Thankfully the New Hampshire Judiciary is protecting us from illegal couch placing activities.
Ian Freeman, a “free radio” host in NH, got cited for having a couch in his yard, apparently as part of a Halloween display. He’s a libertarian type, or “liberty activist” as they seem to prefer to be called, and refused to pay the fine. He was ticketed based on a complaint and said he’d remove the couch if he could talk to the person who made the complaint. It seems he was upset at the instinct to run to the government (“men with guns”) instead of just talking to him directly.
The article has the details but the whole courtroom proceeding seems to be quite a debacle. The police were stacked in the courtroom to balance a number of expected liberty activities, who were warned in advance that they’d get a smackdown if they didn’t rise for the judge. Courtrooms were changed, spectators barred, and ultimately this radio guy end up with a few 30-day jail sentences.
The article suggests that code violation enforcement is on the rise in response to falling municipal revenues. Seems like the perfect opportunity for cities to start trimming the fat and cutting services. Let’s put conservatism in action!
I don’t know the particulars of this story and that article comes from “Free Keene” which leans towards the liberty activist view. Their presentation of it sounds like the judge had an axe to grind but for all I know he was simply adjudicating the law and attempting to protect the integrity of his courtroom.
As for the code forbidding the placing of couches on lawns, this seems to be a straight up issues for citizens. Get the councilmen to amend the code to exclude holiday decorations or repeal it outright. It does seem onerous to be told what you can and can’t put on your lawn, but I’ll bet donuts to dollars that the ordinance was put in place to deal with irresponsible jerks who throw old furniture off the front porch to be infested by vermin and cause a health hazard. So you can argue a libertarian position on this, but it breaks down after just one person fails to uphold their part of the bargain. How does a libertarian deal with those who don’t carry their own weight? Vigilantism?
This story is sure to have legs as the Freeman’s got a radio show and one with an uncensored, free topic call-in format. We’ll see what happens.