Kelly Ayotte “Town Hall” Meeting

by | May 3, 2013 | 0 comments

Kelly Ayotte held a “town hall meeting” in Fitzwilliam, NH on May 2. I attended, and rode with a few others from Keene. The crowd was larger than I expected, and included several dozen members of the media.
The event began with Senator Ayotte giving a brief powerpoint presentation on some of her key talking points, and then moved to the audience Q&A. (more…)

Rich Paul, from Trial to Appeal and Beyond

by | May 3, 2013 | 5 comments

Greetings to all! To those who are following the Trial of Rich Paul, the saga continues. . .So much gratitude is going out to each individual for the overwhelming flood of loving support for Rich that is flowing his way! It has come in many forms, food, prayers, visits, mail, cash, paypal, bitcoins, oh my! Most important has been the activism supporting Rich with juror outreach and education, and the independent media coverage done by Rich’s friends right here in Keene, where history is being made and the world is able to watch thanks to them! A very special thank you goes to Ian Freeman for the incredible feat of filming the entire trial! Please tune in to this documented display of this cast of prohibition enforcement characters weaving a tangled web in the attempt to make a martyr out of Rich Paul.

Ian also did juror outreach every day of the trial (and for the last five years!), filmed Rich’s jurors as they left the courthouse after the verdict, and also filmed Rich’s interview from jail and posted it on vice.com. Thank you also to vice.com for covering Rich’s story before the trial began, and for also posting the interview with Rich from inside the jail. (more…)

Outrageous Iced Tea/Lemonade Arrest in Fayetteville, NC

by | May 3, 2013 | 2 comments

One of the most ridiculous instances of a heavy-handed plain clothes officer harassing young people and then arresting one for not following nonsense orders to leave fast enough at his behest was uploaded to youtube and liveleak on April 27. It has spread especially far today, with many sites featuring articles with the revealing video. You observe a dishevelled white man in sordid clothing approach a group of black youths and he demands to be given possession of a can that one is drinking from. The young people ask the man to identify and arnoldpalmerhe says ‘police’, continuing to insist that he be given the can. The iced tea/lemonade fusion drinker, X, holds the can out to display the label and reads it to the man. He begins reaching for the can, and his intentions are questioned. He then goes into arrest mode, doing a quick ordering of X off of the property, drops the ‘T’ word a few times, and then arrests him for trespassing. It’s worth noting that the iced tea/lemonade can was not taken by police as evidence, yet displayed in its entirety for the camera, and clearly not a beverage worthy of any ‘reasonable suspicion’ of a crime.

This tactic is the same as taken by city bureaucrats in response to the Keene City Council Drinking Game in 2010. Charges in that case were dropped, and Round 2 of the consumption escapade went off without further police action. Since the entire incident revolved around suspicion of an otherwise legal drug, should this senseless arrest be counted as another casualty in the war on drugs?

MassLive.com Reports on my Palmer Videographer Arrest Court Case

by | May 2, 2013 | 3 comments

Thanks to MassLive.com’s Lori Stabile, who was there in Palmer when I was arrested for video recording in the town hall, for her follow up piece:

A disorderly conduct charge was dropped against Ian Freeman, the New Hampshire man arrested last fall outside a public auction of town-owned properties at the Town Building.

Now he plans to fight the accusation that he violated a municipal ordinance before the event.

A hearing will be held May 22 in Palmer District Court on a motion to dismiss the ordinance violation of being disorderly before the public auction. Freeman is being represented by William C. Newman, Western Massachusetts director of the American Civil Liberties Union.

“I didn’t do anything wrong . . . It shouldn’t be a crime to record video in a public place,” Freeman, 32, said Wednesday. “I’m willing to go all the way to help protect people in a similar situation.” (more…)