Tensions grow at Rainbow camp as melee erupts

Salt Lake Tribune ^ | 6/27/2003 | Christopher Smart

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

BLACK FORK RIVER, North Slope of the Uinta Mountains -- To get to the Rainbow Family gathering, revelers will have to put on their walking shoes. Make that boots -- it's awfully muddy at 9,000 feet.

A special incident team for the U.S. Forest Service closed a spur off the North Slope Road here Thursday morning after a melee in which Forest Service officers and Rainbow members suffered minor injuries.

Early on Thursday afternoon, Forest Service incident Commander Malcolm Jowers said the 2.5-mile road would be closed until further notice. That left Rainbow Family members hoofing it in to various campsites scattered around 4,000 picturesque acres near the Utah-Wyoming border.

For decades, Forest Service law enforcement officers and the Rainbow Family have danced around each other at this annual gathering. But the waltzing turned ugly Wednesday evening when officials decided to tow a car that was in a restricted parking area, said Jowers.

Versions of the story vary, but both sides agree a group of young Rainbow members encircled the car, preventing the towing. A special mounted police unit was dispatched to disperse the crowd.

Snowballs and rocks were hurled at the mounted police, who then rode into the crowd.

Two Forest Service riders suffered minor injuries, said Jowers. And two Rainbow members were kicked or stepped on and taken to an Evanston, Wyo., hospital, where they were treated and released.

One man was arrested.

Jowers met with Rainbow leaders Thursday afternoon, but said for now the road would remain closed.

Garrick Beck, a Rainbow follower who signed the Forest Service's special use permit, said the events were unfortunate.

"Some young people made a peaceful blockade," he explained. "The Forest Service called for horses . . . Then in an unbelievable move of stupidity, some people threw rocks at the officers . . . It's regrettable that a few young fools would take it into their heads to commit those aggravated acts."

In the coming days as the Rainbow gathering grows, people will see the celebration as a peaceful one, Beck said. "People will see this as a very good scene, a very cooperative scene -- learning community values, learning respect for nature and making the gathering an example of peaceful cooperation."

Nonetheless, many Rainbows were rankled at the incident, including a man known by the handle Free Rainbow Hugs, who was kicked in the hip by a horse and taken to the hospital where an x-ray revealed no broken bones.

"We circled up in the middle of the road," said Hugs, still limping. "They told us to get out of the way, and then charged in."

Some of Hugs' family members described it as the action of a police state. The Rainbows will pray for peace on July 4.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

But liberalism is all peace and love.

[Poohbah]

Liberalism is a political alignment of peace.

[COBOL2Java]

Rainbow Family gathering? Is this another one of Jesse Jackson's outreach scams?

[JimRed]

Isn't the rainbow the homosexual symbol?

[Poohbah]

Might be a bunch of rump rangers.

[EggsAckley]

Pardon my ignorance but, what is the Rainbow Family?

[JimRed]

The Rainbows will pray for peace on July 4.

Pray? To whom? Oh, that's right; mother Gaia, the Earth goddess.

[Poohbah]

They ain't the Addams Family :o)

[BlueLancer]

"Might be a bunch of rump rangers."

Something like this?

EVOLUTION THROUGH THE BACK DOOR
8')

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

I'm not sure myself. They came to Utah because the Forest Service approved their permit for the gathering. The kicker is: Oregon and Washington state turned them down. A lot of people here in Utah do not have a warm fuzzy about these people being here.

[joesnuffy]

Rainbow Family Of Living Light

[Cate]

Poor Utah. We were stuck with these heathens a couple of years ago in Montana and it was horrible. I would like to point out that they shoplift, disrupt traffic, panhandle, hitchhike, beg, don't bathe, get in your face about their point of view... hmmm... peace loving my a**. Oh, and damage to the forest where they were camping was just lovely. I think they should meet in France next year. Then we close the borders. Yup, that'll do it.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

Works for me. If these cranks land in Evanston, Wyoming (about 40 miles to the north) they'll wish they kept on going. The Wyoming country folk don't like greenie tree-hugger types.

[Cate]

Most excellent. Wyoming probably quietly told them to get bent when they were shopping around for a place to land and desecrate. Your powers that be are probably more wise than the liberals we're stuck with.

[Red Boots]

The Rainbow Family is a bunch of people who gather every summer for a 2 week or so shindig in some national forest. They had one near Hotchkiss CO a few years ago, now it looks like Utah gets the party. They come from all over the country and have kind of a new age, idiot fest, dancing naked to the moon and having other,similiar fun. They often don't even get permits, refusing to recognize the USFS's right to control them (this part I agree with). Since no one is really in charge, little things like sanitation facilities for a few thousand people are sort of just ignored. After a few weeks, they disperse,leaving a big mess for the locals to clean up. It takes a couple years for the area to recover.

[TC Rider]

Pardon my ignorance but, what is the Rainbow Family?

Gawd damn hippies

May be more than you want to see.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

Probably. My parents live about 10 miles north of Evanston. I want to ask them what they heard, if anything.

[freeeee]

Amendment I
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

I know the founders must have meant to exclude people who look funny, or have the wrong ideas.

They must have just forgot to put that part in. I guess its a penumbra.

[avg_freeper]

Here's what they say about there selves:

Some say we're the largest non-organization of non-members in the world. We have no leaders, and no organization. To be honest, the Rainbow Family means different things to different people. I think it's safe to say we're into intentional community building, non-violence, and alternative lifestyles. We also believe that Peace and Love are a great thing, and there isn't enough of that in this world. Many of our traditions are based on Native American traditions, and we have a strong orientation to take care of the the Earth. We gather in the National Forests yearly to pray for peace on this planet. For another viewpoint,

...Picture twenty thousand people in a sunlit meadow, standing silent in prayer, holding hands in one huge, unbroken circle. Picture a parade of children approaching, singing songs, their countenances bright with enthusiasm and face paint, baloons and banners waving in the breeze. Picture the breaking of the silence with a cheer from the circle, then the silence returning once again, to grow slowly into a thrum of voices united in a single OM reverberating through the valley and on to the hills beyond. Hold the OM in your mind. Let it spread through and around and in you. Feel it pass from hand to hand and heart to heart.

Isn't that special.

[freeeee]

Since no one is really in charge, little things like sanitation facilities for a few thousand people are sort of just ignored.

They dig trench latrines strait out of the army manual.

Or at least they try to. Forest Service incident Commander Malcolm Jowers likes to threaten them with arrest when they do, under bogus and fictitious pretence of "archaological preserves" that after much investigation, have never been found to exist.

Of course when the ensuing disintery breaks out, he uses that as a reason to deny the assembly permit (which is unconstitutional to require to begin with).

It's the same old ploy, used over and over: Government purposely creates a problem (disintery) and then uses that problem to gain powers, like denying people the right to assemble in forests.

BTW, I'm not a hippie.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

Picture twenty thousand people in a sunlit meadow, standing silent in prayer, holding hands in one huge, unbroken circle. Picture a parade of children approaching, singing songs, their countenances bright with enthusiasm and face paint, baloons and banners waving in the breeze.

Yeah, right. Picture a bunch of unwashed slimebags at a B.O. festival who use this as an excuse to go find a new place to go on a drinking & drug binge.

[lady lawyer]

We had a lot of snow in the mountains a few days ago. It must be miserable and cold up there. Good.

[TomB]

the right of the people peaceably to assemble....

Nobody from what I can see is saying they can't meet, we are merely making light of their hypocrisy. I didn't realize we weren't allowed to voice our opinions on these fools. I guess the founders forgot to exclude us from the First Amendment.

Anyway, the operative word is peaceably.

"Then in an unbelievable move of stupidity, some people threw rocks at the officers . . . It's regrettable that a few young fools would take it into their heads to commit those aggravated acts."

[dark_lord]

Hmmm....yep, some interesting folks...anyone want to join the "Save the Foreskin" society? Heh heh.

[freeeee]

Drinking is strongly discouraged at their gatherings.

Get drunk and fall asleep with a beer in your hand while you're there, and you'll wake up with it ducktaped to your hand.

The tagalong drunks, whom the rainbows despise, stay in the parking lot near the beer and far from the gathering in the forest.

I know most freepers don't like hippies and believe me they don't care for much of society, but I figured you'd encourage them to stay as far away from you as possible, and miles into a national forest is about as far away as they can get in this country.

Please leave these people alone. They're mostly harmless and just wish to be left alone. Besides, they are on the cutting edge of defending forest use from the feds increasingly restrictive laws. Everyone around here complained and moans when Clinton kept people out of the forest, and these people are doing something about it. The legal battles they fight ensure your rights as well.

[freeeee]

Nobody from what I can see is saying they can't meet

Forest Service incident Commander Malcolm Jowers makes a career out of it. It's what he does. It's all he does. He's an unelected fed that doesn't respect the Constitution especially the Bill of Rights (that's usually unpopular around FR), and despises hippies, and is on a personal vendetta against them.

I didn't realize we weren't allowed to voice our opinions on these fools.

I'm a big defender of free speech. Voice away.

"Then in an unbelievable move of stupidity, some people threw rocks at the officers . . . It's regrettable that a few young fools would take it into their heads to commit those aggravated acts."

Please note those are the words of other rainbows condemning the attack. These people in general are far less violent than your average sports arena crowd.

[AAABEST]

I like the fact that the throw rocks at the Forest Service who has no business closing these roads.I also agree with you that they have a right to assemble, especially on Federal land.

That said these people are nasty disgusting pigs, I'd probably be tempted to trot my horse over them just for fun.

If they want to assemble fine, then they need to either clean up after themselves or pay to have it done.

[jimt]

Sounds to me like the "melee" was caused by the Forest Service, who wants increasingly tight restrictions on public access to public land. Pretty soon no access will be allowed without a permit from the UN.

It was stupid to resist the towing of the car. It was also stupid not to give the car owner some time to move it.

The closing of the road - affecting many folks - for what a few did is nothing more than a harassment tactic.

[AAABEST]

You know I was wondering when someone was going to get active on this "forskin" problem we're having. I coudn't think of a better place to raise awareness than in the middle of a national forest either.

[TomB]

Forest Service incident Commander Malcolm Jowers makes a career out of it.

Since they are meeting in Forest Service land, and have for years, it isn't a very successful career, is it?

Anyway, since you addressed this thread, I assumed you were talking to us.

Please note those are the words of other rainbows condemning the attack. These people in general are far less violent than your average sports arena crowd.

I realise that. Please note that the Amendment you quote only applies to peaceable gatherings, when idiots start throwing stones at people, it stops being peaceable.

[Red Boots]

Well I agree that the Constitution clearly states that the gubmint has no right to deny their gathering, however oddball to mainstream America it seems. And I can well believe that the USFS would like to make them jump through increasingly ridiculous and meaningless hoops in their quest to kick all humans off what used to be public lands. So I suppose that I should (and do actually) feel some satisfaction that they just do what they do and pretty much ignore the USFS bureaufascists, but really, the resulting dysentary can't be blamed on the gubmint, but on the fact that 20,000 people camping in the woods creates a lot of human waste, which will cause disease if not properly attended to. They can build a trench latrine, but you can't make people go there. People downstream from them (I'm refering to the gathering in Hotchkiss,CO a few years back)used that water for irrigating food crops and drinking. There was human waste all over the place.It was gross. With every freedom comes a responsibility, and IMO, they don't clean up after themselves very well.

[freeeee]

the Forest Service...wants increasingly tight restrictions on public access to public land. Pretty soon no access will be allowed without a permit from the UN.

Exactly. Freepers are always complaining about restricted public land use. These rainbows do a lot of work to fight that. But to many here, finding them personally dislikable narrows their vision.

I guess to them its all about who you are, and what you look like, and principles be damned.

[freeeee]

these people are nasty disgusting pigs, I'd probably be tempted to trot my horse over them just for fun.

Well, I'll be kind and say there's good and bad in every crowd. Rainbows are dirty and smelly and kind of annoying, bu they do respect freedom more than most people and they live it. And they are proficient at living outdoors as opposed to getting fat in front of the tv or loafing at a mall.

They're not afraid of doing something 'different'. I find that refreshing.

[Ben Bolt]

Thanks Joe . Looks like another splinter group of crystal packers and the like . Fellow travelers bump . Got no use for ' em .

[freeeee]

Please note that the Amendment you quote only applies to peaceable gatherings, when idiots start throwing stones at people, it stops being peaceable.

I agree, those who did it should be arrested.

Then again, I'm not much for guilt by association so I wouldn't roust the other thousands of rainbows for something a couple of dummies did.

[dark_lord]

That said these people are nasty disgusting pigs, I'd probably be tempted to trot my horse over them just for fun. If they want to assemble fine, then they need to either clean up after themselves or pay to have it done.

One might observe that shower facilities way out in the National Forests are far and few between. Besides, I kinda like the idea that a bunch of hairy, smelly types are giving a hard time to the Feds who want to kick the people (including the hairy smellies) off of our land to make it a nice private preserve for the Clintonista ecobureaucraps. In case you haven't noticed, the Feds have been closing roads, putting HUGE metal gates across access roads, using dozers to put big boulders on the roads, and generally making the National lands unaccessible to the people. I wonder why? Let's speculate.

1st, the big time marijuana growers can make big bribes (and by big I mean BIG) to the federal types to block access to the National forests. Then they can grow their pot in peace, no hikers get killed by growers, etc. That's bad for business.

2nd, this way the wealthy types can go hunt illegally. No witnesses. Nicely private hunting preserves for the politically connected.

3rd, the bureaucrats don't have to deal with lost hikers or spend time out on the trails dealing with real people. Instead they can stay in their comfortable offices and drink their coffee on the taxpayer dollar.

I'm sure there are more reasons than these....

[freeeee]

the USFS would like to make them jump through increasingly ridiculous and meaningless hoops in their quest to kick all humans off what used to be public lands. So I suppose that I should (and do actually) feel some satisfaction that they just do what they do and pretty much ignore the USFS bureaufascists

Thank you, that in my opinion is the biggest issue here.

but really, the resulting dysentary can't be blamed on the gubmint

They try real hard to maintain sanitation. I believe you in that it hasn't always worked, but believe me, Macolm Jowers does everything he can to cause disintery outbreak by threatening to arrest trech diggers. That's just one of his antics from his bag of dirty tricks. I find such wanton disrespect for people's health by a public official to be a disgusting and repugnant abuse of power. The man is a pig and a thug.

[Unknowing]

Hippy-hating has been a time-honored tradition. It made the Baby Boomers what they are today. Hippies are usually unwilling to fight back, so they are easy to defeat. If you don't like someone, you can treat him however you want, right? That's an operative principle for all intents and purposes, in every society, by my lights. Show up at the Rainbow Gathering with something that they don't like -- say a haircut, clothes, a beer, store-bought tofu, or a gun -- and they'll enforce their own sensibilities.

This is not sarcasm, but only mere irony, freeeee.

[freeeee]

If you don't like someone, you can treat him however you want, right?

Sure you can, but it's a sign of low character.

Show up at the Rainbow Gathering with something that they don't like -- say a haircut, clothes, a beer, store-bought tofu, or a gun -- and they'll enforce their own sensibilities.

You got me there. They aren't perfect, heck, they're light years from perfect. But I will say a positive attitude and a smile go a long way when you're a stranger in a strange land.

[Orbiting_Rosie's_Head]

Well, I'll be kind and say there's good and bad in every crowd. Rainbows are dirty and smelly and kind of annoying, bu they do respect freedom more than most people and they live it. And they are proficient at living outdoors as opposed to getting fat in front of the tv or loafing at a mall.

I agree. My best friend and his wife are part of this movement (not specifically Rainbow warriors), generally thought of as modern "hippies". I hang around with them quite often, and also with many of their friends. I was best man at their wedding. They are both prolife, and religious. But they are very environmentalist and pro freedom. I enjoy hanging out with these folks. They are unpretentious, fun, freedom-loving free spirits. Granted there are some far left socialist kooks in their midst, but most of them are anti-big government, and my friend is downright conservative, or at least libertarian on many issues (gun rights for example, even though he doesn't own a gun).

[freeeee]

That's been my experience as well. You put it in words better than I could.

[gcruse]

..anyone want to join the "Save the Foreskin" society?

I saved mine.  Got it right out in the back yard..
Didn't you save yours?
Oh, wait.  That's an inner tube.  Never mind.

[kegler4]

OK, I'll join in. I actually went to three days of one of these gatherings in West Virginia (I think it was the only time, or at least the first time, they came East). I was covering it as a newspaper reporter. This was 20 years ago or so, so things could be somewhat different now.

I'm amused by the knee-jerk reactions here about the people who attend these. I found everything from way-out socialists to folks who would agree with most opinions on FR. They might be a little hairier and bathe a little less often (although there was lots of coed bathing going on when I was there), but most of them pretty much want the government out of their lives.

Some are definitely wacky by our standards, but most of them work regularly. A handful are bums. I met one guy who was a stockbroker in Chicago except during the two weeks of the gathering. When I met him he was sitting in front of his teepee wearing nothing but his corporate haircut.

Things may have changed, but when I was there, they had a whole committee to clean up as the gathering went along and after it was over. The grass and paths took a beating, but that's true when the Boy Scouts show up for a Jamboree. There were jerks and idiots and wackos, but overall it was a pretty nice group.

[Red Boots]

You know, I bet that a useful coalition between the freedom lovers of both the right and left might someday be a real possibility (and maybe our last,best hope for a return to freedom in our land), but the moral divide will somehow have to be addressed. Right now it seems the freedom lovers of the left want all of the consessions though. They are free to meet there, and I support their right to do so, and I'll keep my moral qualms to myself. And we taxpayers paid a lot of the bill for cleaning up after them. But where are the consessions from them? Like all the shoplifting that went on when they came through the mountain towns of CO, and the bare butt I had to explain to my young kids that was hanging out of huge hole in a young woman's pants on the main street of our town? Would it be infringing on their freedom to ask that they not steal and cover thier private parts? Does freedom mean that I and my kids have to go by homeless men masturbating in front of computer terminals and sleeping in the stacks at the library? Does it mean the freedom for homeless people to poop all over public downtowns and hit up on my young son as he walks by? That, right there, is why most people are wary about freedom. In the past, that dilema was taken care of by a widespread, shared set of moral values. Those are no longer near-universal, and the result has been the increasing loss of our freedoms.

[tiamat]

Unknowing wrote:

Hippy-hating has been a time-honored tradition. It made the Baby Boomers what they are today.

******************************

Awful lot of Boomers are former hippies.

And SOME, not all Boomers have run us right to where we are now.
They went from watching "Howdy Doody" to draft-dodging and free sex. Then they settled down and made big bucks from flipping junk bonds in the 80s. They were Clinton's buddies during the 90s.

Now they are aging, and have become the self-appointed mentors of all the rest of us. ( for the CHILDREN! ) They are also beginning to complain about their perscription benefits.

Quite frankly, I wish a signifigant part of the Boomer generation would sit down and shut up. They have had it better than any other previous generation, have had most of the control and influence, and look where we are.

Tia

[MikalM]

[Cultural Jihad]

After a few weeks, they disperse, leaving a big mess for the locals to clean up. It takes a couple years for the area to recover.

More of the old liberal-libertarian mantra of "Allow me to be irresponsible, and I'll allow you all to pay for the consequences of my irresponsibility."

[freeeee]

Well said. I share your concerns. And those things will keep freedom lovers from the left and the right apart, and that's unfortunate. I'm not very easily offended, so it's easier for me to get along with, um, different people, but I see your point.

What to do? Well, differences in culture are what localities are all about. Rainbows should stay the hell out of towns and keep in the forest. And for the most part they do. The nature of their free existance draws some unsavory characters, but they don't have any governing body and they can't make people comply.

In the end, freedom is messy and disorderly and in the case of the rainbows, pretty smelly : ) I'll take seeing a little buttcrack over Musolini's well run trains any time.

I think a problem is irresponsible people create a demand for prior restraint. That is, when people see problems occur, instead of going after the individual who did it, they go after the whole group.

I don't have any easy answers to this one. I just try to respect others and stay away from those who don't.

[freeeee]

I thought you'd show up here.

[Cultural Jihad]

Let them find their own national forest to pollute. The Gobi Desert has a lot of room, I hear.