T’was two days ago when the Merry Men, which at the time consisted of myself and Keene native Graham, were approached by a mysterious individual wielding a phone as a videocamera. Though he declines to introduce himself, he was prompt in uploading his video to his youtube channel, Dr David Berman/MusicProDave.
Discussion of the cell phone video occupied a good portion of last evening’s episode of Free Talk Live. For a confrontational encounter, I feel surprisingly relieved of responsibility to add much commentary to accompany what was digitally captured. Mr. Berman’s video, my own raw video, and the raw footage from Graham’s flipcam speak for themselves. The best illustration I have found thus far of the experience was uploaded by the Aqua Keene Parking Force, using all three angles and adding some additional videography skills into the mix.
An article about David’s video was published yesterday to Free Keene.
Despite allegedly being “Christian”, meaning one who is supposed to emulate Christ, Berman proceeds to hurl insults at the heroic Merry Men. Idiots, jerks, knuckleheads – are the terms Berman used to describe the productive, intelligent young men. Here’s the video, from Berman’s perspective:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oH1jIWT8wg
The Merry Men could have made a better defense of their craft. They could have said, “We make money from people who are happy with our services – what do pastors do?”
Nonetheless, Berman makes it clear that he doesn’t really understand Jesus’ teachings about loving one’s enemy or being of peace. (more…)
Guess her mind is all made up about the gas tax. Keene’s State Representative Cynthia Chase is seen here busying herself with a game of solitaire while other state reps testify on the proposed gas tax hike.
Good thing we have such a dedicated “public servant” here in Keene – dedicated to getting a high score.
The local Keene PTA hosted a “Candidates Meet and Greet” on March 4th at Jonathan Daniels elementary school. All eight school board hopefuls showed up to argue their case to an audience of about 50. Eleven of those were pro-liberty activists. Despite climbing tuition costs and a declining student population, many of the would-be board members promised they would bring more of the same if elected. Three of those candidates, Ian Freeman, Conan Salada, and Darryl Perry, brought an altogether different message to the table.
A couple months later, Kelly, Derrick J, and I teamed up with Miami photojournalist Carlos Miller and paid a visit to the court on official court business. Sheriff Foote refused to return calls from us, which is what he was demanding in his order before we’d be allowed on the public property for which we’re all forced to pay. All three of us were arrested and Carlos was threatened by Sheriff Caleb Dodson.
Due to facing multiple charges from multiple arrests, Derrick made the tough choice of taking a plea, but Kelly and I didn’t have the same weight of charges on us and we knew we were in the right and the trespass order was wrong, so we pressed on. County attorney David Lauren met with us and offered a pretty sweet plea deal – he’d drop the charge to a violation level (it was being charged as a Class A with up to a year in jail the possible penalty) offense and it’d be a $250 fine, suspended on condition of good behavior. I was out of jail on a nine-month suspended sentence from my last conviction and if I received another misdemeanor conviction I could go back to jail for the remaining nine months. Despite that looming threat, I refused the plea, as did Kelly, and the matter was to continue to trial.
Now, several months after that hearing, Keene district court’s judge Edward Burke has made the right decision. He has ruled in an order that the no-trespass orders, as applied to me and Kelly Voluntaryist, are unconstitutional and dismissed the cases against us! (more…)
All of a sudden, Grafton is back in the news. Looks like the liberty activist community has been quietly growing there and getting organized – to the point where at a recent town meeting activists voted to put a ballot measure on to reduce the town budget 10%. The aggressors are worried. Here’s the story from local mainstream mouthpiece Valley News:
By Jim Kenyon
Grafton — At last month’s deliberative session, “Free Staters” and their allies scored a victory by getting preliminary approval for a major cut in town spending. On Town Meeting Day, voters will go to the polls to decide whether the proposed budget reduction of more than $128,000 will stick.
The proposal represents a budget cut of either 10 percent or 13 percent, depending on whether the Free Staters’ or Selectboard’s figures are used. Either way, if voters uphold the cut, “it certainly won’t be trivial and people are definitely going to notice it,” said Selectman David Rienzo. “I think it would be better for the town if people rejected the Free Staters’ budget.” (more…)
At the very beginning of 2012, several activists including myself were 
Shortly thereafter, heroic free-speech attorney 
