Rich Paul, who was out on probation after spending nearly a year in jail for the “crime” of selling flowers has been arrested and taken straight to the jail aka Keene Spiritual Retreat. The probation department alleges that he has continued to consume the evil flowers and that Rich was in possession of a weapon at the recent attack on chalkers Monday night. (Rich had a monopod on his camera and detached it and held it at the ready for self-defense as two potential assailants approached him.)
UPDATE: He will have a bail hearing Friday at 9am and at this time he is facing the prospect of years in prison. Stay tuned to Free Keene for the latest. Here’s the RAW video of his arrest:
After being trounced in the 1st federal circuit court, the Town of Weare and the notoriously corrupt Weare Police Department have settled with Free State Project President Carla Gericke to the tune of $57,500!
After Weare police had arrested her for “wiretapping” for recording a traffic stop then dropped the charges, Carla sued. She had recently won an “interlocutory” appeal case where the 1st circuit decided (again) that there is an established right to record government police doing their job in public and that police cannot claim “qualified immunity” from personal liability when arresting videographers.
The civil case against Weare, the WPD, and the individual officers was remanded back to the federal district court to move ahead to trial, but now that trial has been canceled with the news that Weare has given up and settled the case for over $57,000! Plus, there are no restrictions on her discussing the case, as are typically found with settlements. Congratulations to Carla and her attorneys for this epic win!
Yesterday (6/3/2014) at about 7:30PM, approximately 40 minutes after a man was slammed into the fountain, a man entered the square, walked past myself and a few others, then lifted his shirt to display what appeared to be a glock pistol, pointed to it with his hand which was very close to it, and then came back later (still armed) and sat on the gazebo steps nearby the group who saw his exhibit.
Rich managed to catch this display on video despite his camera being mechanically defective (it keeps zooming in).
I posted pictures of this man to Facebook and was soon contacted by a source that told me he is Craig A Faulkner, a member of Stop Free Keene and son of Dorrie O’Meara. (Note the ear on photos below).
I have no problem with people carrying tools for self-defense, but I feel that the display was an attempt to intimidate and threaten the people at the square with violence and not for his defense.
The following pictures show further evidence he might not be a peaceful-minded person.
Throughout some STOP FREE KEENE!!! members’ War on Chalk, chalk has always been made available to them by liberty activists so that the SFK!!! members can express themselves and add their ideas to the mix, rather than deleting other people’s ideas. Until now, they have refused to participate in the chalking.
Now, in a pleasantly surprising turn of events, one of the 20 silent protesters from a few weeks back has broken the silence and chalked his own message! His message was found this morning outside of the Shire Free Church’s parsonage in Keene. It says “THIS HOUSE IS A FRAUD!”, with an arrow. Rich Paul chalked above it earlier today, adding, “Boston Strong Can Chalk!!!”. The SFK!!!-supporting man was in Central Square on Monday night washing chalk off the sidewalk when he and another local man who was chalking got into a verbal confrontation. The man allegedly claimed to be from Boston and allegedly threatened the local chalker. He was given the moniker of “Boston Strong” as a result. At this time his identity is unknown.
“Boston Strong”
Boston is most certainly the chalker from this morning. Not only did he hold a sign with a similar message in the silent protest, but he also lives a few houses down River Street from the church parsonage. Plus, a man wearing a hoodie was seen leaving Boston’s house, chalking the message, then returning to Boston’s house at approximately 5:17 this morning.
It was during the verbal confrontation at Central Square involving Boston on Monday night that alleged Pedrazas/Pour House employees threatened and attacked the local chalkers. Interestingly, one of the men who threatened and came at the chalkers (who also stole appears to steal and smash Garret’s camera) is from Washington DC. Funny that some people critique Free State Project participants for coming here wanting to live free, all the while people fomenting violence and destruction of artwork in the streets of Keene are also NOT from New Hampshire. (more…)
Early on Monday, June 2nd, a hardy band of Manchester activists met outside the Hillsborough County courthouse to distribute pamphlets to jurors. These pamphlets contain information regarding jury nullification rights, and by informing jurors of their right to find defendants not guilty of victimless crimes we could save lives. Among the activists present were Free Keene bloggers Pete Eyre, Robert Mathias, and yours truly.
Many of the jurors, however, had already received nullification pamphlets. Several of them came to court carrying the exact same pamphlets we were handing out. That means that our activism efforts haven’t been in vain, that people are taking their jury nullification rights seriously. We’re starting to have an impact.
One simple act of rights education. Consistent repetition. That’s all it takes to make a difference. What’re you waiting for?
Early last evening in Central Square, a troubling act of violence occurred when a local man, Matthew Oldershaw, known to many as ‘Yankee’, was shoved into the granite fountain and sustained head trauma. This occurred while Yankee was conversing near the fountain with business owner Dorrie O’Meara. An unknown man wearing a blue t-shirt and a Boston Red Sox baseball cap (now believed to be James Michael Phillips) was identified by witnesses in shaky footage from the scene as the aggressor. The man remained on the square several minutes after the attack, associating with another man wearing a bandana under a backwards cap who threatened those holding cameras and claimed ‘gang affiliations’ (since identified as Justin Paquette of Keene). Yankee was taken away on a stretcher and has since been moved to a hospital outside of Keene for additional treatment. Four KPD units responded, and left the scene without making any arrests. Images of the man have been published by Keene Peaceful Streets. Do you know who this man is, photographed smiling as he walks away after sending another person to the emergency room? What is additionally a sad reflection on society in Keene is the indifference displayed by some bystanders to a seriously injured person laying wounded in front of them. Some people can be seen casually pouring water on nearby chalkings at the same time that friends of the injured person are sobbing for someone to call an ambulance.
Bandana-wearing man claimed ‘gang affiliations’ and grabbed at cameras of bystanders. The perpetrator of the assault (wearing the blue t-shirt) that sent Yankee to the hospital smirks behind him. UPDATE: Bandana man has since been identified as Justin Paquette of Keene.
Smiling before leaving the Square, the attacker wandered off prior to the arrival of Keene police.
![Gericke_Carla2008[1]](https://i0.wp.com/freekeene.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Gericke_Carla20081.gif)
Many of the jurors, however, had already received nullification pamphlets. Several of them came to court carrying the exact same pamphlets we were handing out. That means that our activism efforts haven’t been in vain, that people are taking their jury nullification rights seriously. We’re starting to have an impact.
