Happy hippies unhappy

by **friend catcher** » Thu Jun 29, 2006 1:42 pm

<a href="http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0629-34.htm">www.commondreams.org/views06/0629-34.htm</a> The Rainbow Family, an ad-hoc collective of free-spirited individuals, has made an annual spiritual pilgrimage since 1972 to various national forests. This year's Rainbow Family Gathering is outside of Steamboat Springs, Colorado, and will be held from July 1-7. The National Forest Service has determined that a permit is required this year and is arresting people as they arrive. Hundreds of early arrivals have been arrested, ticketed, held in detention camps, tried in secret inside a cramped garage without proper representation, fined, and ordered to leave within 24 hours.............

by **Sweejak** » Thu Jun 29, 2006 2:27 pm

Various stories: <blockquote>Quote:<hr>Via Indy <a href="http://colorado.indymedia.org/newswire/display/13842/index.php">colorado.indymedia.org/ne.../index.php</a> Rainbow Gathering - More Roadblocks and Mass Ticketing Author The annual Rainbow Gathering is repeating last year's battle with military trained Forest Service grunt task force. --- In ColoradoRainbowFamily (at) yahoogroups.com, marty heartsong wrote: > > Hey Pham. It's 2:30 am and I just got back. We won a major battle today but the war is far from over. They set up a road block Monday night about 7pm. No one allowed in, even if you already had a ticket, And anyone coming out was issued one and not allowed back in. Gigi was doing main gate and when they came in they confiscated his radio. Within an hour we had about 20 cars and rigs backed up so some of the people with kitchens in thier rigs started feeding the pham. Then we started a bonfire and started drumming. A few kids tried to sneak into the woods to go around the roadblock but there was leo's hiding in the woods and they were quickly nabbed. the main force of leo's left about 9pm after giving everyone in A-camp a ticket and anyone else they could find.They had a generator and flood lights at the road block but only left 4 leo's behind facing about 100 hippies who were all in good spirits when I stepped into the woods to answer nature's call and accidently found > myself back in the gathering. Word quickly spread of family being stranded outside the block with no gear ( a lot of us were making supply runs when we got blocked out and all of our gear was inside) and in the middle of the night about 30 blankets appeared from nowhere out side the roadblock (thankyou ninja's). In the morning a few of our younger family members put on war paint and decided to try to get the supplies in that had been stranded all night. By then the morning leo relief crew arrived and there was about 4-6 leo vehicles and 6 to 8 giddyups( I was still inside the gathering at the time but got to listen to it unfold via radio). By the time the youngers got to the block (coming from behind) there was at least 60 -70 of them. And since people had been coming in all night long there was almost 200 people in front of the blockade. As soon as the bro's and sisters from inside the gathering arrived the cops started to freak and started pulling out their guns, > shotguns and assault rifles, no lie, no tear gas guns, no pepper spray, machine guns pointed at the family. You wanna know how brave your family is?? How much this family means to all of us?? approaching loaded pointed machine guns and twitchy trigger fingers (the leo's were scared) they did the only thing they could do, they started to "OM" and quickly joined hands and continued to march towards the roadblock. The pham on the other side of the block realized what was happening and they started om-ing joined hands and approached the blockade from the other side. We are lucky no one got shot. I heard later that the om circle was almost complete when the giddyups busted through at a gallup and then all the leo vehicles sped off with there sirens blazing and lights flashing. We could hear the cheering over the radio's, it was awesome, but only temporary. All the leo's left for awhile ( I think to lick their wounds and regroup) But a 1\2 dozen vehicles came back at dusk and > harrased and few of our elders (they're still trying to find someone to sign thier damn permit). When I left it seemed like they set up a smaller roadblock and they were arresting somebody so I got out without being hassled. But on the drive down to steamboat I passed three leo's with lights and sirens heading back to the site (I think I passed a few more that didn't have teir lights on but I can't be sure. Anyway the seige is still on till someone signs and so far no one will. Will post more tommorow if I can, it's late, 3:30am got to go to sleep now.........................love & peace..........sleepy =============== Via Liberty Post All (#0) Just heard from James, my son in law who usually attends and cooks for the masses: There are rumors that follow the exact pattern of the "incident" EVERY year. Every Single Year, the same exact rumors. Then we get all worried, and are scared when we head to the site. Then we get to the site, and discover that the rumors were *greatly* exaggerated. Or nearly made up from whole cloth. The situation is never as dire and oppressive as we were led to believe. Please don't worry, especially not based on rumors like these from the site. The chances are high that the people "throwing rocks and sticks" are local rednecks. That's how it turned out in Pennsylvania -- same general story -- the truth turned out to be that a local kid broke the back window of a police blazer. Being cops, they tend to get upset and overreact when things like that happen. And then the story got in the news already embellished. I know some of the people who do this whole "disinformation" campaign, and for the life of me, I cannot understand why they do it. But they do it. They practically make it their life's work to do "negative PR" against the gatherings. We try to go as far in the woods as we can walk. The stuff that happens by the road is as much another world to us as the city is to the country. Drunks don't usually like to get far from the road, where their booze and their ice comes from. Hippies don't like to drink, and don't like roads and cars. So it works out pretty well, except that, the only people the press and the tourists see are the drunks and the cops by the road. And that's what they see, it's ALL they see, and they go and report that the rainbow gathering is a bunch of rowdy drunks harrassing cops by the road. Oh well. It's been this way for as long as I've been involved... ============== Gathering the Tribes Rainbow Family to Touch Down in Colo. By Richard Martin, 6-12-06 If you were in the Steamboat Springs area over the weekend you might have seen a group of slightly gnarly-looking, generally longhaired folks passing through wearing looks of beatific contentment and slightly bemused disregard for their surroundings. In common parlance, hippies. This was an advance guard of about 150 members of the Rainbow Family, and they were scouting the area for a much larger "gathering of the tribes" planned for Routt County the first week in July. Then, the annual North American Rainbow Gathering is expected draw at least 20,000 (according to Forest Service officials) and up to 60,000 (according to Bodhi, the Rainbow member interviewed by the Steamboat Pilot Journal) to a spot that has "a fresh water source, one main meadow that is 100 acres or larger and about five to 10 square miles of hippie land," Bodhi explained. It's easy to ridicule the Rainbowers, with their harlequin garb, their anarchic millenarian ideals and their bogus Native American prophecies. In general they seem to have wandered out of the last Grateful Dead concert before Jerry died and to now have too much time on their hands. Since the Family are live-off-landers, the Rainbow gathering doesn't contribute to the local economy like biker fests, and it lacks the pseudo techno-cool of Burning Man, which has pretty much taken over as the wild and crazy annual alternative crowd scene to make. And local bureaucrats, of course, see them as a drug-crazed horde descending on some unsuspecting rural community as inevitably every year as boll weevils. In truth, a fair number of the Family are bourgeois in their 51-week-a-year lives. And they are quick to point out that in some ways the Rainbow Family resembles other unworldly groups with wacko spiritualist beliefs who broke off to seek a better way of life in the West, that the drug use at the Gathering is no higher per capita than at your average Bonnie Raitt concert, and that local law-enforcement invariably comment afterward, with some surprise, on how accommodating and pleasant the Rainbowers are. The Rainbow Family ran an active and long-lived Hurricane Katrina relief effort. Some Forest Service apparatchiks conduct a running battle with the Family, saying that they need official approval to gather in such numbers on federal land, but the Rainbow Gathering organizers (to the extent there are any; Rainbow philosophy believes that no one speaks for the tribe) adamantly refuse to sign any permits, saying they are simply exercising their First Amendment rights. Living in Boulder, I feel like I get plenty of exposure to the Rainbow tribes, and I do not envy the fulltime residents or the police officers of Steamboat this summer. Regardless of weather it's going to be a long hot July in Routt County. But I'm kind of glad they're going to be out there. ====================== <hr></blockquote> <a href="http://www.thesteamboatlocal.com/arch/local/li/0613_li.php">www.thesteamboatlocal.com...613_li.php</a> <blockquote>Quote:<hr> Paulie Sez More: Rainbow Fact and Fiction Paulie Don't Call Me a Hippie Anderson The past weeks' rumors regarding the Rainbow Family of Living Light and their gathering here in lovely Routt County were beginning to get me down. Everyone and their sister was telling me how they heard the hippies were threatening life as we know it in our fair Valley, and I was beginning to believe that we were all going to drown under a sea of smelly, hitchhiking, funk-soaked hippies. From the sound of the rumors, Steamboat would not have any clean bathrooms, drinking water or edible produce until sometime in August. Routt National Forest would never recover, and more than likely, we'd have a forest fire that burns more acreage than the Hinman fire a few years back. Never mind that we're all probably going to end up with hepatitis or some other communicable disease from being in such close proximity to these anti-societal peace heathens. I couldn't stand for this, so I had to do a little investigation to see what I could believe in and what I could debunk. Last Sunday, June 18, Courtney and I loaded up our Toyota with the camera, a few bottles of water and an open mind to go see the gathering in it's setup stage. Because I was fresh off of the surgical table and home from Tucson (See Paulie Sez, Issue 6.12), we were unable to hike up to the actual site. However, we were able to drive all the way to the footpath that leads to the main gathering area to get a good view of where and what the site would look like when the gathering was in full swing. We got the skinny on where the main parking lot and drop off points would be from one of the elders and the gatekeeper, Gigi. On our way past the official parking lot and Welcome Home banner, we were stopped by one of the old-timers at "A" camp and had a very pungent chat regarding where we could leave our booze and how far we could drive in. For those of you who haven't been to a gathering or the Rainbow's website yet, "A" camp is often the first camp you run into outside the perimeter of the true gathering and is the only place that alcohol is condoned. As we cruised along the road we were greeted with many a smile and a lot of "Welcome Home!" (The "official" Rainbow greeting.) All in all, it was not too dissimilar from a Grateful Dead parking lot scene back in Jerry's day. Everyone was in good spirits and gearing up for a long stint in the woods with family and friends. We hung around for about an hour or so and saw no sign of disregard for safety or respect of the forest more than some parking issues along the roadway. Forest service presence was not visible until we were on our way out of the area and were passed by two forest service vehicles going towards the gathering at a rather remarkable velocity. Their intent was unknown as we were well on our way out of the area and they were past us before we could flag them down or talk with them. On our way home we stopped in at Hahn's Peak Café to see how they were fairing so far and found no complaints regarding the Family. There was an air of fear from some of the locals who had found that their appearance had become suspect as a result of the gathering. One man was refused ice from a local vendor because of his appearance, and another was hesitant to shop at th Clark Market because of his ponytail and rumors of vicious security. At other stops on the way back to town, we heard things ranging from hippies poking meat at the grocery stores to thousands of dollars in theft from Ace at the Curve. When I compared notes back at the office with Scott, he let fly with yet more rumors of evil misdeeds by the Rainbow that warranted some phone calls. The following list is what I was able to gather from some calls around town. I hope these help to ease the adjustment of the coming wave of visitors from around the states for what is shaping up to be one of the busiest Julys in Steamboat's history. Rumors Rumor: Clark Store hires security and extra staff Status: True Rather than go into detail, read the Steamboat Today story from the Monday, June 19 edition. Rumor: Hippies are bathing in the produce section misters in City Market and Safeway Status: False Chuck, from City Market, and Michael, from Safeway, both stated that their produce sections have been well maintained by staff and have had no incidences of bathing in the produce misters. Michael mentioned that there had been a few bathers in the sinks of the women's bathrooms, but noted that he would rather have sanitary shoppers and that it hadn't gotten out of hand. He was pleased that the people cared about their hygiene. Rumor: Hippies are placing hair on produce or are otherwise destroying vegetables so the stores are forced to throw the food away and it can be obtained through dumpster diving Status: False Again, Chuck and Michael both stated this is not happening and neither have had any problems with food abuse in their stores. Michael had been asked by some Rainbows if they could access Safeway's dumpster for diving but they were denied access for sanitation reasons. However, they were given food that was to be thrown away rather than allowing the food to go to waste. Props to Safeway! Rumor: Hippies are poking meat with their fingers or otherwise destroying meat so it has to be thrown away and can be obtained through dumpster diving. Status: False See explanation on produce destruction. Rumor: Thousands of dollars in theft of camping supplies and hardware from Ace at the Curve Status: False Tina stated that she has seen more problems with theft by locals than by the Rainbow Family. She reported no theft whatsoever by the Rainbow to date. Rumor: Hippies fill carts of with food and ask cashiers how they can barter for the food Status: Mostly False Michael and Chuck both laughed at this and stated they had seen nothing like this at their stores. Anne, at Bamboo Market, was approached by a mother and infant requesting food. Anne explained that she couldn't feed them and that they needed to find a way to feed themselves. See explanation on Panhandling below. Rumor: Hippies had spiked trails and strung piano wire across ATV trails in the vicinity of Big Red Park to discourage motorcycle and ATV use in the area and force road closures Status: False Diann from the forest service reported that though there are, in fact, road closures in the area of the gathering, they are not due to a result of malicious behavior by the Rainbow attendees. There are about 15 miles of trail closures in all. See information box for details. Rumor: The Forest Service is recommending that people stay clear of the Big Red Park area and find another place to enjoy the holiday Status: Partly True Diann stated that she has recommended to families who called concerned with the gathering to enjoy another section of Routt National Forest this year because of congestion in the area. She was not telling everyone to stay away from the entire area, and is anticipating good profits for the businesses in the area. Rumor: The City is making all City employees get hepatitis shots because of the gathering Status: Mostly False Lauren, from the City, stated that the City is, in fact, offering free hepatitis shots to employees and strongly recommending them to employees who handle trash. This was not a result of the Rainbow Gathering itself, but was brought to light by the expected volume of trash from the amount of anticipated traffic in the city. Lauren also stated that the City needs to continue to be aware of hepatitis and will continue to recommend shots in the future to better protect employees. Rumor: The hippies are going to shit all over the forest and trash the place beyond all repair Status: False Rainbows are renowned for their cleanup. There are many references to this fact available on the web. See the info box for directions on where to find this information. Each camp within the gathering is required to have a pit toilet. The Elders are very concerned for the well-being of the land and usually do an excellent job of insuring that the toilets aren't placed too close to water supplies or food areas. On a side note, if you ever want to see blatant disregard for forest preservation, water supply or human safety, go to Dunkley pass during the first month of hunting season. You will be able to find every violation imaginable within viewing distance of the road. Even more frightening there is the fact that everyone has guns and alcohol. Scary! (Keep in mind that I hunt, fish, and drive a huge Jeep, so I am not biased here, only bothered by idiots.) Rumor: The streets will be littered with panhandlers begging for money and food Status: Mostly False. We will see some panhandling, hitchhiking and mooching, there's no doubt about it. Just like we see fighting, speeding, drinking and littering with the Triple Crown crowd. There are bad apples in every bunch, but you can't judge the whole by the fools. Just look at our current administration if you want proof. The Rainbow frowns upon all forms of panhandling. There are always some people who go to the gathering, mooch from the crowd and don't participate in the working aspects of the community. These people are referred to as "Blissninnys," or "Drainbows." The website recommends that you do not cater to these panhandlers and do not give them food or money. Rumor: There will be more police presence in town Status: True There are around 30 extra Forest Service officers in Routt County now, but they do not have jurisdiction in Steamboat Springs. Capt. Joel Rae told me that a mutual aid request had been sent out and they are expecting more officers to come to Steamboat but are not releasing the exact number. Don't Believe the Hype! I believe that the failure of the Rainbow to sign a permit is some form of protest, though I can't say that I agree with this action. Sometimes, to fight the system, it is important to work and exist within the system. A permit isn't going to cause more harm than not getting a permit, and may relieve some of the pressure from the forest service. We'll have to wait and see how the authorities and the Family are going to react. I'm crossing my fingers for a peaceful solution, but I'm anticipating some violence. Let's just hope it doesn't affect the Family's ability to clean up! I went into this article expecting to find a lot more horror stories and confirm a lot more negativity. I grew happier with each phone call as people seemed to be content with the way things were shaping up so far. All of the businesses I spoke with were stocking up on the perceived important items like rolling papers, packaged food and water to assist with the burden of the extra bodies in the Valley. We'll have to accept the fact that we are going to be in for a long and busy July, whether we like it or not. I guess it would be fitting to quote the great Chuck D from Public Enemy, "Don't Believe the Hype!" And please, please don't get caught up in the sensationalized stories and rumors.<hr></blockquote> <blockquote>Quote:<hr>Lawsuit seeks to open Rainbow Family proceedings to public Get News Feeds RSS Feed Add to My Yahoo! BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS June 29, 2006 Comment Comments (0) Print Friendly Print Email Email DENVER — People flocking to a gathering of the Rainbow Family and who are now facing charges for camping without a permit and other charges are being tried in secret inside a cramped garage in a fire station parking lot, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday. The lawsuit filed on behalf of Adam Mayo, a Colorado attorney who said he was turned away from the trials near Steamboat Springs, and William Randell III of New York, who is facing a trial, asks the U.S. District Court to order U.S. Magistrate Judge David West to hold the trials in public. "The Rainbow Family chose a remote location for their gathering, and the government wanted to provide a court facility that would not be inconvenient for them," said Jeff Dorschner, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney. A judge, 17 defendants and prosecutors fit inside the garage, and there is standing room for the public and the media, according to the Rocky Mountain News. Dorschner said the trials are open to the public, but extra seating and standing room areas are "first come" and "first served." Federal officials were considering building a public address system so more people could listen to the proceedings outside the firehouse, he said. The lawsuit filed by David Lane, an attorney who also represents embattled University of Colorado professor Ward Churchill, also seeks attorneys fees. About 4,000 people have arrived at the meadow north of Steamboat Springs for the event planned for next week that is expected to attracted some 20,000 people. The U.S. Forest Service denied the Rainbow Family's request for a permit mainly because of the fire danger. Campers who were cited face fines of up to $5,000, but the typical fine last week was about $135. U.S. Marshals and Forest Service enforcement officers have arrested about 249 members for camping without a permit. Some also face alcohol and drugs charges. The trials, which started last weekend are scheduled to resume Friday. <a href="http://www.summitdaily.com/article/20060629/NEWS/60629002">www.summitdaily.com/artic...S/60629002</a><hr></blockquote> ?

Happy hippies unhappy

Happy hippies unhappy

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