Keene Activist May Be Jailed Tomorrow Morning 8/15 Over a U-Turn!

[money dollars]

Anyway, each day he spends in jail counts as $50 toward the fine....

IUT
  $   77.00
 
Two days in jail should cover it.

You mean you can cause them expense instead of the other way around?

Schweet...

I have been advocating that around here for a while...

[Russell Kanning]

Aren't rules of the road a bit further down on the list than rent-seeking licensing systems and the like?  What's the background of this situation?

maybe 4 u but this is what dave is dealing with

[Francois Tremblay]

Please do explain exactly how making a U-turn in and of itself is "dangerous."

[KBCraig]

99% of no u-turn signs are totally arbitrary and bullshit.  Market roads would respond to demand.  Uturns may be mostly allowed and yields may replace most stop signs.

Absolutely. The percentage of "totally arbitrary and bullshit" stop signs is probably a little lower. Let's call it 90%. But those 90% should be yield signs, because any driver slowing to approach the intersection can see perfectly well whether any traffic is coming.

I go through three stop signs every day on my way to work. The first, at the end of my street, is right after a curve, so I'm only going about 15mph as I approach it. The stop sign is at a right angle "T" intersection, so I have to slow to about 5mph just to turn the corner. But between the curve and the point where I have to start slowing for the stop sign, I can see all the way to the end of that street (big yards in this neighborhood). In the 13 years I've lived here, the only times I've come to a complete stop there, were when the state trooper who used to live on that corner was standing in his yard.

The next stop sign is about 150 yards further, where I have to make a left turn onto a 4 lane commuter artery. The intersection is in a curve, and giant shrubbery to the left forces me to creep out just to see if traffic is coming around the curve from the left. I've never not stopped at this sign!

The last stop sign is somewhere in between. The visibility approaching it is even better than the first sign, but the traffic is almost as heavy as the second one, so I usually have to stop.

So in my daily commute the "totally arbitrary and bullshit" stop signs are 33%. In my other daily travels, where I don't go through that one intersection, I'd say it's easily 90%+ in the "totally arbitrary" category, and should be yield signs.

[Kat Kanning]

From what I understand, he did it late at night when there was basically no one else on the road.  Not what I'd call dangerous.

[Russell Kanning]

i have no interest in telling dave how to drive or back it up with government force.

and since i dont like or trust the gov ... i hopedav sticks it to the man

[Ron Helwig]

A good friend of mine was working as a taxi driver and late one night he had a belligerent drunk in his taxi. The drunk was causing problems (I don't have the details, but imagine someone trying to grab the steering wheel etc.) so when he saw a cop car, he made a quick U-turn to get the cop's help. The cop gave him a ticket for the u-turn which caused him to lose his taxi job, which caused him to have to drop out of college for a while.

[Caleb]

Update:  We were there with camaras. (Ian, Lauren C., Lauren R., Dave Krauss, and Me. They (the bailiff) "asked" me not to film since I don't have a tripod.  Ian got film though. 

Dave was called first. The judge said, "You're here for an unpaid traffic fine."  Dave said, "Yes, I am unable to pay because I am morally opposed to extortion."  The judge said, "Ok, you're free to go. We'll handle this in the usual manner."  Afterwards we hung outside the court for a while and a couple people came up and wanted to either thank Dave, or else ask him what he meant.

[Dave Ridley]

who is this dave guy?

great job backing him up altho i would like 2 kno more about what he did and didn't do.

[FTL_Ian]

Interesting Observation:

I have now shot video in this district courtroom twice.  Once for Russell and now once for David Manning.  Both times the cases were called first.  Why are they doing this when they could be making us wait all day?  Instead of marginalizing us and putting us at the very end of the docket when there's no one else in the courtroom, they are hearing our people first in front of the full crowd...


Also, Caleb was not allowed to film because he did not have a tripod or a press badge, which validates my belief that these government guys really respond to perceptions of authority.  While neither Caleb or I were dressed professionally, I had the homemade press badge on a lanyard and the tripod so therefore I appeared "official".

Finally, there was a very uncomfortable situation where Caleb and I were asked to meet with the judge in a private room.  Lance, the very friendly police officer asked us to sit down at a table and when the judge came in perhaps out of habit Lance said, "All rise."  Normally if I were to simply be an observer in the courtroom, I would not rise.  In this case I was a little torn as I did not want to jeopardize my ability to video the proceedings.  Caleb and I sort of looked at each other and began to get up maybe a few inches off our chairs, but then sat back down again looking confused.  The whole situation is a bit of a blur and I don't even recall if we said anything, but Lance started to indicate that we didn't really have to, so we didn't.  Perhaps Caleb can remember little bit more detail than I can.

[Dave Ridley]

who's the judge

[FTL_Ian]

No clue... he's the same guy that did Russell's trial.

[Caleb]

blake

[Recumbent ReCycler]

I am unable to pay because I am morally opposed to extortion

I'm going to have to remember that one.  Next month I have to go to the Westfield (MA) District Court for a speeding ticket I got back in January.  I don't know why it took so long for them to schedule my hearing.  If they find me "responsible", I don't think I will be able to afford to pay the ticket because I have been laid off for most of the summer.  I'm not even sure if I'll be able to afford to renew my drivers license or vehicle registration this month.

[error]

The judge said, "Ok, you're free to go. We'll handle this in the usual manner."

What the hell does that mean?