May Activities

Jury outreach – May 15, 8:30 a.m.
Monthly meeting – May 20, 12:00 noon
Litter pick-up – May 21, 8:00 a.m.
County meeting – May 22, 7:00 p.m.

A new jury pool will be starting their service on May 15. We continue the year with Rights Brigade in a juror information blitz.

JuryNoticeMayJune2017We 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 Tuesday May 30 at 9:00, and Monday June 12 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 dated in the event that trials are postponed. Call the court (1-855-212-1234) to check on the status prior to coming out on May 30 and June 12.

Jury duty dates and times.

our meeting placeOur 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.

WinnisquamTrailIt’s time for our spring cleaning. We’ll start with a breakfast at Shooter’s Tavern at 8:00 then hit the road. We are usually done within a couple of hours. We be making a pass through the Lake Winnisquam Scenic Trail.

The Belknap County commission continues to claim they do not have enough money to run the county and are asking for a supplemental appropriation. If your taxes are not high enough, stay home. If you think you’re already paying enough, come out and show your support for the representatives that are taking the heat for actually trying to limit government.

Belmont Curiosity

I moved to Belmont in the spring of 2012 when I bought a piece of land here. Belmont is mostly a bedroom community at the crossroads of RT 106 and RT 140 located just south of Laconia.

Rt106MillionAlong the side of RT 106, set back just a bit off the road, is an old building that you could drive past a hundred times and not take notice. It looks like a windowless steel warehouse.

The curious thing about this old building is the faded and weather worn lettering on the side. It reads: MILLION DOLLAR SHOW.

MILLION DOLLAR SHOW
MILLION DOLLAR SHOW

I’ve had a story in my mind about what this building housed back in the day and I’ve always meant to ask the locals about it. And I finally remembered to ask at the town election recently.

In my mind the story was that it was a strip club or Burlesque show; isn’t that obvious? I got a little chuckle from the selectman as he explained, no it was a museum of armor and arms.

Because it existed prior to the internet age there isn’t a lot of information about the place. I did find a couple of references.

Schuller family exhibited it in 'The Million Dollar Show.'
Schuller family exhibited it in ‘The Million Dollar Show.’

At the Glenbow Museum site is this photo of the owners.

A bit more of the history was found at Jan’s Antiques.com

The Glenbow Museum’s extensive collection of militaria and European decorative art was assembled by Lucie and Joachim Schuller. The Schullers used their personal collection of family heirlooms, augmented by auction and private purchases, to build a first-rate collection during the first half of the 20th century. In the early 1950’s, their collecting culminated in the opening of the Schuller Museum of Art and Chivalry, first near Belmont, and later near Laconia, New Hampshire. The Schullers marketed the collection as “The Million Dollar Show”, and advertised “The Largest Collection of Japanese Armour on Exhibition in the World”. Wishing to preserve their life’s work of collecting, they sold the collection to the Riveredge Foundation in 1973 and the museum was moved to Calgary.

Since the museum closed down it has been serving as a warehouse and the selectman thought it might soon be up for sale. It makes me wonder if it wouldn’t be the perfect home for the Church of the Sword.

March Jury Outreach

March 2017 Jury NoticeA new jury pool will be starting their service on March 20. 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 April 3 at 9:00, and Monday April 17 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 dated in the event that trials are postponed. Call the court (1-855-212-1234) to check on the status prior to coming out on April 3 and April 17.

Jury duty dates and times.

January Jury Outreach

Jury InformationA new jury pool will be starting their service on January 9. We start a new year and join 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.”

For this January 9th selection we’ll need a little extra help on hand. There is a county meeting that will take away one of our regulars, so drop a comment here if you can assist. We’ll be sure to get pamphlets in your hands to distribute.

The jury pool is scheduled to return on January 23 at 9:00, and February 6 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 dated in the event that trials are postponed. Call the court (1-855-212-1234) to check on the status prior to coming out on January 23  and February 6.

Jury duty dates and times.

Year End Gathering

UPDATE: Sunday January 1, 2017 at 7:00 p.m. We’re getting a head count so comment below to let us know that you’re coming and the number of seats!

We have been busy with the hugely successful LRP Toy Drive and getting ready for Christmas and you may have noticed the New Hong Kong was closed for our regular monthly (we jumped over to Dunkin so there was a limited meeting). We’d like to gather the tribe for a year end holiday celebration at Frattelo’s in Laconia and are working out the date:

You can vote in the comments, I promise to check regularly :)
You can vote in the comments, I promise to check regularly 🙂

Check back here or the FakeBook to see what we come up with.

 

 

November Meeting

our meeting placeNovember 19 is our monthly meeting.  As always, if you’re looking for all things liberty related in New Hampshire check out this calendar.

We will get an update on the Lakes Region Porcupines Toy Drive .

Remember that Shire Sharing is also busy this weekend assembling and delivering Thanksgiving dinners around the state.

Meet the Candidates

One of our member from Northfield requested some information on Republican candidates in the area. We put out the call and have organized an event to get to know more of the locals. Therefore; Lakes Region Porcupines are pleased to host your local Republican candidates for a meet & greet. Ask questions, enjoy refreshments, make connections. Hope to see you there!

Monday Oct. 24th from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at 5 Park Street, Northfield.

The Juror

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:

NH Constitution from Jury Information flyer.
NH Constitution from Jury Information flyer.

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.

Mike at Belknap Superior Court
Mike at Belknap Superior Court

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. O'Neill quote

Lake Winnisquam Scenic Trail

A few photos starting from Leslie Roberts Beach end heading south toward Osborn’s Agway.

WOW – It’s A Trail

It’s a brand new section of trail in Belmont which runs from Osborn’s Agway to the Route 3 By-pass. There is an Opening Celebration on September 17, which happens to be the day of our meeting. Come join us at 10:00 for the opening and meet some of the dedicated locals who have been working on getting the trail built.

We (me and anyone who wants to join in) have offered to extend our litter pickup to make a pass along the trail. Look for an opportunity to go through prior to opening day. Drop a comment if there is a convenient date for you.

Lake Winnisquam Trail Opening Flyer

And remember our regular monthly meeting is at noon at the New Hong Kong Buffet just off Rt. 3.