5 arrested in Rainbow Family clash with feds

I did not see the whole thing happen, but did see some of it. So here is what I saw:
It was kind of like the perfect storm.
It happened during the Dinner Circle on the night of the 3rd. Someone yelled "Fire" at kiddie village, so lots of folks started to run towards kiddie village. There was one guy who was waving everyone on, so alot of us thought there was really a fire. My guess is that one of the Feds yelled to fire and then someone heard fire and then the next thing you knew, there were lots of people yelling that there was a fire. As we got closer to kiddie village, I started to hear gunshots ( probably pepper balls). So firing started way before the group of people got to kiddie village. Then the cops, came out of the treeline with two people that they had arrested. My guess is that the cops were stunned and frightened when they saw all these people ( I am gonna guess 500 to 1000 people since it was right at dinner circle on the busiest night) running towards them, but really what was happening was we all thought it was a fire. It seemed the cops were all calm, except for this one cop who was the one firing. I saw this one brother, running up to them, which I thought was not a good idea, and the cop shot him three times with the pepper balls. Then the crowd surrounded them and started to taunt them. They fired more balls at the crowd and then the crowd started to chant, " Shame on You". There were a few brothers who were more confrontational and some of the elders were pushing them back. The cops then started to leave the meadow and the crowd followed them. I left then, but that is when I heard some rocks were thrown.
I then went to CALM ( the hospital of the Gathering) and people started to come in who had been shot, one brother who it seems was shot in the eye. We treated them and they turned out to be fine. We heard on the radio that the cops were massing with riot gear and were about to come into the gathering, but never did.
Then it was over.
So, to sum up what I saw and my opinion:
-- the atmosphere to start was bad since the cops were harrassing the family as they were entering. When we got there, we were told to use all of our blinkers when turning, etc. As we drove up, there we people pulled over and all there stuff was all taken out of the car. So, to start there was animosity.
-- overall the cops were really not around the Gathering all that much compared to years previously.
-- it really was the perfect storm, since so many people were running over due to someone yelling fire
-- I think a part of the problem was the ones of the family who got agressive. I am all for standing up for our rights, but rushing and throwing stuff at the cops is really not the way to go.
-- the whole thing was really not that big of a deal. It happened super quick and ended super quick ( lasted a total of 10 minutes) and then all was back to normal.
-- it did piss me off and I did send a letter that the cops had to do this in kiddie village of all places. I suggest others to write them as well. Shooting pepper spray around kids is shameful.
-- I love you all

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1SL58BHBSc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cV9s7rT1-iY

 

I just got back into babylon yesterday, wasn't actually at Kid Village when the incident occured but a good Shanti Sena friend of mine was & she came by the Musical Veggie shortly after to let us know what went down... Pepper balls were fired on the crowd well before any aggro moves were made by the family. Someone shouted 'fire' & family started running with water pails to the source, only to be randomly fired upon by the LEO's with the pepper balls. NO sticks or rocks were thrown until WELL after the first shots were fired, & it was only one brother who threw anything at all & he was quickly chastized by the family. One brother was shot with a pepper ball in the shoulder when attempting to calm another brother down... All in all it was a crazy incident, I'm sure the FS will love using this as a prime reason to criminalize the gatherings once more..
Not to mention the forest fire started on the seventh which was far too convinient to be an accident.. LEO's were forcibly evacuating family all day on the seventh...

 

maybe they shouldnt have that many police around and find a different means of "protecting" everyone. i would never go to a gathering if thats what its all about. its not fair for all those people who wanted to use the gathering as something to grow with.

 

This was a very small portion of the gathering. The other 99.9% of the gathering was amazing as always. It was my first gathering and I just cant wait to go again! The government fears us, because we dont need them.

 

Star-Tribune
Wednesday, July 9, 2008

John Twiss, head of the Forest Service Law Enforcement and Investigations in Washington, D.C., was part of the response team. He said his officers showed restraint during the encounter. Witnesses, however, have claimed the officers pointed guns at women and children.
Now, Twiss said the agency must consider banning the group from Forest Service lands.
Denying people access to public lands is not the proper response. It makes no sense to punish an entire group for the actions of a few, who may not even be members of the Rainbow Family.
But if the group wants to use Forest Service land again, it should follow the process. The agency needs to insist that the Rainbows obtain a permit. There shouldn't be any exceptions simply because it's an amorphous group that lacks any organization. Someone in the Rainbow Family needs to step up and make a commitment that the group will abide by the rules. It's ridiculous for the members to think they can have 7,000 people go wherever they please without causing major problems.
Laws should be obeyed, but many Rainbows routinely break drug laws at their gatherings. They shouldn't be surprised that law enforcement present to keep order will make arrests. One way to ensure that children will be protected is for the Rainbow Family to self-police and allow no drugs near the kids' village.
We suspect many Wyoming residents would be more sympathetic to the group and its desire to visit the state if illegal drugs were not part of its "culture."
After last week's incident, we doubt that the Rainbow Family will return to Wyoming anytime soon. But no matter where they gather in the future, they should be guaranteed access to Forest Service lands as long as they agree to follow Forest Service rules.

LINK


I like the second comment in the comment section.

" Folks like the Rainbows are the canaries in the coal mine of our civil liberties. What we condone the feds doing to them today may very well become the norm for all of us tomorrow."

 

I like this comment, but don't know the source or the validity of it. It is from the comments on the link by zihger:

farmer joe wrote on Jul 9, 2008 11:41 AM:

" Why do you insist on reporting blatant lies? I am working with the Boy Scouts, our Order of the Arrow group has not been canceled or moved or changed in any way. It begins on July 26th and is nowhere near the Rainbow Gathering site. It is the duty of the press to report facts, not to perpetuate rumors. Either cite your source or print a redaction. We believe our work is important and the false reporting is hurting our numbers and our moral. "

 

Fuck the police all ways sticken their noses up some ones ass...

 

This is what, from what I've read, has always been the case that there was never a confict between the Rainbow Gathering and the Boy Scouts but people keep saying that they were displaced. Why?

 

The "elder" arrested was Fonty Fox,
http://www.myspace.com/fonty_fox The attack on KV was, from what I saw, a coordinated tactical sweep to arrest and extract him, not just "officers on patrol"...They knew who they were looking for, and had a fairly good idea of what they would find when the found him. I believe that the fact the arrest took place in KV was, for USFuSs, simply a lucky coincidence.

Cindy and I were about 100 yards from the action, with trees in the way, Dragonfly was at Circle, none close enough to get hurt. My radio saved my ass from wandering into the situation.

We're in Lexington NE, back in Knoxville in a couple days. I'll have time to post a more detailed repote then.

 

the "conflict" is coming from the quotes the government controlled press is using..

as far as what i have read over the weeks,the just of the situation was,and is that if the rainbows were not out of the area by the 26th,the feds had 3 or 4 other projects in the same area for them to work on..
also from day one it has been said that there project was actually on the other side of the mountain from the gathering..

as far as i have read the boy scouts were fine with whatever was decided..

what it boils down to is a few people bitched to there congress woman and senator,,when dealing with "dirty hippies" and boy scouts thats all it takes to create a "conflict" and the press has ran with it..

the sad part is that the damage is done and the days of forest service cooperation are over..IMO..
you see it no longer matters what the boy scouts say,its what the politicians demand..

 

glad to know yall are all well brother..

over the last couple days we have began to think that the day of the 3rd was blown out of proportion and something tells me after reading your post and a couple other comments elsewhere as well it definitely was..that and the fact that there has been no cooberating video to back up the claim of a day filled with random harassment and intimidation..

sadly that doesnt change the damage done..

looking forward to your full report as i know i can trust you to have your facts straight and to not be bias to any side..

once again,glad yall are well.. take care,,.. tell d fly and cindy we said hey..

 

Now I'm really wondering what really happened...me'n'JuJu know Fonty & I can't really see what Fonty would have done to cause the feds to extract him from KV & place children in harm's way. Fonty doesn't drink when Home & he isn't radical enough to cause any kind of scene.

ok-rumor is getting around austin & says that they got him...but still I don't understand why they couldn't have waited until he was back near his own camp?!!?!?!?!

 

Fonty Fox's actions that day were irresponsible. I won't say here what he had been doing in Kid Village all day, but anyone who was there saw him doing it. His flagrant actions are what brought the feds down on kv. He could just have easily been doing that in his tent... or at Jerusalem camp, for that matter. That's just my opinion, but I think that Felipe would agree.

 

if people saw irresponsible actions, then why didn't anyone ask him to take it down the trail?

 

There something on youtube I thought I would post here.

Hello, I'm a reporter with the Associated Press in Cheyenne. I'm trying
to reach people who were present at the Forest Service arrest of members
of the Rainbow Family on July 3. If you or anyone you know was there,
and saw what happened, please have them call me as soon as possible:
Ben Neary, Reporter, The Associated Press
1-800-442-2451.

 

^Ohh. The AP…

Be careful what you say around those guys..
They are famous for twisting words to go along with what’s on the agenda.

News reporting at its worst.

 

Yeah I think contacting Debra Stevens from We The People Radio would be a better idea. I dont know anything about her other than I learned in the July 3rd show though.

http://www.wtprn.com/contact.html

Thats where you can contact her.

 

I believe he was asked to, but "it'll just be a couple more minutes." He was extremely mellow but not so low key. Even at the Gathering one or two things still ought to be on the down-low.

 

Of course it's better when people use discression

But I still am not willing to give the feds any room on why they chose to make the arrest in Kiddie Village; if one of their spys made the initial report which led to the arrest, then the feds could have had him tailed until he was a safe distance from Kiddie Villiage.