Defend Myrtle Woodward and Her Family!

[Russell Kanning]

Racist Southerners thought it was wrong.
It seems to me the truth of the message is more important than the actual messenger.

[Dave Ridley]

Final version sent today via his e-mail:
kschultz@town.hampton.nh.us


----

Dear Mr. Schultz:

I've read about your dispute with Barbara Burbank and her family, as well and the coming storm of protest that is expected to result.   In these remaining days of calm, before the fight becomes more personal and positions calcify...before events spin out of the control of their would-be masters and media attention becomes a media spotlight...

I beseech you to consider these thoughts.

In America most of us hold - or held at one time - beliefs both common and hurtful, widely accepted yet morally wrong.  Before the Revolution it was a belief in the divine right of kings.  During the civil rights struggle it was a faith in racial superiority. Today it is the assumption that government exists, in part, to protect individuals from themselves...that it should be able, with relative ease, to inject itself into our homes, dividing up loving families in the name of protecting them.   This view affects almost everyone in the state to some degree, not just Hampton residents. 

Holding such a belief doesn't make one a bad person, just as racism didn't make its every subscriber a devil.   But the belief is wrong nevertheless, destined to generate eventual resistance when imposed.   And you are about to impose it one time too many, in a manner more harsh than a free people can bear.   

Winston Churchill once said: "Never give in...except to convictions of honor or good sense."

Despite what folks are starting to say...I am sure you have both.  And it is never wrong, never craven...to give in to either.   Men like Fidel Ramos, Oscar Schindler and Mikhail Gorbachev did this in their time, and history has rewarded them.   

Sometimes people in positions of power step back and take a breath, a soul-searching look at themselves and their purpose.  Usually it happens because a people simply stand before them and tell them they are wrong.  The wise official listens to these discomforting pleas and acts upon them while there is still time, before conflict sears his name into history as a synonym for injustice.   

I urge you to display greatness, to do - roughly speaking - what General Ramos did in the Philippines when he declined to fire on his people during the '85 revolution.

There are probably a hundred honorable ways out of this kind of dispute, known better to you than to me. None of them involve bankrupting or evicting 95-year-old women and their families.   None of them involve large fines, either.

You have a great deal of power.  I ask you to prove you have a sense of honor big enough to match it.

Feel free to give me a call or e-mail before the 25th if you want to discuss this; I'm eager to know if there's something I'm missing or some reason why you should not be the focus of this resistance. Though not a primary organizer of it, sometimes people listen to me.

Yours,

(gave him my phone number)

[Russell Kanning]

So who is going to be able to attend the event on the 25th?

[Lloyd Danforth]

ME!
280 mile round trip.

[rothamerica]

Can we give Lloyd another star? 

[Kat Kanning]

How about that instead? 

[Russell Kanning]

So who else is going to make it? Are there other groups that are going to be there like the Coalition of NH taxpayers?

[Dave Ridley]

Ok let's see here...How about we game this out a little bit and make sure we've thought through what may happen *after* the protest and think about what each of us may want to do then.   

If things go badly for the Burbanks in court...what do we do?

If they go well what do we do?

If the results are mixed, how would we handle that?

If there is an unanticipated result...what should the reaction be?  Presumably these could include delays in the hearing, a postponement of the decision, a secret deal...

Having said that...here are some brainstorms for more things we could do, any of which would hopefully be entertaining for the public.

1) Have a bake sale or flea market sale to benefit the Burbanks.

2) Make a replica of the "condemned building" sign Schultz put on the Burbanks' garage.   Put Schultz's address on it instead of Myrtle's.  Place it in front of his yard (i.e. on the right of way...maybe on a stick). 

3) Show up in front of the building inspector's house with a bulldozer. 

No one should trespass on private property, though, I think that would be wrong.  I'd tend to think media should be invited to whatever we do...and always try to be kind to them!  Not overhelpful, just kind.  Always good to make video and still pic record of events...Kira is great at the stills but video is important too.  If word leaks out about a controversial protest beforehand...no sweat, that will just draw more attention to whatver it is we're about to do.   

Before doing anything in his neighborhood it would be a good idea to meet some of the people who live there and be up front with them about what we're planning.  They may not like it but at least if we meet them in person first they won't be as freaked out later. 

For for what it's worth, personally I do not like the idea of crossing into civil disobedience anytime soon.  That is something you do to attract media attention and for now we're already accomplishing that.  If it works don't fix it.   Maybe someday when the media is bored with lawful stunts then civil dis becomes a wise course.  I'm just speaking for myself; I realize individuals may do their own thing but that is just my thinking.   I like the idea of leaving room for improvement, room for escalation.  This is street theater not street war...

[Dave Ridley]

80% chance I will be there.

[AlanM]

I'll be there!!!

[Russell Kanning]

We need to start planning where and when we want to meet and such. Do we have a more local person than me (like Alan M.) who can scope out the location and that sort of thing? It would be good to have a definite meeting place set up way ahead of time.

[AlanM]

We need to start planning where and when we want to meet and such. Do we have a more local person than me (like Alan M.) who can scope out the location and that sort of thing? It would be good to have a definite meeting place set up way ahead of time.

The Courthouse is off by itself, not in a downtown location. If most people will be coming to Brentwood via Rt. 101, a possible meeting spot is McDonald's, right off 101 at the intersection of Rt. 125.

[Kat Kanning]

Sounds good.

[AlanM]

The courthouse is definitely a possibility.

[Russell Kanning]

Can you scope the courthouse out? I am thinking we could possibly do our event inside also. If there are not a lot of people to see us outside then why not be inside. We are just peaceful citizens. I don't see any reason we would be barred from being in the building.
But if we have to be outside, them maybe having a place to meet like the McDonalds would be good.