Category Archives: Peace Love Art and Activism

Music et al, Peace Love Art and Activism, Today in history

November 29 Peace Love Art Activism

November 29, 2016 Woodstock Whisperer Leave a comment

November 29 Peace Love Art Activism

Native Americans

Sand Creek Massacre

November 29 Peace Love Activism — Robert Lindneaux portrays his concept of the Sand Creek Massacre.

November 29, 1864: 750 members of a Colorado militia unit, led by Colonel John M. Chivington, attacked an unsuspecting village of Cheyenne and Arapahoe Indians camped on Sand Creek in present-day Kiowa County. The militia killed some 300 Indians in the attack, including women and children, many of whose bodies the soldiers had mutilated.

The Sand Creek Massacre, as this incident came to be called, provoked a savage struggle between Indians and the white settlers. Boasting of his victory and downplaying the 10 Army casualties, Colonel John Chivington paraded the body parts of dead Cheyenne and Arapaho through the streets of Denver, reveling in the acclaim he long-sought.

The incident generated two Congressional investigations into the actions of Chivington and his men. The House Committee on the Conduct of the War concluded that Chivington had “deliberately planned and executed a foul and dastardly massacre which would have disgraced the varied and savage among those who were the victims of his cruelty.” [Smithsonian article]

Col. Kit Carson

In 1864 – 1865: Army Col. Kit Carson, directed by Brig. Gen. James Carleton, forced the move of some 9,000 Dineh Navajo from Canyon de Chelly in Arizona to the Bosque Redondo reservation near Fort Sumner, New Mexico. About half the people died in what came to be known as the Long Walk. (see April 9, 1865)

November 29 Peace Love Art Activism

Emma Goldman

November 29 – December 6, 1914: Goldman was scheduled to speak on topics including “War and the Sacred Right of Property,” “The Sham of Culture,” “The Misconceptions of Free Love,” and “The Psychology of Anarchism” in St. Louis, Missouri. (next EG, see Aug 6, 1915 or see EG for expanded chronology)

November 29 Peace Love Art Activism

November 29 Music et al

Paul McCartney Lights His Fire

November 29, 1960: having been told on 1 November that their contract to perform at his Kaiserkeller club was being terminated by owner Bruno Koschmider, The Beatles began moving their belonging to the attic room above the nearby Top Ten Club. At the time The Beatles were staying in the Bambi-Filmkunsttheater cinema, where the accommodation was basic and sanitary facilities minimal. John Lennon and Stuart Sutcliffe had already moved out, and Paul McCartney and Pete Best were to follow. George Harrison had already been deported on November 21.

It was dark as McCartney and Best gathered their belongings in the Bambi Kino. As there were no lights they set lit an object – different accounts mention rags, a wall tapestry, or a condom attached to a nail – in order to see. There was no damage apart from a burn mark on the wall, and the fire eventually extinguished itself on the damp wall. Bruno Koschmider, however, was furious, and told the police that The Beatles had attempted to set fire to the cinema. McCartney and Best were arrested. (see Nov 30)

I Want to Hold Your Hand

November 29, 1963: “I Want to Hold Your Hand” released in UK. There were 700,000 advance orders. (see Dec 1)

Beatles/Come Together

November 29 – December 5, 1969: “Come Together” #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. (see Dec 2)

George Harrison

November 29, 2001: George Harrison died from cancer at age 58.(see May 6, 2004)

LSD

November 29, 2016: based on promising results, the Food and Drug Administration gave permission for large-scale, Phase 3 clinical trials of the drug Ecstacy — a final step before the possible approval as a prescription drug. [NYT article] (see Dec 1)

November 29 Peace Love Art Activism

Black History

Freedom Riders

November 29, 1961: a white mob attacked the Freedom Riders at bus station in McComb, Mississippi. (see Dec 10)

Harlem Revolt

November 29, 1964: the prosecution opened its case against William Epton on charges of trying to overthrow by force the government of New York State.

Assistant District Attorney Joseph Phillips told the jury that Epton had sought to keep the Harlem riots “going and going” to undermine the government. (BH, see Dec 4; RR, see Dec 20)

Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams

November 29, 2012: thirteen officers shot and killed driver Timothy Russell and his passenger, Malissa Williams, after they led police on a 22 minute chase. It started when an officer said the couple fired a gunshot from their car as they drove passed police headquarters downtown. The thirteen officers fired 137 shots, striking Russell 23 times and Williams 24 times. No gun was found in the suspect’s vehicle. (see 137 shots for expanded chronology)

November 29 Peace Love Art Activism

Space Race

November 29, 1961: from Cape Canaveral, NASA launched Enos the chimp aboard a Mercury-Atlas 5 spacecraft, which orbited Earth twice before returning. [Atlantic story] (see February 20, 1962)

Warren investigation

November 29, 1963, President Johnson established a special commission, headed by Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren, to investigate the Kennedy assassination. (NYT abstract) (see September 27, 1964)

November 29 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam

November 29, 1967: Robert S. McNamara announced that he would resign as Secretary of Defense to become president of the World Bank.

Early in November, McNamara submitted a memorandum to Johnson recommending that the United States freeze its troop levels, cease the bombing of the north, and turn over responsibility for fighting the ground war to the South Vietnamese. Johnson rejected these recommendations outright. McNamara subsequently resigned; Johnson adviser Clark Clifford succeeded him. [2017 NYT article] (see Nov 30)

November 29 Peace Love Art Activism

US Labor History

November 29, 1968: New York City teachers strike ended after 36 school days. Pitting union power against the public interest, the strike added to the distrust of organized labor and exacerbated racial tensions. (see April 25, 1969)

November 29 Peace Love Art Activism

Nuclear News

USS Proteus

November 29, 1975: while disabled, the submarine tender USS Proteus (AS-19) discharged radioactive coolant water into Apra Harbor, Guam. A Geiger counter at two of the harbor’s public beaches shows 100 millirems/hour, 50 times the allowable dose. (see January 24, 1978)

North Korea

November 29, 2017: North Korea announced that it had successfully tested its Hwasong-15, a newly developed ICBM that it said could deliver heavy nuclear warheads anywhere in the continental United States. [Guardian article] (NN, see Nov 30)

November 29 Peace Love Art Activism

TERRORISM

Korean Air 707

November 29, 1987: a bomb planted by North Korean agents destroyed Korean Air 707. It was en route from Abu Dhabi to Bangkok All 115 people aboard died. (see July 3, 1988)

John Salvi III

November 29, 1996: on December 30, 1994, John Salvi III had walked into two separate abortion clinics in Brookline, Massachusetts and shot workers with a rifle, killing two receptionists and wounding five other employees.

While awaiting trial, on this date, John Salvi was found dead in his prison cell with a garbage bag over his head tied around his neck. The official report states that Salvi’s death was a suicide. (Women’s Health, see January 16, 1997; Terrorism, see November 12, 1997)

Steven Joshua Dinkle

November 29, 2013: officials charged Steven Joshua Dinkle, a onetime Ku Klux Klan leader, with burning a cross in a mostly black neighborhood in southeast Alabama, federal prosecutors said. Dinkle was indicted on charges of conspiring to violate housing rights; criminally interfering with housing rights; using a fire to commit a felony; and obstruction of justice. Dinkle was the former exalted cyclops of a KKK chapter in Ozark. (see Dec 9)

November 29 Peace Love Art Activism

Dissolution of the USSR

November 29, 1989: in response to a growing pro-democracy movement in Czechoslovakia, the Communist-run parliament ended the party’s 40-year monopoly on power. [NYT article] (see USSR for expanded chronology)

November 29 Peace Love Art Activism

IRAQ War I

November 29, 1990: the United Nations Security Council passed UN Security Council Resolution 678, authorizing military intervention in Iraq if that nation did not withdraw its forces from Kuwait and free all foreign hostages by Tuesday, January 15, 1991. (see January 9, 1991)

November 29 Peace Love Art Activism

Immigration History

November 29, 1990: President George W Bush signed into law the Immigration Act of 1990. Senator Ted Kennedy had introduced the act in 1989. It was a national reform of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965. It increased total, overall immigration to allow 700,000 immigrants to come to the U.S. per year for the fiscal years ’92–’94, and 675,000 per year after that.

It provided family based immigration visa, created five distinct employment based visas, categorized by occupation, as well as the diversity visa program which created a lottery to admit immigrants from “low admittance” countries or countries where their citizenry was underrepresented in the U.S.

Besides these immigrant visas there were also changes in nonimmigrant visas like the H-1B visa for highly skilled workers. There were also cutbacks in the allotment of visas available for extended relatives.The Temporary protected status visa was also created where Congress established a procedure by which the Attorney General may provide TPS to immigrants in the United States who were temporarily unable to safely return to their home country because of ongoing armed conflict, an environmental disaster, or other extraordinary and temporary condition. (Immigration, see July 25, 2008; Temporary Protected Status, see November 21, 2017)

November 29 Peace Love Art Activism

Jack Kevorkian

November 29, 1993: Kevorkian began fast in Oakland County jail for refusing to post $50,000 bond after being charged in the October death of Merian Frederick, 72. (see JK for expanded chronology)

November 29 Peace Love Art Activism

Irish Troubles

November 29, 1999: Protestant and Catholic adversaries formed a Northern Ireland government. (see IT for expanded chronology)

November 29 Peace Love Art Activism

LGBTQ

November 29, 2012: South Lyon, Michigan Board of Education suspended middle-school teacher Susan Lyon for playing Macklemore’s “Same Love” to her class. A student made the request and after asking if the song was violent or had any profanity, the performing arts teacher played it.

Macklemore responded: I believe that Ms. Johnson getting suspended is completely out of line and unjust. However, I think it’s important for moments like these to be exposed and for us to pay attention and respond. This level of intolerance and fear is still very active in America, but at times is not completely visible. This incident is just one of tens of thousands that have happened across the country where schools have exposed a latent homophobia, preventing safe space for all young people to feel confident in being themselves. It’s clear that Ms. Johnson felt bullying and “gay bashing” were issues that needed to be addressed, and by doing so, was punished.

I wrote the song “Same Love,” not with the expectation that it would cure homophobia and lead to marriage equality across the US (although that’d be awesome). It was written with the hope that it would facilitate dialogue and through those conversations understanding and empathy would emerge. This incident demonstrates how too often we are quick to silence conversations that must be had. Even if people disagree, there is far more potential for progress when people are vocal and honestly expressing their thoughts about gay rights. When we are silent and avoid the issue, fear and hatred have a far greater life span.

It’s discouraging that a song about love and civil rights has led to a teacher getting suspended from her job. But that’s where we are at. For those of us who get a pit in our stomach when reading a story like this, it just makes it abundantly clear there is far more work to be done.

School superintendent William Pearson reversed her suspension and reinstated her pay (she had been docked two days’ salary) on December 5. [MD article] (see Dec 5)

November 29 Peace Love Art Activism

Stop and Frisk Policy

November 29, 2013: an analysis by the NY state attorney general, Eric Schneiderman, of nearly 150,000 stop-and-frisk arrests suggested that they netted few serious criminals. According to the report, only 1 in 50 arrests, or 0.1 percent of all stops, led to a conviction for a violent crime; similarly, just 1 in 50 arrests led to conviction for possession of a weapon. Nearly half of arrests resulted in no convictions because authorities never prosecuted, dismissed the case, or gave the case an “adjournment in contemplation of dismissal,” which meant that they dismissed the charge if the person stayed out of trouble for six months or a year. [NYT article] (see Dec 16)

November 29 Peace Love Art Activism

Lynching, Music et al, Peace Love Art and Activism, Today in history

November 28 Peace Love Art Activism

November 28, 2016 Woodstock Whisperer Leave a comment

November 28 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

TERRORISM

November 28, 1871: Ku Klux Klan trials began in US District Court in South Carolina as part of a federal effort to halt growing white violence in the former Confederate states. (see Dec 28)

Dyer Anti-Lynching bill

November 28, 1922: a Democrat filibuster completely deadlocked the US Senate as a result of the Republican attempt to have the Dyer Anti-Lynching bill made the unfinished business of the Senate. Senator Underwood, the Democratic leader, stated that the minority wold filibuster to the end of the session if necessary, adding that so long as the majority persisted in trying to bring the bill before the Senate the opponents of the bill would refuse to permit the consideration of any other legislation. (see Dec 2)

Ernie Davis

November 28, 1961: Ernie Davis of Syracuse University became the first African-American to be named winner of the Heisman Trophy. (see Nov 29)

137 SHOTS

November 28, 2014: nine non-African American Cleveland police officers accused the police department of racial discrimination in the aftermath of the deadly Nov. 29, 2012 chase in a federal lawsuit. The officers—eight white officers and one Hispanic—claim the department has a history of treating non-black officers who shoot black residents “more harshly” than black officers involved in shootings, according to the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court Northern District of Ohio. (see 137 for expanded chronology)

November 28 Peace Love Art Activism

Feminism

Susan B Anthony

November 28, 1872: authorities arrested Susan B Anthony for voting.

Sex in Education

In 1873: in Sex in Education: or, a Fair Chance for the Girls, Harvard professor Edward Clarke predicted that if women went to college, their brains would grow bigger and heavier, and their wombs would atrophy. He based his prediction on the observation that college-educated women had fewer children than non-college-educated women.

Voting Rights

Spring 1873: Susan B Anthony spoke to residents in areas of Monroe County, New York before her trial. At each she stated:

Friends and fellow-citizens, I stand before you under indictment for the alleged crime of having voted illegally. . . We throw to the wind the old dogma that governments can give rights. The Declaration of Independence, the United States Constitution, the constitutions of the several states . . . propose to protect the people in the exercise of their God-given rights. No one of them pretends to bestow rights. . . . One half of the people of this Nation today are utterly powerless to blot from the statute books an unjust law, or to write a new and just one. . . . This form of government, that enforces taxation without representation — that compels [women] to obey laws to which they have never given their consent — that imprisons and hangs them without a trial by a jury of their peers — that robs them, in marriage of the custody of their own persons, wages, and children — [leaves] half of the people wholly at the mercy of the other half.

Following her “prejudic[ing] of any possible jury,” in Monroe County, Anthony’s trial was rescheduled for June 17 and moved to Canandaigua, a town in Ontario County, New York.

By June 16, Anthony had delivered her speech in every village in Ontario County. (see May 7)

November 28 Peace Love Art Activism

INDEPENDENCE DAY

November 28, 1912: Albania independent from Ottoman rule. (see February 13, 1913)

November 28 Peace Love Art Activism

November 28 Music et al

see Are You Lonesome Tonight for more

November 28, 1960 – January 8, 1961: written in 1926, “Are You Lonesome Tonight” by Elvis #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. (see Dec 12)

Leader of the Pack

November 28 – December 4, 1964: “Leader of the Pack” by The Shangri-Las #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

John Lennon

November 28, 1968: John Lennon pleaded guilty of the drug charges, taking sole responsibility in order to protect Yoko Ono, who had recently suffered a miscarriage. He was additionally fearful that if they both fought the charges and lost, Ono may have been deported from the United Kingdom.

During the hearing Lennon’s lawyer, Martin Polden, told the court that Ono had recently lost their baby, which had been a terrible blow to the couple. Additionally, Polden declared that Lennon had renounced drugs after becoming a devotee of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi the previous year, and stressed that the Beatle had “given pleasure to millions” through his music.

The magistrate quashed the charge of obstruction to justice, and fined Lennon £150 plus court costs of 20 guineas. Lennon was also warned that if he was found guilty again of a similar offence he risked a custodial sentence.

Although the judge exercised some leniency, the repercussions of the case continued for Lennon for many years. The conviction was a key factor in the Nixon administration’s efforts to deny Lennon a Green Card for residence in the US. (NYT link) (see Dec 2)

see Palm Beach Pop Festival for more

November 28 – 30, 1969: from a 2009 Palm Beach Post article: Then-Palm Beach County Sheriff Bill Heidtman vowed to make life miserable for the free-loving, pot-smoking, anti-establishment youngsters who were coming to the Palm Beach Pop Festival. He threatened to herd alligators toward the crowd, gathered on a grassy field at the Palm Beach International Raceway. And he promised to dig out fire ant colonies and relocate them at the venue.

The Festival was at a drag strip outside of West Palm Beach. Among others, Grand Funk played three nights also. The show featured Iron Butterfly, King Crimson (Robin Fripp and Greg Lake), Jefferson Airplane, Rotary Connection (Minnie Ripperton), PG&E, Rolling Stones, Vanilla Fudge, Janis Joplin and Her Full Tilt Boogie Band, Johnny Winters, and others.

On the third night, Winters played, then Vanilla Fudge played followed by Janis Joplin. Afterwards, the announcer said, Johnny wants it, Janis wants it, and the Fudge wants one. All three bands came out on stage and jammed. Winters jammed with the guitar players and scatted with Janis.

Wavy Gravy was there in his WW2 pilot helmet or whatever it was, guiding a car backwards trying to help them and backed them into the pond. We’d like to think he knew it was the police in an unmarked car and put them in the pond on purpose since we know he didn’t do drugs. (see Dec 6)

Whatever Gets You Thru The Night

November 28, 1974: when John Lennon was in the studio with Elton John recording “Whatever Gets You Thru The Night”, Elton bet Lennon that the song would be a number one hit. Lennon didn’t think so and told Elton that if it did, he would go on stage with him. The song reached number one.

On this date, Elton John was playing at New York’s Madison Square Garden and being true to his word, Lennon came onstage. They played “Whatever Gets You Thru The Night”, “I Saw Her Standing There” and “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds”. This would be John Lennon’s last concert appearance.

Also that night, while backstage, Lennon saw Yoko Ono after they had been separated for 18 months, a time period Lennon called his “lost weekend” and the 2 soon got back together. (see Dec 29)

November 28 Peace Love Art Activism

The Velvet Revolution

November 28, 1989: known as the Velvet Revolution because of its non-violent nature, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia announced they would give up their monopoly on political power

Elections held in December brought the first non-communist government to Czechoslovakia in more than 40 years. (see Nov 29)

November 28 Peace Love Art Activism

Native Americans

November 28, 1989: the National Museum of the American Indian Act ordered the Smithsonian Institute to return Native American remains to American Indian tribes. (see November 16, 1990)

November 28 Peace Love Art Activism

Fair Housing

November 28, 1990: Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act emphasized home-ownership and tenant-based assistance, launches HOME housing block grant. Low-Income. (see October 28, 1992)

November 28 Peace Love Art Activism

CLINTON IMPEACHMENT

November 28, 1998: Republicans express disappointment and outrage at what some describe as President Clinton’s evasive and legalistic answers to the Judiciary Committee’s questions. (see CI for expanded chronology)

November 28 Peace Love Art Activism

STAND YOUR GROUND LAW

November 28, 2016: JAMA Internal Medicine published a report that gun deaths in Florida had risen sharply since the passage of its controversial “stand your ground” gun law. The report analyzed data from 1999 to 2014 and discovered that homicides in Florida had increased 24.4 percent, while gun-related homicides were up 31.6 percent since the law was enacted in 2005 under then-Gov. Jeb Bush. [Huff Post article] (see June 9, 2017)

November 28 Peace Love Art Activism

Nuclear/Chemical News

Hawaii

November 28, 2017: the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency announced that Beginning December 1, 2017, monthly tests of the statewide warning siren system would include a newly activated Attack Warning Tone, intended to warn Hawaii residents of an impending nuclear missile attack.

North Korea

November 28, 2017: North Korea fired an intercontinental ballistic missile that flew both higher and longer than previous such launches.

US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis expressed concern, emphasizing what he said were technical advances on display in the 53-minute flight.

“It went higher, frankly, than any previous shot they’ve taken,” Mattis said. [NYT article] (see Nov 29)

November 28 Peace Love Art Activism

Peace Love Art and Activism, Today in history

George Maynard v License Plates

November 27, 2016 Woodstock Whisperer Leave a comment

George Maynard v License Plates

On September 29, 1972, the State Supreme Court of New Hampshire issued a decision in the case of State v Hoskin. It concerned two drivers. One “Hoskin hammered out and painted over in white paint the words “Live Free or Die” upon 1971 automobile registration plates issued to him, and that [another] the defendant Ely placed tape over the same words, upon 1971 plates issued to her.

Ely and Hoskin said they were expressing free speech under the first amendment.

The State Supreme court ruled otherwise. It said in part, “Obliteration of the motto tends to defeat the establishment of a uniform number plate system, and is analogous to the offense of mutilation of national coins or currency by obliteration of the national motto, “In God We Trust”.

The ruling also added that, “We also hold lacking in merit the contention that the defendants were deprived of rights under the first amendment to the United States Constitution. ”

End of story? No.

George Maynard v License Plates

George Maynard

George Maynard was a a Korean War veteran and worked as a printer in Vermont. He and his wife Maxine lived in New Hampshire. They were both Jehovah’s Witnesses and viewed the motto on the New Hampshire license plate the motto violated their religious beliefs because it implied that one had to give up his life for the state. To Maynard and Maxine, the only kingdom was God’s kingdom and for this reason they covered up the motto on the license plates of their jointly owned family automobiles.

On November 27, 1974, police issued Maynard a citation for violating the state statutes regarding obscuring of the state motto.

On December 6, 1974 George Maynard appeared in Lebanon District Court (NH) to answer the charge. After waiving his right to counsel, he entered a plea of not guilty and proceeded to explain his religious objections to the motto. The state trial judge expressed sympathy for Maynard’s situation, but considered himself bound by the authority of State v. Hoskin to hold Maynard guilty. The judge fined Maynard $25 but suspended it during “good behavior.” On December 28, 1974, police again charged Maynard was again charged with violating the license plate statute. On January 31, 1975 a judge fined him $50 and sentenced him to six months in prison. The judge then suspended the sentence provided that Maynard pay his fines. Maynard told the judge that as a matter of conscience he would not pay them. The judge then made him serve 15 days in jail.

Before appearing in court for the second charge, Maynard had received a third citation but received no additional penalty.

George Maynard v License Plates

American Civil Liberties Union

March 4, 1975

The Maynards would not stop obscuring the plate and feared additional fines and jail. At the urging of the American Civil Liberties Union, the Maynards sued in the United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire. They sued Neal Wooley, the chief of police in Lebanon, N.H., and the state, alleging a violation of their First Amendment rights. American Civil Union Attorney Richard S. Kohn and New Hampshire attorney Jack Middleton represented the Maynards.

A week later, on March 11, 1975 a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order, preventing further arrests and prosecutions of the Maynards. The case then proceeded to a panel of three federal judges at the district court level.

The three-judge panel also sided with Maynard and issued an opinion in February 1976. The judges determined that the Maynards’ actions qualified as a form of symbolic speech protected by the First Amendment. In that decision they wrote, ““Whatever else may be said about the motto ‘Live Free or Die’, it expresses philosophical and political ideas...[and the] Plaintiffs’ desire not to be aligned with these ideas falls within the ambit of the First Amendment.”

Kohn and Middleton had also pointed out that State vehicle license plates did not carry the motto.

New Hampshire Governor Meldrim W. Thompson ordered the state attorney general David Souter to take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court. Souter, now retired, later became a Supreme Court justice.

George Maynard v License Plates

US Supreme Court

On April 20, 1977, the Supreme Court voted 6-3 in favor of the Maynards. The Supreme Court likened the Maynards’ refusal to accept the state motto with the Jehovah’s Witness children refusing to salute the American flag in public school in the1943 decision, West Virginia Board of Education v. Barnette. In that case the court had ruled that the state had violated the First Amendment by punishing students and their parents for the students’ refusal to salute the flag and recite the Pledge of Allegiance.

“We begin with the proposition that the right of freedom of thought protected by the First Amendment against state action includes both the right to speak freely and the right to refrain from speaking at all,” Chief Justice Warren Burger wrote for the majority in Maynard.

He continued: “Here, as in Barnette, we are faced with a state measure which forces an individual, as part of his daily life indeed constantly while his automobile is in public view to be an instrument for fostering public adherence to an ideological point of view he finds unacceptable.”

George Maynard v License Plates

Court costs and fines

Free Speech v License Plates

The Maynards received no compensation for their victory. The federal district court awarded $21, 000 in fees to Kohn and Middleton, who were working pro bono for the Maynards. The State refused to pay and the lawyers had to get a US Marshall to collect from the State.

The Maynards moved from New Hampshire to Connecticut. There an officer cited them for covering up the “The Constitution State” on their car’s plate. After the Maynards called their lawyer the they heard no more about the citation.

State v Hoskin

George Maynard v License Plates

Update

George and Maxine Maynard by Lauren Chooljian/NHPR

From a 2017 NPR story: George and Maxine are in their mid-80s now. They shuffle around their one story home in Connecticut, where they keep tabs on their neighbors and read the Bible every day.

The Maynards are deeply religious. George’s email address, for example, begins with Daniel_2_44, a Bible verse that George refers to as “God’s promise.”

“He’s gonna crush all the governments of the world, and his government is going to rule by his son Jesus Christ,” George explains. “So that’s my email.”