Issues

Discussed on last week’s “Talkback” on WKBK: speed bumps, oppressive federal and state government, corrections of the misinformation that a former cop spread on last week’s episode about my use of the megaphone at the cannabis celebrations, and a silly attack on liberty activists from local politico Steve Lindsey (who I think was upset because some liberty activists gave him a piece of their mind when he was at the pro-govt healthcare demonstration).

Grab the archive.

In the name of “the children”, Keene’s daily 4:20pm cannabis celebration will move from Central Square across the street to where young, innocent eyes should never be – city hall.

Event promoter Rich Paul, the one man arrested for possession of marijuana since the beginning of the incredibly successful daily celebrations over a month ago, has announced that out of respect for the very small amount of public space available in the park, that the celebration will move to the front of city hall at 3 Washington St. in Keene. The event will return to Central Square as of Sunday.

The Union Leader is reporting that in the name of the children, Keene police and prosecutors plan to make arrests in Keene’s Central Square, a piece of “public” property. Will tomorrow’s Pumpkin Fest event be a tragedy of the commons? “Public” property is allegedly owned by everyone, which also means it’s owned by no one.

From the Keene Sentinel:

My name is Jenna, I’m 18 and am from the Keene area.

I stand with my fellow “stoners” at 4:20 when I can on my days off from work. I read the paper and keep up with the media on this topic every day.

As to the article in the Sept. 30 paper, “Weeding out lawbreakers:” I was appalled as to what some of the residents feel should happen to us protesters, such as one resident called for the police to use tear gas, riot batons and Tasers on us.

Discussed on last week’s “Talkback” on WKBK: marijuana decriminalization, the imprisonment and attack of Kurt Hoffman, the daily 4:20 cannabis celebrations, and wild allegations about “the skinny guy with the megaphone”.

Grab the archive.

Discussed on last week’s “Talkback” on WKBK: marijuana decriminalization, the imprisonment and attack of Kurt Hoffman, the daily 4:20 cannabis celebrations, and wild allegations about “the skinny guy with the megaphone”.

Grab the archive.

Thanks to Brian Anderson at the Keene Equinox (Keene State College’s campus newspaper) for this story:

Dave Ridley reports on the continuing Manchester and Keene 4:20 cannabis celebrations:

Click here to view the embedded video.

This story by the Keene Sentinel’s David P. Greisman is about the small group of mostly high schoolers that showed up to protest the cannabis celebrations on Saturday. I had a lengthy discussion with protestors Ann and Diana to try to understand where they were coming from. They did think that cannabis consumers should be left alone at home, but otherwise support putting them in cages as well as making cigarettes illegal. They think that putting addictive substances in your body is “immoral”, with the exception of caffeine, because… well, they drink it. They actually had cups of coffee out at their protest. Diana even admitted to being addicted to caffeine.

Thanks to Phil Bantz for this article about the Keene police’s position on the cannabis celebrations at 4:20 everyday in Central Square. While KPD is doing the right thing and ignoring the peaceful people gathering daily and toking up, it’s amusing to listen to them attempt to explain that they are serious about cannabis use and would be arresting people if they could only just determine that laws were being broken. Maybe someday they’ll actually admit that what they have been doing in the name of some arbitrary words on paper has been WRONG, and they are sorry.

During last week’s “Talkback” on WKBK, Free Keene’s Nick Ryder appeared as a guest interview in regards to his city council candidacy. Following that, more liberty activists called in to discuss the conflict promoted by the existence of the state. Also discussed was cannabis decriminalization, violence, neighborly interaction, zoning, changing Keene, Free Staters, hugging, cannabis users, angry people, and freedom. You’ll also hear the smarmy Dartmouth guy call in and attack the intellect and accomplishments of liberty activists.

Grab the archive.

Thanks to NHPR’s Josh Rogers for this report: (Audio Version)

The smokers are protesting marijuana laws and say they’ll smoke in Central Square daily until the law changes. Police say they won’t tolerate wanton law-breaking, but have no plans for a crackdown.

Marijuana may or may not spark creativity, but it has long inspired music. Bessie Smith and Willie Nelson have sung its praises, as has pretty much any reggae and hip hop artist you’d care to name. But none of them were in Keene Wednesday.

Is anyone really surprised? A majority of the people calling themselves the Keene city council could have shown a little compassion and voted in favor of a resolution that would have encouraged cannabis decriminalization at the state level. This would have been a symbolic gesture, nothing more. Rather than choose to do that, they opted to do nothing as they similarly chose two weeks ago to do nothing for medical patients who could use cannabis to get relief from debilitating disease.

Free Keene’s blogger Nick Ryder is running “at-large” for Keene city council and the Keene Sentinel recently asked him to respond to several questions. Here are the questions and his responses:

Nicholas J. Ryder

Age: 22.

Address: 29 North Lincoln St.

Family: Single.

Education: High school graduate; some Keene State College.

Occupation: Print and tech specialist at a local printing company/self-employed videographer.

Thanks to the Concord Monitor’s Ray Duckler for this report:

Rich Paul smokes pot. So do dozens of his new friends. Each day lately, in Central Square, right in the middle of Keene.

They huff and they puff and they blow the smoke out, daring the police to arrest them while they make their point. Smoking pot, they believe, should be legal, because smoking pot is their constitutional right. The war on drugs creates violence and unnecessarily jams our prisons, they say.