Concord activists will be turning in over 1500 petitions against the BEARCAT police tank this afternoon. The protest against the BEARCAT begins tonight at 6pm at 41 Green St. in Concord. The city council meeting where they will supposedly vote on accepting a grant for the militaristic monstrosity begins tonight at 7pm at Concord city hall.
Media interviews are already being lined up for the Concord liberty activists. We’ll post them here to Free Keene as we become aware.
“Justice” Lynn’s order cites NH RSA 606:10,V that requires all the tentacles of the state to get permission from the Attorney General’s office to file an appeal: (more…)
Graham is a Robin Hooder who was banned from Central Square in Keene for allegedly skateboarding. Civil Rights Attorney Jon Meyer argues in a memo to the court that the “No Trespass” order issued by the police is invalid and unconstitutional. Watch this episode of PNN, and SUBSCRIBE so you don’t miss any future updates!
Free Keene and Free Concord activists drive through a suspicionless checkpoint while sipping a brown glass bottle and with cameras rolling. Find out what happens next! Plus! Ian and Darryl put city bureaucrats “on notice.” Enjoy! And subscribe to PNN!
In this episode we discuss the upcoming race for city council, the latest cannabis decrim proposal in Keene and the successful copblocking of a recent DUI checkpoint in Walpole. Ian Freeman joins.
In an apparent attempt to make themselves even less relevant in the 21st century, and like so many other newspaper websites, the Keene Sentinel is clamping down even further on their content. Managing Editor Paul Miller wrote a recent piece explaining the changes that went live on their website this week, which include limiting non-subscribers to only viewing ten articles per month. All this as their paid circulation rate has dropped more than 26% in the last five years.
It’s another move in a long series of desperate measures to extend the life of the 200+ year old paper. Several years ago, the Sentinel cut costs by reducing the width of the paper as well as reducing the total page count. They also raised prices to $0.75 daily and $1.75 Sundays. Potential buyers were being asked to pay more for a noticeably thinner paper. Guess what happened?
According to their certifier, the Alliance for Audited Media (aka the Audit Bureau of Circulations), the Sentinel’s paid daily average circulation numbers are seriously down in just the last five years. As of March 2013 their average paid circulation was 8,874. That’s down more than 26% from just five years ago in 2008 when they had 12,119. In 2003 they had 13,998 and in 1993 the total was 15,704. That means the paid circulation today is down 36% compared to ten years ago and down 43% to compared to twenty years ago. Ouch.
Put another way, in the ten years from 1993 to 2003, paid circulation rate dropped about 11%. In the next five years, to 2008, it dropped almost 14%. Finally, in five more years to 2013 it dropped nearly 27% – nearly DOUBLING the loss of the ’03-’08 timeframe! That huge loss happened after they chopped the paper size down and as more options for news opened up due to the proliferation of smartphones and tablets and as their older-age subscriber base continue to die off. With under 200 digital subscribers as of March 2013, it’s clear that their digital component is not coming close to making up the difference. The paper’s answer to this quandary is to lock their content down further? (more…)
Meyer points out that the city’s claim of “tortious interference” on the part of the Robin Hooders fails to meet the requirements of a tort and if the city were successful in their case, the resulting order would violate the Robin Hooders‘ free speech rights. Even if the activists were not pleasant towards the parking enforcers, it would still be within their free speech rights, and the enforcers – as public employees – should not be shielded from criticism. Meyer is also an employment law attorney and points out employees have no right to work in a non-hostile work environment, as the city’s attorneys claim.
What will the city’s hired-gun attorneys say in response? Will there be a hearing on the motion to dismiss? Will the city’s precious case be tossed out? Stay tuned here to Free Keene for the latest on the Robin Hood saga.