Oath Keepers – by Shem Kellogg
Report from boot on the ground:
You may or may not have heard, but activists in New Hampshire have been successful in postponing the City of Concord’s vote to accept a $260K Homeland Security grant to purchase a Lenco BearCat (Ballistic Engineered Armored Response Counter Attack Truck) to thwart domestic terrorist threats, including “sovereign citizens, free staters, and Occupy New Hampshire”
We have just learned that Concord School Board will hold a meeting on Wednesday night to discuss an endorsement of the BearCat. Apparently, Concord’s Chief of Police, and author of the grant application, is trying to rally support for the BearCat by arguing it could be used in school crisis situations.
Only residents of Concord will be able to testify at the school board meeting, but you can expect activists rallying outside with signs that read,
Textbooks Not Tanks
Let [Police Chief] Duval Hold a Bake Sale
It’s not “For the Children”
In the meantime, we’re contacting the members of the Concord School Board and ask that they oppose the BearCAT. If activists are City taxpayers or past, present, or future parents of a child in the school district they are sure to mention that specifically. We are also continuing to contact the City Councilors and write letters to the editor. Here is an excerpt of one letter to the school board:
When you decide whether to send a letter supporting the Concord Police Department’s request to put America another $260,000 in debt, please consider that every dollar borrowed for that purpose can’t be borrowed to keep teachers in the classroom; and every dollar borrowed will weigh down our children’s opportunities to live full and happy lives.
The change we want to see must come from the local level. It is one thing to drive a car saying, “I hope for the day that the school has all the money they need and the military needs to hold a bake sale.” It’s another thing to stand up for your principles.
What kind of message does it send to our students that they are in constant danger at all times of being attacked and that the military industrial complex needs to be built up literally around them?
Why do we want to literally terrorize everyone for a threat that, terrible as it is, is so remote to be almost laughable? Concord is a safe city. New Hampshire is a safe state. According to the National Safety Council, your chances of being killed by lightening are 1:124,000. Your chances of being killed in a terrorist attack are 1:20,000,000.
Please tell the Police Chief that your board is not going to be used as a pawn in this conflict. Better yet, tell him it is a waste of tax dollars and send a message to other towns across the state and nation that we are tired of having our money wasted down rat holes. This is even worse than just burning the money. The attempt is being made to make our community afraid. People that are afraid are easily manipulated.
Watch how easy it is to manipulate people and how terrorism preparation works in a school setting to do just that. Do you think the DHS is a wise steward of our tax dollars? Do you think this is healthy for our children? Do you think this will lead to adults making wise decisions?
Thank you for taking your time to think this important decision through.
We have also organized a petition drive for this weekend with donated prizes for the people with the most signatures: two tickets to the Free State Project’s annual Liberty Forum (over $200 value), OUNCES of silver, bitcoin, books, etc. We will provide the materials and help organize the teams. Volunteers just need to show up. This Saturday, August 24, breakfast meeting to start at 8am at Tandy’s Top Shelf (1 Eagle Square, Concord, NH) and we will be hitting the streets at 8:30am, visiting places like the Farmers Market, Post Offices, Libraries, and even going door-to-door.
The final City Council vote is scheduled for September 9.
http://oathkeepers.org/oath/2013/08/23/concords-bearcat-for-the-children/