Tag: New Hampshire

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.

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.

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.

July 5, 2016 Jurors Informed

A fresh new pool of jurors arrived at the Belknap Superior Court on Tuesday July 5th. About 70 received information that the court will not provide but is essential to serving as a juror.

Jurors with time to read some good information.
Jurors with time to read some good information.

A couple of interesting incidents occurred. One gentleman popped open the pamphlet to get an idea of what was inside, he knew what he was looking for and said, ‘oh yeah, I’ll be out soon; they won’t let me on a jury!’ I hope he gets to be foreman. Another older man was leaving as jurors were still arriving, so I asked him why he was leaving. He was dismissed from jury duty because he was over 70 years old. Hmmm, I know judges have a mandatory retirement at 70, I never knew there was a limit for a juror. Maybe we need this for the legislature also?

It was a nice day, only 2 people were not interested in taking a flyer. Well, 3 if I count attorney Sisti, but his hands were full. I should have gotten a picture of his ‘briefcases’, each one was the size of a file box.

We will be back out on July 18th at 9:00 to see if we missed anyone. I suppose a few may have called in their regrets for missing the first day.

May Activities

Spring is here (for real) and it’s time to hit the street. We’ll be doing our second litter pickup, on Sunday the 15th of May. We will start with breakfast at Shooter’s Tavern at 8:00 then hit the road. This will be a pretty quick clean up as we got things looking good last month.

JuryInformationsmallOn Monday May 16 at 8:30 a few of us will be at the Belknap Superior Court to hand out information to jurors. Real crimes have real victims. Unfortunately we have many statutes on the books which prohibit people from mutually consensual activities. In these cases jurors should know they are within their rights to vote their conscience.

Remember that the following Saturday, May 21, is our monthly meeting.  As always, if you’re looking for all things liberty related in New Hampshire check out this calendar.

Spring Cleaning

Spring is here and it’s time to hit the street. We’ll be doing our first litter pickup, on Sunday the 10th. We will start with breakfast at Shooter’s Tavern at 8:00 then hit the road. We are usually done within a couple of hours.

Remember that the following Saturday, April 16, is our monthly meeting and LibertySpot 2016! As always, if you’re looking for all things liberty related in New Hampshire check out this calendar.

Statehouse Activism

Do you want to hold signs for liberty candidates?
Do you want to put out flyers for liberty candidates?
Do you want to vote for marijuana the year decrim finally passes?
Do you want to fill a seat that would otherwise be occupied by an anti-liberty rep?
Do you want to limit government’s influence in your life with the simple push of a button?
Do you want to be a wrench in the works?

If left unfettered, government will always expand, consuming your liberties bit by bit. Are you ready to play a part? …Are you ready to TAKE ACTION?

This is where the revolution begins.

There’s a free lunch, too!

Attend our candidate/campaign Q&A session on Sunday, February 28th, in Meredith at the Grange Hall. If you’d like to learn more about running or volunteering, this is your opportunity to get your questions answered and meet others who are participating in various capacities.

This class is non-partisan; all activists and supporters are welcome.

Sunday February 28th
12:00pm – 2:00pm
Location: Grange Hall, 150 Meredith Center Road, Meredith

Speakers:
– Rep. Mike Sylvia (R)
– Rep. Amanda Bouldin (D)
– Hon. Mark Warden, two-time winner “NHLA Legislator of the Year”
– Merav Yaakov, Chair of Get Involved PAC

Topics:
– Why running for office is the most effective way to restore freedom in our lifetime
– What do I need to do to run for State Rep.?
– What kind of support will I receive?
– What can I do now to prepare?
And more.

The meeting is for:
– Freedom loving people who are thinking about running for office (either party)
– People who want to help candidates

Know someone from the freedom movement who may be interested? Invite them!

FREE LUNCH! **by Gail!
…Even if you are undecided regarding future participation, please come and eat!

For more information call Merav @ 935-8689 or Mark @ 391-2888

September Meeting and Litter Pickup

Looking at the calendar, our monthly meeting falls on the 19th; same time, same place. Speaking of calendars, if you’re looking for all things liberty related in New Hampshire check out this calendar.

We’ll be doing our final litter pickup, before winter comes rolling in, on Sunday the 27th. We will start with breakfast at Shooter’s Tavern at 8:00 then hit the road. We are usually done within a couple of hours.

I’ve added a widget on the right with a feed from the NH Underground forum. If it is set as I tried to do it, it will show posts to the Lakes Region board of the forum. What do you think?