Thursday’s Keene Sentinel featured an update on the Robin Hood saga penned by Kyle Jarvis. The article overviews how the case is being prepped for presentation to the New Hampshire supreme court, where before being scheduled requires both parties to consider the possibility of mandatory mediation. The mediation process would involve a closed-door meeting between both parties to agree on a legal compromise. Mediation is certainly a fitting alternative to the courts for conflict resolution when a conflict exists, but as is uniquely the case in Keene, city officials can’t cite a single grievance against the Robin Hooders collectively beyond expressing a desire that they do not be in the proximity of or communicate with parking enforcers. For some individual Robin Hooders, no specific issues have been raised at all, and considering that Pete Eyre is still named in the suit when he has at no time been associated with Robin Hood of Keene demonstrates the indiscriminate nature of the city’s straw-grasping lawsuit. Early in the suit, the city requested the ability to add defendants to the case at will, but apparently ceased its hunt for the underground Robin Hooders after at least two individuals officially requested attachment to the suit and were denied, despite one presenting evidence of longtime participation in the activity.
While the ruling from judge John Kissinger was reasonable, a further contemplation of the case may have demonstrated the need for a less traditional ruling, which may have alleviated some of the issues that the legal department of “city of Keene” continues to press today. Though the judge never authorized “harassment and intimidation”, the ruling states only that the facts presented did not constitute any actionable activity. Yet the city’s attorney asserted this about the ruling: “The Order holds that the individual protesters have no duty to be reasonable in their actions and conduct directed toward public employees while doing their jobs … that the individual protesters are allowed to interfere, harass, and intimidate public employees while doing their jobs … (and) that the individual protesters may engage in inappropriate and unreasonable actions and conduct directed at public employees while doing their jobs.” Not only is it unkind to mischaracterize constitutionally protected speech as “harassment and intimidation,” but it is also a distortion of the actual text of the ruling. Perhaps mediation would have been most pertinent prior to the many hours spent in court, where it could have been cleared up ahead of time that Robin Hooders do not engage in harassment and intimidation. Of course, when myself I tried mediate with the city’s attorney prior to court, my camera was stolen for two months under the guise of “illegal wiretapping”. (more…)
Early last week I left a message for the owner of Emerson’s Towing, Emerson Sr., asking for an official statement on the incident. As of yet, I have not heard from him. It appears Emerson’s has again taken down their facebook page again, however their Yelp entry isn’t looking so hot in the reviews department as people comment nationwide. Will Emerson’s continue to avoid commenting on this situation?
At this point it should be of no surprise that even when people are taking oaths they’re breaking them within minutes. During the inauguration of the new city council in Keene there was not one but two sectarian prayers which completely disenfranchise the people in the city who don’t believe in a god or don’t believe in that particular god. Of course government endorsement of religion is also against the law. Using phrases such as “Gracious and holy one.” “May God give you courage.” “We pray in your most holy name.” obviously flies in the face of the law as well as the people who live in Keene.
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Thursday Darryl and I appeared at the state house in Concord for the Criminal Justice committee hearing of a new cannabis decriminalization bill that would reduce the penalty of possession of up to an ounce of cannabis to only a violation punishable with a $100 fine.
The committee is full of people who know this issue and are very educated about decriminalization and legalization. This bill has passed the house several times in the past, by a wide margin. Perhaps that’s why the police actually didn’t show up! Normally they show up in uniform to oppose any decrim proposal, but not this time! However a couple of state attorneys, one for the attorney general’s office and another from the “department of safety”, did show up to support the status quo and they got GRILLED by the committee:
During a recent school board meeting, the board and voters in attendance gutted several warrant articles proposed by Conan Salada, which had been signed by dozens of voters. In a Keene Sentinel editorial, the editors of the paper actually side with liberty activists, saying they think the articles should have been left alone for voters to decide as-is. Here’s the editorial:
If anything can be said to be at once both riveting and interminable, Saturday’s Keene School District deliberative session fits the bill. The nearly six-hour meeting consisted largely of a back-and-forth between school officials and members of the Free Keene movement.
The latter had proposed several articles by petition for the March 11 school district ballot, some attempting to reduce the proposed school budget, others seeking to limit the school board’s power. (more…)
I’m running for Keene school board again as a member of the NH Liberty Party and have been given the usual questionnaire by the Keene Sentinel. 
