As you probably know, about two weeks ago a man self-immolated in front of Cheshire superior court over his frustration with the “justice” system. The following day, I went to Cheshire sheriff and requested a copy of the footage from the security camera. I was told that it had been given to Keene Police. Apparently while this statement was true, they could have made another copy for me, but instead misdirected me to KPD. I then filed a “91-A” freedom of information request with KPD and was told after a few days that they had returned their copy to the sheriff. I then filed the same request with the sheriff and after a few days was told they had destroyed the copy. This morning I called the sheriff’s office and spoke with Arlene Crowell, the communications director, and she informed me that their security system only retains archives for seven days before writing over it. KPD’s James McLaughlin claims they did not copy the footage.
So, if they are all to be believed, no footage exists of Thomas James Ball immolating himself. If I am wrong and you do have footage, please email me at ian at freekeene.com
I suppose I should have filed the request at the sheriff’s office the following day instead of just asking them for it. I’ve never filed these requests before, so I’m sorry for failing. Of course, I probably would have just gotten the runaround anyway.
So much for Article 8 of the NH Constitution:
[Art.] 8. [Accountability of Magistrates and Officers; Public’s Right to Know.] All power residing originally in, and being derived from, the people, all the magistrates and officers of government are their substitutes and agents, and at all times accountable to them. Government, therefore, should be open, accessible, accountable and responsive. To that end, the public’s right of access to governmental proceedings and records shall not be unreasonably restricted.
Keene man arrested and faces years in jail for talking to a judge outside of the court room, and an update on the girl who was arrested for filming police from her own yard; this is actually good news.
You’ve seen him ignore independent video journalist Dave Ridley multiple times, but when confronted with someone he doesn’t know, Derrick Horton, “mayor” Dale Pregent first acts nice as though he will answer a question. However, when he discovers the subject matter, he abruptly turns and walks off. An unidentified city councilor also ignores Derrick. These people don’t care about even trying to look good…
It’s all arbitrary. In Keene, sometimes activists are arrested for wearing hats, sometimes not. Sometimes people are threatened and arrested for using video cameras in the court lobby, sometimes not. Here’s video of Free Talk Live host Mark Edge taking a speeding ticket to trial and being found guilty. You’ll also see court security attempting to intimidate Liberty on Tour’s Pete and Ademo into removing hats and gum. They fail. Chief of security Lance Walton instructs the lumbering goons to back off and let the robed man decide, then the robed man ignores the hats and gum.
Liberty activist Jim Johnson was fined after being found guilty at a trial several weeks ago. Jim never paid the fine, so the court bureaucrats demanded he show up at a hearing about that. He was told he needs to fill out a financial affidavit so the court bureaucrats could determine if he could pay the fine, or else he’d be charged with contempt. Jim did not fill out the form and was jailed indefinitely.
In addition, court security officers Tebo and Fredriksen attempted and failed at intimidating the audience into standing for the robed man. Tebo also attempted to order me around, violating my right to cover a public hearing as a member of the press. In addition, Tebo actually assaulted me and grabbed me by the arm in an attempt to remove me from the courtroom. He and his security continued to threaten the crowd with arrest. All of this is on video:
So, I called the Cheshire Sheriff’s office today in an attempt to learn how to file a complaint as I was assaulted by one of their court security officers today. Unfortunately, I could not even begin a conversation as for a long period of time I did not know to whom I was speaking. Listen to this bureaucrat, who later reluctantly just gave his first time, refuses to answer a simple question that anyone in a customer service role should be happy to answer. Instead, he robotically utters the same phrasing over and over.
This is what customer service is like when its run by a violent monopoly. You can’t switch to their competitor, so it doesn’t matter how they treat you.
As you probably know, about two weeks ago a man self-immolated in front of Cheshire superior court over his frustration with the “justice” system. The following day, I went to Cheshire sheriff and requested a copy of the footage from the security camera. I was told that it had been given to Keene Police. Apparently while this statement was true, they could have made another copy for me, but instead misdirected me to KPD. I then filed a “91-A” freedom of information request with KPD and was told after a few days that they had returned their copy to the sheriff. I then filed the same request with the sheriff and after a few days was told they had destroyed the copy. This morning I called the sheriff’s office and spoke with Arlene Crowell, the communications director, and she informed me that their security system only retains archives for seven days before writing over it. KPD’s James McLaughlin claims they did not copy the footage.
