| Russell is free as of a couple weeks ago. He never paid their fines or made any promises, sentenced to time served.
Viva Russell Kanning!
Here is an article I wrote about it in the Keene Free Press before he was released
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04/27/07
I pulled 3 silent demonstrations for Russell in bureaucrat lobbies today and yesterday. Yesterday I did Keene District Court for about an hour and among other things got a chance to hand one of my pro-Russell flyers to Mayor Blastos. He said he'd read it. No one tried to kick me out but they did try real hard to ignore me; this included lowering the blinds on their teller windows. One bureaucrat came out and told me he isn't involved in this, and neither are the people who run court that tried Russell!
Today when I went to the jail to demonstrate they said *they* are not involved, and I should protest at the courts! At the jail, they didn't tell me to leave but they did call the state troopers, and apparently told *them* I was refusing to leave. The trooper who showed up threatened to arrest me and went so far as taking out his handcuffs. He's also banned me from returning to that jail property for as long as I shall live (I and my children and my children's children LOL). He finally asked me to leave. However he did read the flyer and kept it; he also showed a reasonable degree of patience once my pokey departure process got underway.
Before he arrived, I basically just demonstrated for the cameras in the little hallway leading to the lobby, and then went out side and showed the sign to prisoners via their windows. Got a lot of thumbs up and furious knocking on the windows.
Earlier today I did about an hour inside Keene Police Dept. They mostly ignored me, and read the flyers.
My flyer:
Dear folks at Cheshire Co. Jail, Keene District Court and KPD:
I have the right to remain silent. Do you have the right to question your orders?
On April 10 and in the days following, this institution was responsible for arresting and/or jailing Keene resident Russell Kanning, on the charge of driving without government "papers."
In today's hyper-controlled society, that's a controversial thing for him to do. But is it wrong? Do you have some reason to believe he or his actions are a threat to others? If not, how many dangerous people has your institution allowed to run free, while it cages or otherwise torments a man who is standing on principle?
If you are ordered to seize a harmless man like him and remove him from his family, is it right to comply? If so, is it right to comply unquestioningly?
Is it right to place him, or to indirectly assist others in placing him, into a concrete or steel box? Does the existence of a law automatically justify enforcing it? Is it right to try and force Russell to bow down before a licensing regimen he believes is morally wrong?
What are you personally doing to mitigate this institution's actions against Russell? Are you expressing concern to anyone, either openly or anonymously?
Is the power to license the power to destroy? Are you comfortable being part of the destruction? If history remembers Russell - and there are indications it may - how will it remember the part you played in his detention?
Respectfully yours,
Dave Ridley
NHfree.com
My sign:
"Is it right
to detain
Russell Kanning
NHfree.com" |