http://www.keenesentinel.com/…

A legal fog pervades the corridors and lobbies of New Hampshire’s courts.

The rules for recording public hearings in courtrooms are relatively clear: The Supreme Court says it’s allowed unless “there is a substantial likelihood of harm to any person or other harmful consequence.”

But those foggy gray areas beyond the courtrooms remain untouched by state law.

Snapping a photo or recording video in these places is permitted in some district courts and prohibited in others, at the presiding judge’s discretion.

Keene District Court Judge Edward J. Burke banned photography outside the courtroom in February in an effort to protect juveniles and victims of crimes walking through the lobby from being caught on film without their consent.

“All the district court judges who have had this issue come up in their courthouse have thought about it and we’re trying to deal with it as fairly and responsibly as we can,” state judicial branch spokeswoman Laura Kiernan said. “It’s the privacy rights of citizens that we’re concerned with here.”

On the other side of the issue, a group of activists with the Free State Project — an effort to recruit 20,000 people who prefer limited government to live in New Hampshire — are riled because they believe their right to record in a public place is being violated.
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http://www.keenesentinel.com/…

If the marijuana protest and guerilla gardening in downtown Keene failed to raise many eyebrows, the sight of a handful of handcuffed Free Staters being taken out of the city’s District Court earlier this week surely had plenty of residents scratching their heads.

The reader comments piled up under online coverage of Monday’s protest at the District Court on The Sentinel’s Web site, where some people ridiculed and criticized the Free Staters for wasting taxpayer dollars and the time of city police officers.

“Time and again, the Free Staters come off as insolent children who stomp their feet and hold their breath until their faces turn blue because they don’t like being told what to do,” commenter Arch wrote.

The Free Staters hit back, outnumbering the opposition with post after post, saying that District Court Judge Edward J. Burke had blatantly stomped on their personal freedoms when he banned the use of video cameras in the District Court lobby.

“What many commenters here are showing is how slavery is enforced. Slavery was enforced by the slaves themselves. It isn’t the government that keeps people down — it is the people,” wrote commenter Frake.

The District Court blowup unfolded during the arraignment of Manchester videographer Dave Ridley, who was arrested in March because he refused to turn off his video camera in the court lobby. Ridley and others showed up to cover the arraignment of Free Stater and marijuana activist Andrew Carroll.

Carroll was arrested in January when he stood in Keene’s Railroad Square carrying a small amount of marijuana while surrounded by Free Staters and curious onlookers.

Though state law allows media representatives to record public court proceedings in most cases, lobbies and hallways are gray areas. Police officials say there is a fear that rape victims and juveniles could be captured on film while in these areas, which are generally off-limits for videotaping and photography, according to state judicial branch spokeswoman Laura A. Kiernan.

“We’ve talked about this at length and the Free Staters know that,” Kiernan said in a previous interview. She did not return a phone message seeking additional clarification on the law.
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At approximately 12:50am, on Sunday the 1st of February 2009, Free State Project member Mike Barskey was pulled over by Amherst, New Hampshire police after apparently catching the eye of the arresting officer when passing or being passed by another car. The officer followed Mike for a few minutes and ran his California plates finding that he had bench warrant for his arrest due to not showing up to a court hearing. The officer allowed Mike to drive his car to a nearby business parking lot so it wouldn’t have to be towed and then took Mike to the police station. After looking into the matter more the officers realized Mike has a cash bail of $2000 and that his registration is expired therefore tacking on some amount for that.

Mike refused to have his fingerprints taken and was told that that when he is brought to Valley Street jail in Manchester that they would “take them.” He mentions in his Porc411 messages that he is refusing or planned to refuse to answer some or all of the questions they were asking of him and he wasn’t planning on paying the cash bail.

The last message from Mike came in at 2:42am indicating his car was being towed to his home rather than being impounded.

According to Kat Kanning from on the NHUnderground forum:

Valley St. Jail has the worst reputation in NH.  Mike’ll need your calls to the jail to help keep him safe.  The website detailing all the abuses there seems to have been taken down.  Here’s my article about it:

http://newhampshirefreepress.com/?q=node/242

Here are all the relevant Porc411 calls:

• msg0036
• msg0037
• msg0038
• msg0039
• msg0041
• msg0042
• msg0043
• msg0045
• msg0046

Update from NHUnderground forum from Libertine:

Mike’s being held at the Valley Street Jail. The bail is $2040, and if it’s not posted, he’ll be held there until Monday morning when he’ll be taken to Milford District Court for arraignment.

The phone number for the Valley Street Jail is: (603) 627-5620
The address for Milford District Court is: 180 Elm Street, Milford, NH 03055

http://manchesterbrewing.com/

Brian Travis, Jason Osborne and Kevin Bloom have just opened Manchester Brewing in Manchester, New Hampshire. As I understand they won’t be shipping their brews due to cost and only delivering to local pubs. Murphy’s Taproom has been confirmed to be one of them.

There are now a few pubs, I believe a few restaurants, a several media outlets and other miscellaneous businesses run by free staters. These adventures will really help the FSP gain credibility in their respective communities. People seem to like those who are “pillers of the community.”

I’m up in Manchester, NH this weekend with laur to see Nine Inch Nails and have a weekend getaway of sorts. Tonight was the show at the Verizon Wireless Arena. Never have I had such a poor experience at a concert. They refused to allow me to enter with a chained wallet. I return it to the car. My next attempt to enter I am again stopped for having a chain attached to my keys which was not commented on prior. This chain is barely larger then a necklace. I return it to the car. My next attempt I’m stopped for having a clip for my keys “that could be used as a weapon.” Again the prior agent to pat me down made no comment about. Laur at this point yells to just throw the thing in the discard bucket. I’m quite fed up, throw the clasp into the 30 gallon bucket and tell them to “let me the fuck in.” While inside I notice plenty of people with key clasps and chains as large or larger then the one I had. Men with full sets of large rings. One guy who had his wallet semi permanently connected to a chain was asked to toss his wallet.

I’ve gone to lots of shows in NYC and NJ without ever having such a ridiculous pat down policy. The women were required to open any loose clothing and were patted down about as much as men. It was hardly consistent however. As I mentioned chains, which are not good weapons in the least (especially at 1 foot in length), which were supposedly unable to be trashed were allowed. So as long as someone had to tear their clothing to use the gimpy chain as a weapon it was okay.

There was, as always, a no filming policy. Well the security at the arena took this to mean just about everything. The security spent the entire show hunting down people who held cell phones or cameras up too long. There was one narc in particular standing next to me, speaking plenty loud to distract me from the music, who was ratting out people not even in her general area. Telling other security agents to get them. Teams of agents would approach people and tell them to turn off their camera. They’d walk up behind people on the floor while they were lining up a shot or maybe taking some high quality QVGA footage of the show and just watch their viewfinder for a few seconds then lean in over their shoulder and tell them to stop. After the show a guard told me it was requested by the band. I’ve been to a few NIN shows including one on this tour and never had I seen what I saw tonight.

They said nothing about the lighters or the loud drunks pushing people around to get up front or banging on things. It’s okay to possess the means to burn down the place but not protect your keys from being jacked and it’s okay to be ingesting a drug that often makes people more aggressive.

The security was so distracting I was completely unable to enjoy the show. After the show laur approached a security guard to ask how to submit a complaint. We were directed to the agent responsible for the overseeing of the pat downs. She issued her complaint of having to show more of herself then she’d like in a public setting in particular. We plan to contact Verizon Wireless Arena to further express our displessure with their draconian security. I will also attempt to contact Nine Inch Nails.

At this point we plan to never attend another event at the Manchester Verizon Wireless Arena.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/…

Pot-holed roads, crumbling schools, litter-strewn streets – there’s no shortage of problem areas crying out for their attention.But councils believe they have found a better use for their money: reducing the number of holes in chip shop salt shakers.

Research has suggested that slashing the holes from the traditional 17 to five could cut the amount people sprinkle on their food by more than half.Trickle or Treat: Chip shop owner Carol Ackerman shows off an old 17-hole shaker and the new model And so at least six councils have ordered five-hole shakers – at taxpayers’ expense – and begun giving them away to chip shops and takeaways in their areas.Leading the way has been Gateshead Council, which spent 15 days researching the subject of salty takeaways before declaring the new five-hole cellars the solution. Officers collected information from businesses, obtained samples of fish and chips, measured salt content and ‘carried out experiments to determine how the problem of excessive salt being dispensed could be overcome by design’.

They decided that the five-hole pots would reduce the amount of salt being used by more than 60 per cent yet give a ‘visually acceptable sprinkling’ that would satisfy the customer. The council commissioned Drywite Ltd – a catering equipment company based in the West Midlands – to make five-hole shakers and bought 1,000 of them at a cost of £2,000, giving them away to fast-food outlets in their areas.

Drywite confirms that it has since received orders for the shakers from at least five other councils, including Rochdale Borough in Greater Manchester.

Another giving the shakers away is Labour-controlled Middlesbrough Council, where the idea has run into fierce criticism.Cllr Chris Hobson, leader of the Conservatives, said: ‘This is just silly, a total waste of money in an area where council tax is very high. I’m all for good health but do they really think they are going to stop people using as much salt simply by putting fewer holes in thecellar? They’ll just shake it for longer.’

Beryl Scott, who owns the Chipchase Chippy in Linthorpe in the city, said a council worker had visited the previous week to explain the merits of less salty fish and chips. ‘He said he had a salt cellar with five holes to give me free.I thought it was a joke. It doesn’t matter how many holes it has, people are going to put on as much salt as they want.’

Another local chip shop owner, Carol Ackerman, who runs Carol’s Plaice in the suburb of Acklam, said: ‘People will just put on more salt if they want more. ‘In fact, we have had some people unscrewing the lids to do so.’ Gateshead Council defended its decision. A spokesman said: ‘Research carried out by us discovered customers were often receiving huge quantities of salt with their fish and chips – up to half their daily allowance. The council was so disturbed it decided to commission a manufacturer to produce a salt shaker with fewer holes, which it distributed free to every fish and chip shop and hot food takeaway in Gateshead. ‘We believe the cost to be a small price to pay for potentially saving lives.’The scheme is being promoted by the Local Authorities Coordinators of Regulatory Services, which is responsible for ensuring councils follow food hygiene rules. A spokesman said: ‘Heart disease costs taxpayers £7billion a year so to say that projects such as this are a waste of money is mind-boggling.’

17 holes?! That seems excessive.

I don’t doubt that increasing the overhead of getting the same ammount of salt would generally reduce the amout used. I believe there have been studies which showed that smaller plates and bowls tend to reduce total consumption of a meal. However, this is simply retarded. If the research they did was so conclusive why not attempt to educate salt providers and consumers? And why did they do research on this in the first place? Isn’t that sort of thing usually done at a national level? Not that I would prefer that. I’d likely be easier to toss out these local busybodies than the national ones.