together and we fail together.
“Free Keene” has never been behind anything. Only individuals do things, and in this case, the company was contacted by Jay Freeville. He did this not as part of a group, or at anyone’s behest. Personally, I wouldn’t have bothered to do something like that, and the other dozen+ bloggers here all likely have their own opinions about it.
In the same way, just because SFK members Dan and Kay Georgina demolished countless chalk smiley faces over the weekend in Central Square, doesn’t mean that “STOP FREE KEENE!!!” was doing it. There may be people in SFK who don’t agree with what Dan and Kay did. Not everyone in the SFK group is responsible for what the others do or say. They can, as FK’s bloggers can, speak out and air their concerns or disagreement, but they can’t stop Dan and Kay from continuing the smiley genocide.
Ed Lake is wrong – people in groups should be seen as individuals, unless they are claiming to speak with 100% of the group’s approval. I would never blame SFK’s Josh Erickson for what SFK’s Kim Diemond says or does, and the same courtesy should be given to our bloggers. Also, keep in mind that there are far more activists who are NOT Free Keene bloggers than who are. Some of those activists are angry people. That’s one reason they’ve never been invited to blog at Free Keene. Just because they are part of the same freedom movement doesn’t mean we agree completely or that they are in any way affiliated with Free Keene’s message of Peaceful Evolution. Case in point: (more…)
In this RAW video, former city council candidate Bradford Hutchingson encounters Graham Colson and Rich Paul on Main St in early April. Bradford aka “King of Keene” asks for change over and over and sticks his face in Graham’s camera (he did the same thing in this video with Dave Ridley). Bradford’s behavior probably has something to do with the continuous accusation against area activists that we are “shoving” cameras in people’s faces. I’ve never put a camera near someone’s face, let alone shoved it at anyone. I’ve never seen other activists with cameras disrespect people’s personal space, either.
Graham shows again that he is capable of deescalating a violent situation very well, though the conversation does get heated and loud. Graham is a good activist and has been and will get better with time. Here’s the video, much of which is very funny, thanks to Free Keene blogger Rich Paul’s role:
