Judge Overrules Press Block by Chalking 8 Prosecutor

by | Nov 17, 2011 | 4 comments

As published at freeconcord.org.

Judge William Lyons overruled an objection to a recording notice made by attorney Gregory Muller on Tuesday, November 15 just prior to the trial of Wesley Gilwreath. Wesley was among the first two arrests at the Manchester police department on June 4, 2011. He and Ademo Freeman were arrested for chalking on the building of the station during a police accountability rally. In the hours following the initial arrests, activists and their property were seized by police for a number of legally questionable reasons.

The day prior to the trial, I had submitted notice to record to the clerk. As is usual, just before the proceedings got underway, both parties were presented with the notice. With my name listed on the recording form as the correspondent, Gregory Muller objected, claiming that I had a ‘vested interest’ in Wesley’s trial. The judge failed to see how my ability to record a third party’s legal proceedings could cause any ill-gotten gain. To the objection, the judge asked, “Do you have any legal authority for the proposition that one vitiates their standing under the first amendment, by virtue of having charges arising out of the same incident?”

(more…)

Occupy Keene is Expanding!

by | Nov 17, 2011 | 8 comments

Keene’s occupiers started with just a facebook group that expanded to two and now have an event calendar, email list, and central website where it’s all linked together, with the calendar embedded on the front page: OccupyKeene.com

Daily events include lunchtime and afternoon drive protests and a weekly General Assembly at 5:30pm in Central Sq. Other upcoming events include one before Ron Paul’s speech Monday afternoon at Keene State, and a visit from the Occupy Manch folks this Sunday at 1pm in Central Sq.

Attendance at general assemblies have been increasing each week recently with more college kids this week than I’ve ever seen doing any activism in Keene, ever!

As Seen in Front of “Superior Court”

by | Nov 17, 2011 | 2 comments

KPD Double Parked

Awesome parking job by Keene's finest.

As I was walking downtown the other day on Winter St. by the “superior court”, I couldn’t help but notice this. Had it been an emergency, the car would have been parked in front of the court’s front doors and probably had its lights on. This is just bad parking.

“Do as we say, not as we do.”

You or I would probably get a ticket for parking like this, but government employees tend to get “professional courtesy” – the unspoken agreement that they will lay off persecuting each other. Obviously, there are exceptions to this rule, but it’s still a rule.

Don’t forget to visit the Keene Police Fanpage on facebook.

New Troll Control Policy at the Free Keene Forum

by | Nov 16, 2011 | 30 comments

In order to facilitate more discussion of activism and dramatically reduce trolling, the moderators of the Free Keene forum have elected to create a restricted zone where trolls, called “dissenters” on the forum, are allowed to post.

The restricted are is called “Non-Constructive Criticism, Chronic Dissent, and Trolling”. Dissent is allowed, across the whole forum, but people whose sole purpose is to disrupt productive, activism-oriented conversations will find themselves restricted to the specified troll-zone.

The Free Keene forum is a place to create an activist community, share ideas, plan for events, and other positive things. If it’s been a while since you’ve visited, drop in again. If you don’t have an account anymore, it’s probably due to the fact that you never posted. Now there is a mandatory introduction policy to have posting access to the full forum, but the forum can be read without ever logging in.

Please join us in the Free Keene forum. It’s a great communication method that doesn’t rely on a third party provider, like Facebook.