Concord police will be receiving a Ballistic Engineered Armored Response Counter Attack Truck, after an 11-4 vote by the full city council in favor of accepting the military-style vehicle funded by a Department of Homeland Security grant to the Lenco corporation. The fire chief closed the building to many attendees, calling capacity at a reported 70 guests. Drum circles, light shows, sign waving, videography, and socializing occurred in the courtyard outside of the council meeting location on Green Street. Media from around the state observed proceedings both inside and outside of the chambers. Dave Ridley has already posted an ambush interview of Concord police chief John Duval to his youtube channel, in which he asks the top cop if he expected anyone beyond DHS bureaucracy to read his grant application. Ridley’s coverage, from which more is to be expected later, is embedded below.
Tony Schinella’s article at Concord Patch includes quotes from city councilors on both sides the issue, who were reportedly offered copies of Radley Balko’s Rise of the Warrior Cop while they were considering their decision. After word of the vote came out to the crowd, the message on the green beam laser pointed at a nearby steeple read, “BEARCAT FOR SALE CALL 911”. (more…)
Filing for Municipal elections closed today for anyone wishing to pay a fee of either $2 or $5 depending on the office. Prospective candidates can still file until the end of the week, if they wish to submit a petition in lieu of the filing fee. Steven Lindsey, Randy Filiault, Bradford Hutchingson, Ian Freeman, Carl Jacobs, Kris Roberts, Emily Hague, David Meader, Beverly Creamer, David Curran & Robert Sutherland have all filed for City Council At-Large, and three candidates filed for the Mayoral position. Kendall Lane has filed for re-election, while he has two challengers; Rich Paul and Darryl W. Perry. The City Clerk’s Office has not yet heard from the State Attorney General if Paul, who is ineligible to serve, will be removed from the ballot.
Of the six Council positions elected in the five ward, there are candidates in half of those races. Ward 1 is electing two councilors this year, as one position is a mid-term special election; David Crawford and Sheryl Redfern are vying for that seat. James “Robinhood” Cleaveland is challenging incumbent Mitch Greenwald in Ward 2, while Conan Salada is challenging Robert O’Connor for the Ward 4 seat.
One other race has competition. William Marcello, Kathleen Richards, Fred Parker and Matthew McKeon will face off for three Selectmen positions in Ward 3.
Political action is alive and well in Keene with a record six activists jumping into the Keene municipal elections this year!
In the Ward and Mayoral races, liberty activists are the ONLY competition to the statist incumbents (This is a list of the current candidates – the main filing deadline closed this afternoon.)!
More information about the candidates will be coming soon. They include David Crawford, James “Robin Hood” Cleaveland, and Conan Salada, in wards 1, 2, and 4, respectively. In the at-large race, I am running and in the mayoral race both Rich Paul and Darryl W. Perry are running. Mark your calendar for the general election date of Tuesday, November 5, 2013! A primary election is scheduled for October 8, one candidate will be eliminated from the At-Large City Council election, and the Mayoral race will be reduced to 2 candidates.
Would you like to be around a bunch of other people who care enough about liberty to do something? Here are 150+ reasons to move to Keene!
Hillsborough District Court, 2013-09-05 – As I pass out “Don’t take the plea deal” fliers before my speeding ticket trial, bailiff Preston tries to tell me not to. I grab my camera and begin recording as I accompany him to the clerk who supposedly will cite the “rule” that people can’t hand things out in court. She passes the buck to the judge, and I go back to the courtroom to keep handing out fliers. The judge never says a word about it.
Hours of arraignments transpire before they get to my trial – not a single person in the courthouse has been accused of hurting another person. All of the charges were pot, alcohol, other drugs, or driving-related. I was able to hand out dozens of fliers, including one about jury nullification to a hippie-looking lady facing felony cannabis growing charges. I explained nullification to her and her husband and told them about the rastafarian Doug Darrell who was set free thanks to jury nullification. They were very interested. After a lunch break, my trial for speeding began:
Just like happened in Keene, the Concord city council voted 11-4 tonight to accept the Department of Homeland Security’s grant for the BEARCAT. When a similar vote happened in Keene’s city council in 2012, there were also four votes against it (and 9 votes for it – one councilor was absent and another had to abstain due to a conflict of interest).
As in Keene, the Concord councilors did not care what the people thought, despite over 1500 petitions signed against the BEARCAT and a huge outpouring of public opinion against it. The BEARCAT meetings were packed with concerned inhabitants and many more contacted the councilors outside the meeting to express their opposition. I cannot discern whether any councilors actually changed their minds on this vote, as the initial approval for the police to seek the grant happened a year ago and it was on the “consent calendar” of the council, which means they really didn’t vote on it at all initially. (As I understand it.)
Thanks to all the activists who spent so much time and effort on this – despite the council not caring, it was still good for outreach on the issue of militarization of police as well as lots of free press coverage. If you want to join the best liberty activism movement in the world, join the Free State Project, and move to NH ASAP!
This week’s fulfilling installment entered into the AKPF #1 timeslot on CheshireTV is Aqua Kzheckpoint Patrol Fortification #1, offering a unique perspective into a suspicionless checkpoint established on Route 12 in Walpole in addition to following up on AKPF #1 episode 10 Staatspolizei. Included in this episode are editorial videos by Dave Ridley, which do not represent the views of this channel, its staff, board of directors, or underwriters. Plus, you wouldn’t want to miss the unconstitutional anticamera tirade of Barnstable MassCop Gretchen Allen as captured by journalist Robert Bastille.
Concord police will be receiving a Ballistic Engineered Armored Response Counter Attack Truck, after an 11-4 vote by the full city council in favor of accepting the military-style vehicle funded by a Department of Homeland Security grant to the Lenco corporation. The fire chief closed the building to many attendees, calling capacity at a reported 70 guests. Drum circles, light shows, sign waving, videography, and socializing occurred in the courtyard outside of the council meeting location on Green Street. Media from around the state observed proceedings both inside and outside of the chambers. Dave Ridley has already posted an ambush interview of Concord police chief John Duval to his youtube channel, in which he asks the top cop if he expected anyone beyond DHS bureaucracy to read his grant application. Ridley’s coverage, from which more is to be expected later, is embedded below.
