Free Lauren Rally, outside her jail

[Pat K]

Good job guys.

[Tom Sawyer]

Good job guys.

Sorry you weren't able to make it Pat. Hope your family stuff works out.

[Pat K]

Thanks it sucks, missed all you guys.

[Kat Kanning]

So yesterday we showed up about 11:15 and a bunch of people were already there - Roger, Elizabeth, William, Dave, Tony, Mike (the polish guys) and Jim, of course.  New London people started showing up soon after that.  A group marched around the fence perimeter (probably freaking the guards out ) while Kira and I headed out to the entrance with sign / flag.  Eventually everyone wound up by the entrance.  From New London, I knew Doug Schwartz and Michael Cristafaro, but there were many others. 

We were out there quite a while before the jail gaurds (otherwise known as "screws") came out to instruct us.  The butch screw lady asked for our leader, so I said I was, since I organized the rally.  She gave me a bunch of instructions she wanted me to agree to, but I didn't really want to talk to her, so didn't say anything for a long time.  When she was good and frustrated at trying to get an answer out of me, I said "It was nice meeting you."  She stomped away and decided that she'd try Elizabeth as an easier mark, complaining to her that I was being "uncooperative".  All I heard was Elizabeth giving her hell that she could very well take care of her own child and didn't need butch-screw-lady telling her how to do it.   The other big male screw took down the No Eminent Domain Abuse sign that Mike had put up over one of the jail signs.  He wouldn't give it back when asked by a couple of people.  Roger got kinda into a hot discussion about it with the screw guy and wound up telling him loudly, "You may be a big shot thug inside there, but you're nothing out here" or something like that.  The two screws left rather unsatisfied with the interaction. 

After a while two cop cars from East Lyme came.  They were nice guys and were interested in what the protest was about.  We had a nice chat about eminent domain and Lauren.  They didn't try and tell us to do anything. 

Then the state police came.  The large male thug state police guy wanted to talk to the leader and insisted on separating me out alone - wouldn't let Dave hear the conversation.  He wanted to tell me what to do.  I mostly just smiled and nodded.  We did a little bit of what they wanted, but not much.  While I was away, Kira was sitting on the guard rail and this same large male thug started yelling at her to get on the back side of the rail.  She gave him the "is someone talking?" treatment and didn't acknowledge his existence.  Elizabeth said he got really mad and "charged her" lecuring her some more.  Eventually she just got up and wandered off without acknowledging him   At one point, large male thug was harassing Elizabeth and telling her that he served in three tours of duty, and how many had she served in?  She pointedly agreed that he did indeed have a "bigger one" than her (which I found very funny).  State police thugs eventually left and we continued what we'd been doing all along.  For a while, there were 4 state police cars and two East Lyme cop cars making quite a disturbance.

Later the channel 3 guy came and interviewed a couple people, took some footage. 

We stayed until about 3:00.  While we were leaving, a lady met us in the parking lot and asked us about what we'd been doing.  We told her the story and she said, "This country is getting scarier all the time."  She seemed to want to take action, so I told her about the Free State Project.  She also told us that she'd been an official observer for prisoner abuses in York Prison.  She'd interviewed inmates to find out how they'd been treated, and I guess found out some nasty stuff.   I had the impression it was quite a few years ago, though. 

It was a good day, with I guess about 19 people there in all.  Several people pulled over to talk to us, and we got a lot of honks/thumbs-up from the signs.

[Russell Kanning]

Next time we should bring Bill Grennen so he can be our spokesman. They are always looking for "our leader". Maybe we should have told him that Max and Seth tell us what to do.

[FrankChodorov]

Next time we should bring Bill Grennen so he can be our spokesman. They are always looking for "our leader". Maybe we should have told him that Max and Seth tell us what to do.

I am an individualist anarchist - I don't believe in an illegitimate authority not made legitimate via consensus.

Eminent domain would not be needed in an economic rent sharing scenario.

[Kat Kanning]

You could explain all that to the police in great detail.  It would be doing us a great service.   

[Tom Sawyer]

Nice report Kat.

We always come away from these things feeling better. It was really great to have a chance to have an effect on folks.

We are also learning more about how to handle ourselves in these situations... remaining in a good humor and just plain ignoring bullies seems to be very effective. We talked most of the way home about what we learned.

I agree we can have you as our spokesman 'Frankie Boy'... besides I never voted for Kat to represent ME! I like the idea of a person dressed as a mime being our leader... talk to our leader, oh he can't talk to you only mime.

[Lloyd Danforth]

The next time they ask you for your leader everyone mutter,"Shorty."  Then look behind and next to you.  "Where the Hell did Shorty go?"

[Kat Kanning]

I like the idea of the Polish guys representing us...then they can speak only Polish with the cops.

[Kat Kanning]

Here's the article about it for the paper:

Supporters rallied for Lauren Canario in CT on Sunday.  Canario was arrested on 9/22 for sitting on the porch of a friend's house reading a book.  The home had been seized by the City of New London and the court case went all the way to the Supreme Court in the case Kelo vs. New London.  The Court ruled that cities and states could seize people's homes and give the property over to corporations, such a Pfizer, who initiated the Kelo theft. 

Lauren moved to New London to help the Kelo folks protect their homes.  She was sitting there that morning for the same reason - to protect property rights for all of us.  Since the Kelo decision, private property around the nation has been endangered.  Lauren knew that we can't wait for politicians to fix the problem - they're creating the problems.  So she took direct action.  Now she's in jail for a month, at least, and being forced to have a psychiatric exam for her refusal to speak to her captors. 

Kelo happened because of our inaction.  When enough people refuse to cooperate with evil government decisions, they will have to temper the evil they're doing.  It will take action from all of us.  No one person can make it happen, but the combined effort of many can do so.  If each person does what little they have in their power to do, the cascading effect can be phenomenal.  Lauren did her part and she suffers in prison now for it.  We, too, can do a little to stem the tide of evil government.  About 20 supporters held signs outside her jail on Sunday for 4 hours, asking for her release and bringing attention to the eminent domain injustice in New London, and around the county.  Kat Kanning is fasting for Lauren's release.  She began fasting  the evening of Friday the 13th and plans to continue until Lauren's release.  There are many little things that can be done to help:  Write Lauren a letter, write a letter to the editor for your local paper, or for a New London paper, attend a rally, speak up when eminent domain is proposed in your town.

To write to Lauren, send your letters to:

Lauren Canario #334457
c/o York Correctional Institution
201 West Main Street
Niantic, CT 06357

[Tom Sawyer]

Damn Kat that is superbly written.

Thank you.

[Kat Kanning]

 

[KBCraig]

You could explain all that to the police in great detail.  It would be doing us a great service.   

Oh, great... now I'm going to have to go read it.

...

You're right. It would be a great service. It would keep Frank and the police busy for quite some time.

[Kat Kanning]

I just watched the raw footage from the rally...some really good stuff, Roger!  I liked Jim's interview especially.  The music during the slideshow was nice