“Robin Hood” Slapped With Lawsuit in NH Community
The New Hampshire Robin Hooders have proven that parking tickets have more to do with justifying jobs than protecting the public.
The residents of Keene, New Hampshire fought back by creating a band of merry men and women modeled after Robin Hood in Sherwood Forest who appear from nowhere to save the day for overtime parked cars.
The citizens, who call themselves “Robin Hooders,” insert money into the meters and leave cards behind on the parked vehicles that state, “Your meter expired; however, we saved you from the king’s tariffs, Robin Hood and his Merry Men. Please consider paying it forward.” The group has reportedly prevented the issuance of approximately 4,000 tickets.
Just like Nottingham, the Sheriff of Keane, New Hampshire is fighting back. The city has filed suit against the Robin Hooders. Keene officials claim that the group is harassing the town’s parking enforcement officers. They asked the court to prohibit the members of the group from coming within 50 feet of the officers during the “performance of their employment duties for the city.”
According to the suit, the Robin Hooders “regularly, repeatedly and intentionally taunted, interfered with, harassed, and intimidated” the officers by “surrounding, touching or nearly touching, and otherwise taunting and harassing” them as they attempted to write tickets. The complaint maintains that the city is not seeking to prevent the group from paying the meters, but only to protect its employees.
As the Union Leader reports, the band of merry men and women disagrees. The activists claim that the city is trying to stop their activities in order to protect the steady stream of revenue provided by expired meter tickets. They further maintain that the videos that they have filmed during the course of their activities will ultimately vindicate them.
Robin Hood and his followers restored justice at a time when the Sheriff cared more about protecting his job and advancing his ambition than about protecting the people. As the public forces government to cut spending, history repeats itself and Robin Hood is reborn.