5 arrested in Rainbow Family clash with feds

And this is all over the apprehension of one person described as being uncooperative.

Pardon me, but when did being uncooperative become a crime?

I mean really, if there was a crime being committed wouldn’t someone say what the crime was?

 

http://www.localnews8.com/Global/story.asp?S=8623449&nav=menu554_2_2

ACLU to investigate Rainbow Family treatment

Associated Press - July 5, 2008 5:25 PM ET
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) - The American Civil Liberties Union plans to investigate how federal law enforcement officers treated members of the Rainbow Family during their annual gathering this year in western Wyoming.
Federal officers arrested five Rainbow Family members Thursday night. The U.S. Forest Service says the arrests occurred after a mob of perhaps 400 Rainbows threw rocks and sticks at 10 agency police officers after they tried to arrest one member of the group.
Linda Burt is executive director of the ACLU in Wyoming. She says her organization plans to accept collect calls from Rainbow Family members for the next two weeks to hear how law enforcement treated them.
Burt says she's concerned about reports that law enforcement officers have been ticketing Rainbow Family members for the smallest traffic infractions. She also said she's heard reports that officers have walked among the Rainbow camps asking people if they're using drugs without reason to suspect that any crime has been committed.

 

Oh yeah, they had plenty of reason to suspect crimes were being committed, after all they were at a rainbow gathering weren't they!

 

Rainbow gathering inspires odd jurisprudence


By TOM MORTON
Casper Star-Tribune

FARSON - More than 100 participants in the annual Rainbow Family of Living Light "Gathering of the Tribes" near Big Sandy made appearances at a temporary federal court at the fire station here this week.

The U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management had issued numerous citations and warnings, ranging from traffic violations to drug possession, during the week before the event semi-officially began Tuesday.

Chief U.S. District Judge William Downes signed the unusual order to create the temporary courtroom because the closest federal courtrooms to the gathering are in Green River, Lander and Jackson, he said Thursday.

Farson was chosen because it is close to the gathering and because it imposed the least inconvenience to law enforcement and the Rainbow gathering participants, Downes said. "We sent the magistrate judges to them."

This marked the first time in Downes' nine-year tenure that he has signed an order to create a temporary court, he said. "But it was clearly appropriate here."

The court will remain as long as Rainbow gathering participants are in the area, he said.

About 40 participants appeared in court Wednesday, and an unknown number appeared Thursday, according to the clerk of federal court in Casper. One defendant on Wednesday apparently got out of hand and was zapped with a Taser, she said.

On Tuesday, about 70 participants appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Karen Marty of Green River.

One group of about a dozen defendants included a family with two children and a mother nursing an infant.

None of the defendants was in custody.

Seated behind the cited Rainbows were at least two dozen U.S. Forest Service officers and other members of law enforcement.

The Forest Service had assembled an incident management team of more than 40 officers from across the country, plus police dogs and administrative personnel, agency spokeswoman Rita Vollmer said before the gathering began. Vollmer did not respond to requests for comment on Thursday.

Those cited by the Forest Service and other agencies had been charged with Class B misdemeanors, which are punishable by up to a $5,000 fine and/or six months in jail, Marty told the court.

The U.S. attorney's office did not recommend any jail sentences for any of the charges, she added.

Several defendants had been arrested for minor traffic violations, including lack of proof of insurance, expired registration, failure to use a turn signal and parking five feet away from a posted area.

Based on the recommendations of U.S. Attorney Jim Anderson, Marty fined most of these defendants minor amounts such as $20, plus $25 in court costs and $10 for the victims' compensation fund.

Marty dismissed the citation of a Colorado man whose vehicle had one of his two rear license plate bulbs burn out during his 700-mile trip to the gathering.

Jim Anderson told the court most drug charges he would prosecute were related to marijuana possession, and he would recommend fines of $250.

However, one defendant who possessed multiple drugs and fireworks received a fine of $400.

Like other Rainbow Family events, the courtroom scenes took on their own surreal flavor.

The defendant with the $400 fine shook the hand of an officer before she left the building.

Other defendants mouthed "We love you" to the officers.

One officer gave a toy badge to a child of one of the defendants.

Another officer recorded the courtroom with a video camera. Recording and other electronic devices are forbidden in federal courtrooms unless a judge authorizes their use, Downes said.

Outside the fire station, Forest Service officers took their police dogs around vehicles to sniff for drugs.

U.S. marshals brought out a case of bottled water for the defendants lined up at the tent where security personnel conducted searches.

There, too, Rainbows made nice with the government.

One Rainbow asked a marshal how he kept a straight face.

"I'm smiling on the inside," he responded.


Published on Friday, July 04, 2008.
Last modified on 7/4/2008 at 12:49 am

http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2008/07/04/news/wyoming/45-rainbow.txt

 

I witnessed both professional and unprofessional behavior by LEO's at the Gathering. The use of ATV's early in the morning was also provocative. One day the walked from kitchen to kitchen claiming to be inspecting fire circles. Up at the "Earlybird Cafe" I took photos of them not taking pictures of the fire pits but of the Rainbows in the area. They took both still photos and video without asking. They also walked in and around tents taking pictures freely. A few days before the above "incident", they traveled to the north end of main meadow not far from "Kid Village". I was given the look over and asked where the trails were located. The other LEO's took out their ticket books and then walked into the western woodline looking for people to ticket. They wrote up several, had a discussion, and then rode over to the eastern edge to do the same. The questions I received were not very friendly but more of a demanding nature. I simply replied that I didn't know. In Colorado I received one of those "attending a Gathering of over 75..." tickets and had to go to court at the fire station. I hope that the ACLU will take this seriously as it is really taking place. We must not match "force with force" though however or this will get worse. Please family, be calm, listen, take notes, take pictures, but no rocks or sticks. Peace and nonviolence... Loving You.

 

ok considering the source, (i hate right wing propaganda)i wont post this complete article as it is basically a compilation of all the bad press since the decision was made to stay at big sandy with a "dirty hippies got what they deserved overtone to it..

you can read the entire article here,

http://worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=68868

i just wanted to note one particular comment at the beginning of the article..

sounds to me like it should have read,"the forest service gave the rainbow family a reason to regret there decision to stay at big sandy"...

 

holy shit 96 tabs..

 

One person was "uncooperative" and 400 people were on site and 2 sticks and 1 stone were thrown, and they need a federal courtroom to figure it out. And they still don't get it.

Are they ticketing on the way in for the over 75 thing?

 

man... we left the mountain the night before for we felt somthing strange and asked our magic hippie coin for advice and it said we should leave, so we bounced out and saw several sheriff, trooper and forest vehicles as we rolled out rolling in.

Man this bites, hope all the kiddies are off the mountain and the rest of the family safe travels.

pointing a rifle a baby's head is fucked up, fucked up.

fuck you mother fucking feds, all your motherfucking talk! and in your back yard you try to incite riots at peaceful gatherings by threatening children with guns, what the god damn mother fucking fuck?!

 

We already know who they are! We need to continue to be who we are and not them change us!

 

wow,,that makes 3 that felt the vibes of what was coming..

its a damn shame that there was such tension in the air that it prompted so many to leave(im sure if 3 have posted here many more left due to the same bad feelings),perhaps many not to even go..

i had a feeling when the senator and congress woman contacted the secretary of agriculture things would change on the land and it appears i was correct in my assumption..

thanks to all who were there that have posted here.
please if you have video or testimony of abuse of power by the feds i urge you to contact the ACLU..

if these actions are allowed to stand unchallenged and unpunished we can expect the treatment by the LEO's to only get worse..

once again thanks to the people that were on the land for posting here,hopefully we will learn more as folks venture back into babylon..

 

I'd rather cut Americans and paste people with bellybuttons there. The Family is all around Mother Earth. It's an indicator of authoritative behaviour developing world-wide (and which has been developing since 9/11) as an answer to what politicians want us to believe as a necessity to prevent any attack on the state.

This growing paranoia is an increasing world-wide phenomenon.

We need to radiate a lot of love and positive energy to put against it.
:grouphug:

Light and Love,

~*Ganesha*~

 

O.K. i broke my boycott of AGRo and found the good parts of the radio show on the incidents from july 3rd.

heres the link.
http://mp3.wtprn.com/Kelton08.html

on the show from july 3rd,the first hour,about the first third is on the gathering,about 12 minutes in rob savoy is on the phone telling the host that they have information the feds are planning a raid "to look for men with underage girls" when the shit in kiddie village goes down..
they describe feds in storm trooper gear plates on vehicles covered,badges covered and report of tasering in the parking lot..
about 49 minutes into the first hour a fairly badly articulated first account of the incident at kiddie village comes in..
in the second hour about 33 minutes in a much better account of what went down can be heard..

my take on all this? exactly what i expected from the day the senator and congress woman contacted the secretary of agriculture.
the feds were ordered to harass and intimidate in a attempt to create a situation that would justify a mass roundup of family..
thankfully it didnt come to that..

so much for cooperation huh?

 

they question arises,,were some of these "officers" military???
something i would not doubt nor discount being we are dealing with the feds and now knowing that a elite "terrorist task force" is out of wyoming and was just coming off a training mission in denver,that and the first hand account of seeing military helicopters at the gathering...

 

This is seriously not a good thing. And looks like the price of gas kept away about 13,000 folks this year.

 

does it bother anyone else that there has been essentially NO reports,nor news stories from the gathering since thursday night?
even the article about ohming on the 4th was posted shortly after midnight on the fourth..

ive looked everywhere and there is NOTHING as far as reports from family on the land since thursday night..

im sure nothing to bad is taking place (at least i hope ) but it just seems odd that after such a major incident that no one has made a effort to get out information on the situation there since...

 

I agree, I posted that because a lot of the legal foothold for the gathering here in the states is the 1 amendment which is an American amendment.

But I do agree the rainbow is a global phenomena we all pray for world peace…yeah

 

by all accounts there is LOTS of video of the day of the 3rd. i believe it just hasnt filtered out yet..
i actually read that some truthers were at the gathering as well and you know they dont go anywhere without a video camera..

im sure it wont be long and the videos will be up..

 

I am concerned that I haven't seen any posts from folks who I know & trust, folks who were posting last week...and there has been very little about this incident on agr e-mail. I would guess that any cell reception folks had earlier on in the Gathering has been cut off and that the library was closed yesterday, but still, Pinedale should have some wireless hotspots.

Skip, the feds have seized and destroyed video evidence before, sad but true...& I have experienced myself what they do to video evidence that the took themselves; chop it up to make them look good, despite the 'do not tamper' order and subliminal intimidation slid into the middle with the excuse that they did not have an unused tape to record what they claimed was on 8mm film (feds using 8mm film in '96, not even sure why they thought anyone would buy that story...also since Mike Parks from the FS saw the video within an hour of the '96 incident and apologized to the victim that same day I know it was all BS...but the courts will always side with their own unless the evidence is splayed across national or world-wide outlets)

It's a scary state of affairs in the US and those in yuppie-ville turn blind eyes while freedom disappears under the guise of keeping the nation safe.