On September 9, at approximately 10:15PM, members of the Keene community gathered for “Live Free Or Dance” at Central Square, for the 2nd week in a row. The dance party was short lived however, because not a minute into the fun, police showed up and instead of protecting and serving what they did was entirely different, as you’ll discover below.
Ryan & Roz being attacked by Keene Law Enforcers. Photo by dooms-day-device.com
They said that they received a noise complaint (that they seem to have fabricated) and made numerous assertions such as: we need to obtain a permit, that the music was excessively loud and disturbing, and that we couldn’t use the openly-available power.
Then they asked who owned the sound equipment. No one stepped forward. After some time multiple individuals independently claimed ownership of the equipment. The police took the word of an individual that they had in their custody for an unrelated incident which the cops claim was an assault. They chose to arrest him after he indicated he owned the sound equipment used that night. The police knew that the sound equipment didn’t belong to him. After kidnapping him they went back to the gazebo with the intention of stealing the sound equipment. Although they were notified and aware that they had no means to know with certainty who the equipment belonged to, they maintained that they were going to take it by force. As is typically the case when law enforcement is involved, violence ensued. One officer began aggressively tugging on the equipment, attempting to steal it. Derrick J Freeman and Roz tried to hold onto the property, and then that officer violently assaulted and kidnapped Derrick [video].
While that occurred, Roz too was assaulted and kidnapped by another officer. I saw the assault and ran over to Roz to grab her away from the violent man with a badge. He pushed us to ground (at which point I suffered a mild head injury) and kidnapped us. Roz suffered bruises on her arm as a result.
Minutes later, they took Derrick to a vehicle and pepper-sprayed him while he was standing cuffed in front of the car door. While preparing to spray him, another officer deliberately blinded video journalist Jason Repsher with a flashlight to obscure the recording of the cruel and sadistic application of force.
The three of us were transported to the House Of Corrections where Derrick, in the spirit of the event, spent the rest of the night dancing without stop. We were all eventually liberated on bail. Roz and I were both charged with obstruction of government administration and resisting arrest, while Roz received an additional charge of obstruction of apprehension. We have a scheduled court date of October 4 at 8:30AM.
It’s really unfortunate that those who purport to protect us are often indistinguishable from thugs and gangsters in their actions. Perhaps when innocent dance parties are a threat to the police it is an indication that we are living under a tyrannical state.
Political commentators often lump libertarians in with conservatives on the right, but how accurate is this?
To get a start on this question, I compared New Hampshire legislators’ liberalism or conservatism, as measured by W-NOMINATE, with their libertarianism, as measured by the NHLA’s Liberty Rating. (To make the comparison easier, I used the raw Liberty Rating scores. An “A” is 80-100%, 60-79% is a “B”, 40-59% is a “C”, etc.)
A peaceful and fun evening for the Keene community devolved into chaos when law enforcers, employed by the city of Keene, showed up to make threats and eventually kidnapped three people, Ryan Maddox, Roz and Derrick Freeman.
I was in Central Square to dance but instead my evening was spent livestreaming the violence that is unfortunately becoming more commonplace with militant law enforcers “just doing their jobs.” I was able to broadcast the following seven video playlist live:
Police interrupted the celebration in Central Square at around 10:15. According to Jason Repsher, “The music had only been playing for a minute and it wasn’t very loud.” [Video: Live Free or Dance Begins Peacefully] Keene native Jacqueline Lemieux commented on a Keene law enforcer’s claim that “a citizen complained” about the noise:
That is a flat out lie. The music had just been turned on and I was walking in front of The Stage and over towards the common and was not able to hear any music at all until I arrived a few feet from the gazebo. KPD is quickly developing a habit of lying and abusing its public and I will not stand for it!
Jason Repsher stated in the description of the video he recorded (below) that:
The cops make up a story that they were called because of a complaint and the cops insist on permits and licensing in order to play music in the park. The cops wanted someone to claim the equipment so they could check ID.
Repsher continues:
The cops knew it wasn’t his, but apparently the kid had gotten into trouble earlier in the night and they wanted a reason to arrest this kid. After the kid was arrested and hauled off, the cops proceed to take it upon themselves to seize the equipment. At which point, Derrick Freeman, Ryan Maddox and Roz get arrested in the attempt to prevent the property from being stolen by the Keene PD (for holding onto the property while the cops pry it away). After Derrick Freeman is handcuffed one of the officers maces and puts him in the patrol car. In the video you can see the officer shake his pepper spray at which point two officers come over and attempt to block my video.
When you watch the above video take note of how at least two law enforcers shine their flashlights at cameras just before Derrick gets maced. It seems obvious that they were attempting to censor the recording of their violent colleague. It’s unknown if this technique is taught during their training, is department policy or just the actions of two law enforcers who want to hide their aggressive actions from the public.
Another witness, Nick Ryder, posted the following on the Free Keene Forum along with his video:
1. Police show up on a noise complaint and inform people to tear down the lights, speakers, etc and not use city power.
2. Police ask who owns the equipment. Nobody answers.
3. After a while, random other guy (non-activist) claims to own them. He is arrested.
4. Police come to confiscate said equipment under the baseless claim that random guy owns it.
5. Derrick contests the claim, saying he owns it, and does not let the police take it.
All three were eventually released after many hours in solitary confinement. There are reports that Derrick was able to continue the dance party at the Cheshire County House of Corrections for four hours. He was able to eventually able to return home to shower out the mace before going to work. Stay tuned for more information about future court dates and danceobedience.
I was in Central Square today for Free Speech Fridays, and while I was there I noticed that the gazebo is starting to look battered, the grass is patchy, and a serious mud hole, that may even present a safety risk to pedestrians, is to be found around the water fountain. Because of these problems, I took up the microphone an proposed that the activists, who are the primary users of Central Square in terms of time present, make an effort to repair the wear and tear the facilities have sustained. This will not only provide a better facility for the activists whom use the square the most, but also for all members of the public.
To accomplish this, we’re going to need paint, brushes, and other tools. If we wish to repair the ground cover, seed of some variety will be needed, and the effort will be impossible without volunteers. To that end, I will be attending the 4:20 rallies every weekday over the next 2-3 weeks to collect any funds anybody may wish to contribute, as well as any equipment that anyone may wish to donate for our use. I have also created a Facebook event, to be held in Central Square on Wednesday, September 14 at 4:00pm to discuss plans for making repairs.
An action like this is not without risks. Two years ago, another activist was arrested for attempting to create a public garden in Central Square. Arrests relating to this are also possible. The work done, if not done well, may cause bad publicity. And of course there is the chance that agents of the city council may choose to strip and repaint after our work is done, even if no arrests are made. I’m willing to take that risk.
Anybody who is interested is of course welcome to come out to Central Square on Wednesday to help plan. I’ll see you there.
Today in Keene’s Central square, beginning at 4:00, a weekly event known as Free Speech Fridays was held. The idea behind the event is to provide an open microphone for the people of Keene to come out and speak to the general public. This is the third such event to be held in Keene’s Central Square, and so far it has been a success. Unfortunately, it’s not without its bumps in the road.
At approximately 5:00PM two individuals wearing blue outfits with small pieces of metal on them, carrying large firearms approached the gazebo in Central Square. The demanded in the name of some person calling themselves ‘The City’, who at this time is unidentified, that the persons gathered in Central Square cease using the publicly available power outlets due to a lack of a ‘permit’. After some questioning, these two individuals, against the requests of the owner of the PA system set up for Free Speech Fridays, unplugged it. After some further discussion between the attendees and the aggressive individuals, the aggressors left the are. An unknown individual then restored power to the PA System and Free Speech Fridays continued.
The aggressive individuals did not further harass any attendees. Talley.TV was there, and will post video later.
Continuing our look at education in a stateless society, lets examine homeschooling and unschooling. Because of the similarities between the two, I’m going to present both in this post, rather than repeat myself. Both home and unschooling are very student driven, giving focus to each individual students needs. The parents, who will act as instructors, are very involved in the child’s education, which is more difficult when the children are sent to an outside school. Home/Un-schooling also has an incredibly low cost.
The claim that Keene is the “liberty media capitol of the world” remains unchallenged as new people continue to move here and broadcast the message of liberty. The latest mover is Ali and she brings the Liberty Belles Radio Show with her. Well, half of it. The show originated in her former home of Auburn, Alabama (and home of the Mises Institute) with our mutual friend Leah Farrow. We’ll get to see Leah at nearly every Porcupine Freedom Festival in Lancaster, NH where she applies her trade as a tattoo artist.
The episode below is their first since Ali’s move to Keene and the two friends discuss what they’ve been up to during their longer than normal (and action-packed) hiatus.
Find (and like) them on Facebook and never miss another Liberty Belles Radio podcast at Podomatic.
The claim that Keene is the “liberty media capitol of the world” remains unchallenged as new people continue to move here and broadcast the message of liberty. The latest mover is Ali and she brings the 
