Click Here for the online .pdf edition of the Free Keene Press.
We expanded to 4 pages with this issue. It is looking like the Free Keene Press will be putting out an independent quarterly publication for the Keene area starting with a release slated for the autumnal equinox. Keep an eye on freekeene.com for more information!
“Superior Courts across the state are being forced to cut jury trials by one third over the next fiscal year as part of a broad cost-cutting measure that could have dire implications for some cases” reports the Foster’s Daily Democrat. This is excellent news for those of us who want people who haven’t harmed anyone to remain unmolested by the state and court system.
The best news: “Prosecutors may be forced to plead out cases that don’t go to trial quickly enough and others may be dismissed altogether, Rockingham County Attorney Jim Reams said.”
What cases do you think are going to be dismissed? Surely not the ones with victims when there are so many without.
As our friend Mark Edge says in his guest blog below: “You just have to make them spend they exurbanite price of a trial to prove that you parked the car.”
The court system is the weak link in a system that disproportionatly hurts people who haven’t hurt anyone else.
Plead not-guilty… to everything.
It takes a lot of courage to operate a pirate/community radio station. There’s the ever-present threat of the FCC sending men with guns to steal their equipment, among other things. Just this week a new radio station popped up on 107.5 in Keene carrying mostly Liberty Radio Network programming, day and night. (107.5 does appear to break away in the afternoons for another program not carried by LRN.) Last night there was a particularly graphic internet-only Sunday edition of Free Talk Live, hosted by Dale, Luthor, and Puke. I was out and about during the program, taking care of some errands and listening to the show on 107.5 when I heard the discussion drop to dead air. I quickly checked the internet feed – it was still on-air, so I concluded the operators of 107.5 had decided to cut the broadcast.
Now to be clear, I am the program director of the Liberty Radio Network. That does not mean I am in charge of 107.5 or any other station airing the Liberty Radio Network. Each station decides how much LRN content to carry – I am merely a program provider. I don’t know who all’s involved with 107.5 locally, so please don’t ask. After they pulled FTL off-the-air, they did reach out to me to let me know what they were thinking. They were concerned that the graphic content could be offensive to parents. That’s right, even pirate/community radio operators are concerned about their image in regards to “the children”! The operators encouraged me to relegate sexually graphic programming to the overnight hours. After some reflection, I agreed.
You may be saying, “But Ian, you’re supposed to be in favor of free speech!”. (more…)
Here’s a guest blog from Mark Edge on his successful noncooperation regarding a parking ticket. Next time you get a parking ticket, consider demanding a trial, like Mark did. It bogs down an already overburdened system. Of course, risk is still involved and your mileage may vary. As you’ll see, Mark’s charge was dumped before trial, but I went to trial over a ticket on Apr 28th and have never received a verdict. Worst case, if you don’t want to noncooperate all the way and they find you guilty at trial, you will probably only need pay the $5 then – after you’ve really made them work for it. Please give this a try, Keeniacs, and post to the Free Keene Forum with your results or in advance if you’d like some input or support at your court appearance, should it get that far. This is an excellent first step for an activist new to saying “no” to government people.
When I moved to Keene in Sep06 I noticed right away that Keene has a problem with parking and Parking Enforcement downtown. The parking meters dissuade people from patronizing the businesses downtown. One morning my wife and I were going to go to Timolean’s for breakfast. When we parked, we realized that we didn’t have any change. We got back in the car and went to Friendly’s on West Street, were the parking is free.
Obviously, there needs to be some sort of system to disincentivize people who are not doing business from taking up the parking spaces of those who wish to, but Parking Enforcement, as I understand it, runs a large deficit every year. It costs more to send the little ladies with parking tickets around to fine people than they collect from meters and fines. That is silly.
Top that off with what I have often said, you don’t have to pay those tickets. (more…)
As promised:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ODS2uBuHoA
I’d appreciate it if you would digg this for me (only if you dig it, of course). 🙂
I cried when I read this post from Jodie Emery at Cannabis Culture about her visit to her husband Marc, who is in federal prison for the vicious crime of selling seeds. Thank you Marc and Jodie for being such amazing activists. Here’s how you can send Marc mail.
I went to visit Marc today for the first time at SeaTac FDC. Thankfully, I’m able to visit him even while he’s in SHU (“segregated housing unit”, solitary confinement). When I arrived at 1:30pm, it was very nerve-racking. I stepped up to the massive building’s entrance, got buzzed in, then found myself in a big lobby with a reflective glass booth and a little hole to pass ID and paperwork through.
There was a table with the paperwork to fill out for visiting, but no pen. Thankfully there were some visitors there who had been through it all before and helped me figure out the process (and loaned me a pen), because you don’t get any answers from the staff. Visiting officially begins at 2pm on Fridays, but by 2:15 they just started processing, which took a very long time itself.
Big families and many individuals filled the lobby. So many broken-hearted parents, girl friends, wives and troubled children crying “I want to see daddy” and behaving unruly, to the distress of the moms… so many Drug War Widows and Orphans. After all, the vast majority (almost all) of the inmates are there for non-violent drug law violations. (more…)
Last night I attended a suspicion-less sobriety checkpoint in Tilton, NH. I attended alone to get video footage of what I believe is an excellent example of the erosion of liberty in the “Live Free or Die” state.
I was asked for my name and I refused to provide it. The officers were all very polite and professional. I stood literally right in the middle of the checkpoint and was allowed to film unfettered. For this, I thank them.
The people who live in those communities should be proud of the level of respect their police show citizen-journalists. They should also be concerned that the police-state is alive and well in their area.
I will be putting together a video showing what I believe is a unjustifiable encroachment on individual liberty.
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