|
Homeland Security nabs Free Stater from home |
|
|
Tuesday, 01 August 2006 |
Leafleting campaign triggers forced court appearance
From NHfree.com
Keene, New Hampshire
July 31, 7:00 p.m.
For
the third time in the last four days, Keene resident Russell Kanning
finds himself in Federal custody. The 36-year-old libertarian activist
isn't in trouble for selling drugs, threatening officials or
endangering anyone. Instead, he's the target of Federal wrath because
he attempted to enter the Keene IRS office with…a piece of paper.
Last
Thursday, after announcing his intentions publicly, Kanning appeared in
front of Keene's IRS branch wearing overalls and a straw hat, clutching
a pitchfork in one hand and a leaflet in the other. His intent was to
enter the IRS office - sans pitchfork - and hand the leaflet to any
government employees working there.
"I want them to quit
their jobs," he said, referring to the one or two IRS agents who staff
this part-time office on Keene's Main Street. His flyers contain a form
which he is asking IRS agents to sign, pledging they will stop working
for the agency because of what he considers the evil things it funds.
But
Homeland Security agents, as well as some from Immigration and Customs
Enforcement, stood ready to defend this tiny office from the dangerous
flyer. They told Kanning if he attempted to enter the office (situated
above Keene's main postal facility) they would arrest him. Kanning
chatted with them briefly, then informed them he would not be able to
comply with their orders and slowly moved forward toward the IRS
section of the building. Agents then gently cuffed him, transported
him to Keene Police Department and released him.
Kanning then
immediately went back to the IRS office, got arrested again, released
again, and vowed to return for a third visit at noon on August 3. He
also declined to appear in court.
So on Monday, July 31 around 10:30 a.m., Federal agent seized him again, this time inside his home, this time not so gently.
"They
just came in and threw Russell to the ground and took him," says
Kanning’s wife Kat Dillon in a hastily composed web forum message on
NHfree.com.
Dillon says Kanning was transported to the
Federal Building in Concord and forced to appear in court at around 2
p.m. But she says other than the initial roughhousing on the living
room floor, agents have been fairly polite so far
"The guy who
was in charge on Thursday came by...apparently just to chat with me,"
she writes from a friend's computer near the courthouse. "He wanted to
convince me that they weren't the bad guys."
However Dillon says
she is angry that her husband could be arrested simply for trying to
hand a leaflet to a public official on public property.
"In
case it isn't clear," she writes, "the issue is that the federal
government has gone bad...It's imperitive that good people refuse to
cooperate with it."
Kanning is a member of the Free State Project (www.FreeStateProject.org), a nationwide movement aimed at recruiting libertarians to move to New Hampshire.
Events
have moved forward very fast since this news release was composed. You
can read the latest details on the NHfree.com forum at
http://forum.soulawakenings.com/index.php?topic=4640.0
Copies of the Dangerous Leaflet are at
http://www.republicofnh.org/brochure.pdf
Photographs of today's arrest:
http://forum.soulawakenings.com/index.php?topic=4640.0
Photographs of the July 27 arrest:
http://www.soulawakenings.com/underground/tikiwiki/tiki-browse_gallery.php?galleryId=74
Permission is granted to publish them at will.
Contact info: Dave Ridley 603.721.1490, Kat Dillon/Russell Kanning (if freed and available) 603.357.2049 |
|
Last Updated ( Tuesday, 15 August 2006 )
|
News 