We gathered together at 8:00 for a nice breakfast and caught up on the latest happenings. We hit the road just after 9:00 and made our way to both ends of our stretch of RT 3 in Belmont. We also made a pass through the Lake Winnisquam Scenic Trail. It was pretty warm but we finished before 11:00 to beat the mid-day high temperatures.
Community is people getting together and doing things.
It’s nothing new;
The Laconia Daily Sun reported on the county budget meeting. If one takes the time to read the source documents they will find that the Sun seriously lacks credibility, their spin on the facts could provide material for The Onion.
Here are the real details:
Representative Sylvia’s proposed budget appropriates approximately $400,000 for spending in 2018 over the actual spending of 2017. The reader should observe that the year end spending spree, approaching $150,000, reduced funds available to be returned to surplus. Much of that spending paid for items included in the commissioners’ 2018 budget.
Sylvia’s budget trims $23,211 from the corrections department from their 2017 spending level.
The bloated nursing home budget was reduced by $399,817 from the 2017 spending level.
The sheriff’s department has an increase over 2017 spending by $55,374.
The county attorney receives and increase of $31,854.
The Sun rounded up the cut to county maintenance from $38,954 to $40,000, but who can blame them, we all like round numbers.
Speaking of round numbers, not reported by the Sun, Sylvia rounded up UNH Cooperative Extension to $153,000, B.C. Conservation District to $62,000 and Community Action Program to $48,000.
More fun to come next Monday Jan. 29 at the county complex in Laconia.
The Belknap County delegation met on Monday Jan. 22 to work on the county budget for 2018. The county operates on a calendar year, so beginning on January 1, the county has no appropriations. While the county has long practiced a policy of continuing spending until a budget is finally set (generally in March), there is no authority in the statues which allow such a practice. In fact, the statutes are very clear, with no appropriation the county commissioners can spend no funds from the county treasury.
At the meeting a vote was taken which unanimously rejected the commissioners’ $29 million budget proposal. Another budget proposal, which would have set the budget level with 2017 spending, was also scrapped.
Rep. Sylvia had prepared a budget proposal to offer as a reasonable compromise. His budget kept the property tax increase down to 11%, and allowed for a 1.5% increase in spending for county operations.
Rather than taking a serious look at a well formed budget, Rep. Hout of Laconia, preferred to deploy a stalling tactic, and moved to adjourn the meeting. This irresponsible motion passed, and the delegation departed with no consideration of the lack of appropriations necessary to fund county operations.
This stalling adds another unnecessary meeting for which the taxpayers will shell out $600. Further, the taxpayers face a serious possibility of being forced to pay the legal costs of defending the county commissioners for misappropriating county funds.
Glenn and I enjoyed the relative warming, into the teens, and handed out 45 flyers to potential jurors.
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Ademo has fought for justice for many people over the years. I wish him well in his effort on this day.
Update:
So I’m free for now….. looks like I’ll be representing myself at trial next week.
I refused the states offer to drop one Felony 3 and plea guilty to the other. Then sentencing me to 36 months in prison, suspending that for 6 months in county and three years (or more) of probation.
I am going to go live tonight here on Facebook to share my thoughts and backstory.
My only hope is that a compassionate jury or juror sets me free.
More to come.
Belknap County Superior Court will assemble a new jury pool on January 8, 2018. We’ll be there to distribute some helpful information on the juror’s rights. We’ll be handing out flyers starting at 8:30.
We’ve been out regularly, every other week for each pool, for longer than I can recall. If you’d like to contribute to the effort we’ll be happy to accept a small donation. Bitcoin let’s you send funds with a minor transaction fee. Well that was the idea of Bitcoin. Now SegWit bitcoin cost $20-30 in fees, screw that.
With Bitcoin Cash your transaction fee is less than a dime!
1CMr2FWzj7fTUt8QNTVVZbcwQHEiTg9Lep
bitcoincash:1CMr2FWzj7fTUt8QNTVVZbcwQHEiTg9Lep?label=JuryFlyer&message=JuryOutreach
Thank you for your support!
Belknap County Superior Court will assemble a new jury pool on October 30, 2017. We’ll be there to distribute some helpful information on the juror’s rights. We’ll be handing out flyers starting at 8:30.
We’ve been out regularly, every other week for each pool, for longer than I can recall. We need to restock on flyers. If you’d like to contribute to the effort we’ll be happy to accept a small donation. Bitcoin let’s you send funds with a minor transaction fee. Well that was the idea of Bitcoin. Now SegWit bitcoin cost $2-3 in fees, screw that.
With Bitcoin Cash your transaction fee is less than a dime!
1CMr2FWzj7fTUt8QNTVVZbcwQHEiTg9Lep
bitcoincash:1CMr2FWzj7fTUt8QNTVVZbcwQHEiTg9Lep?label=JuryFlyer&message=JuryOutreach
Thank you for your support!
September 18, 2017 – Another 20 jurors received information on their rights. This was the second trip to the courthouse for this jury pool. On the first outing 40 potential jurors picked up a flyer. This panel will return in another 2 weeks and we’ll be there to see if we missed anybody.
Litter pick-up – July 9, 8:00 a.m.
Jury outreach – July 10, 8:30 a.m.
County meeting – July 11, 7:00 p.m.
Monthly meeting – July 15, 12:00 noon
LRP Beach Day – July 22, 12:00 noon
With the Independence Day celebrations behind us, it will be time to tidy up after the parties. We’ll start with a breakfast at Shooter’s Tavern at 8:00 then hit the road. We had a great turn-out for our last clean up and the job was done quickly. A couple of the regulars will be away so please make an extra effort to come out and give us a hand. We are usually done within a couple of hours. We will also be making a pass through the Lake Winnisquam Scenic Trail.
A new jury pool will be starting their service on July 10. We continue the year with Rights Brigade in a juror information blitz.
We will greet jurors at the Belknap Superior Court in Laconia at 8:30 with a nice pamphlet loaded with information that the court will not provide to them.
“If the jury feels that the law under which the defendant is accused is unjust … or for any reason which appeals to their logic or passion, the jury has the power to acquit, and the courts must abide by that decision.”
The jury pool is scheduled to return on Monday July 24 at 9:00, and Monday August 7 at 9:00. We will start a half hour before the jurors are scheduled to arrive. At times the jury is dismissed from the secondary dates in the event that trials are postponed. Call the court (1-855-212-1234) to check on the status prior to coming out on July 24 and August 7.
Jury duty dates and times.
The Belknap County Delegation will meet to appoint a County Attorney to replace Melissa Gulbrandsen as she has resigned to take a judgeship with the court system.
Our monthly meeting continues; same time, same place! The Lakes Region Porcupines meet on the third Saturday of each month. We meet at noon at the New Hong Kong Buffet in Belmont, NH. We usually meet in the room behind the entrance. We often have a dozen folks come for the meeting and discuss a variety of liberty issues. This is an informal and casual get together.
LRP Beach Day is coming up on Saturday July 22 at Ahern State Park.
The 3rd Annual LRP Beach Day BBQ and fundraiser goes to the dogs! Super Doge Activist Lola the Wonder Dog has taken over this event and is ensuring that our four legged friends have a beautiful day in the sun and surf.
As such, this year our proceeds benefit Lakes Region Humane Society and all dogs are welcome at Ahern State Park!
Please note, dogs are welcome to bring their humans along for burgers and potato salad!
All we ask is a small donation of $10 per eating adult. Kids eat for half price. If you feel that you can’t afford to eat with us, we still ask that you come along and if you feel up to it, drop a few bucks in the hat. Save up now, as you’ll regret not sampling some of Glen Aldrich’s World Famous Potato Salad!
Let us know that you are coming through Eventbrite, so we’ll have plenty of food. We’re looking forward to seeing you!
My friend, John Connell, was alway quick to distinguish the difference between a jury and a juror. A jury being the group which had the power to acquit the person falsely accused of a crime, the juror as an individual with the power to stand upon his or her conscience could bring a mistrial.
The juror has a conscience, the jury can only have a consensus. These are very different things and our right to conscience is protected in our New Hampshire Constitution:
I often stand outside the Belknap Superior Court to hand out flyers with the above quotation from the NH Constitution printed mildly on the back. I find it unfortunate that I feel the need to deliver this information to potential jurors. In a perfect world the juror would have received this critical civics lesson as part of their education long before they were called to jury duty. In a better yet still imperfect world, one might hope that the information I distribute would be included in the court’s orientation given to the juror.
As a New Hampshire State Representative serving on the judiciary committee, I can assure you the Court is absolutely opposed to having jurors know their rights. They have built an efficient system for processing those accused; offering plea deals and shielding jurors from the complexity of statutory language. I have heard a quip, ‘due process has become do process’. The courts now ‘do process’ in order to get results, instead of giving due process in order to get justice.
On this cool September morning as I handed information out reinforcing the rights which are protected by our Constitution. I watched with bitter irony as those good citizens walked up the stairs to the courthouse to stand in line to be searched before being allowed to enter their building.
As if it were not bad enough that our justice system is bent on ‘doing process’ with uninformed jurors, they deliver one more message before you may enter into service of the government; you have no right to be free from search, you can not be trusted, you will do as you are instructed. This all seems to stand as a barrier to the person of conscience. It is little wonder that those accused will accept a plea deal as opposed to facing a jury which has made it through the processing. Peers?
Note: While the judicial system has lost sight of its primary mission, there are good people in the court. This is also highlighted in the flyers I distribute which includes a quotation from Belknap Superior Court Judge James O’Neill. 
