bad news

well, I tried to go home today. I was met at the beginning of FS 505 by a Feddie road block. There were (as of 7 am today,6/20) about thirty 'rainbow vehicles' and at least 50 hippies on the outside of the roadblock. I was told there are either a 'couple hundred' or a 'few hundred' or 'several hundred' folks who are inside the site, depending on who I asked, The people on site obviously got there before the feds. The FS ICT will not allow anybody in or out (people can leave but they may not return). Also, they are writing tickets. I spoke to one person who was ticketed for walking past the imaginary line that the Feddies have drawn in the sand. Court date for the tickets is on 6/23. The folks at the road block said that the folks who are behind the roadblock are being hassled and ticketed, although I could not speak to any of them.
It was rather grim. Many of the folks outside the roadblock arrived after the roadblock was started (aprox. 3 pm mon) but many of them were already on site and thus, all of their gear is behind the roadblock. Picture 20 or 30 kids with no food, water, blankets, sleeping bags etc. Remember, it's cold at night in the Rocky Mountains.
Oh, one more thing. When the roadblock was begun (again aprox. 3 pm mon) all of the rainbow radios went static. They are jamming radio signals and we are in a forced state of radio silence.

 

wow hardball as usuall..

so where is the pre arranged permited sight??

hehehhehehehhehhe..

so what is there actuall complaint this time?? hmm no bat caves outside steamboat.. could it be mountain lion caves??

as far as folks stranded without food.. aint happenin.. gurrilla supply lines were in place last year before we were moved,,im sure they are now..

ahh gotta love the mellow drama of it all..

serious,, any info on what the leos beef is this year??

 

oh kids on the outside of the roadblock aint got there gear?? well help em out...

hmm this seems to be cuttin it close,, 12 days before the gatherin an there playin hardball..

interesting,, nothing on AGR about this roadblock...

 

eww a black armband scenario..

so perhaps the ones on the inside who have already signed the permit have the leos cock blockin the road dogs an green horns,, on account they in there wisdom feel we are only allowed in 3 to 5 days before the sight is perfect???

ive heard strange things about strange things.. they never make sence,, so i dont care.. nor believe..

no worrys the gatherin will go down..

somewhere,, or everywhere.. love n light

 

off agr,,..


plunker shit




Howdy,


the People have landed and no permit has been signed...
hopefully, the Forest Service will use "alternative manner" i.e.
accommodate, waiver... and use an Co-Operating Plan worked out
between Gatherers and FS...


And hopefully, the FS will not interrupt Ceremonies -
prayers and petitions for peace and healing - and will in fact, act
in a non-discriminating and respectful manner...


Whether folks accept or believe that Rainbow Family Tribe is a
Spiritual Expressive Assembly/Association, that Invites All People to
come and Share Common Ground... in a "peaceable assembly for purposes
of _expression" i.e. Annual Gathering July 1-7...


OR folks accept and believe that Annual Gathering is simply an
Peaceable Expressive Assembly -- either way any Peaceable Assembly
has Rights, and Rights to Self-determination...


Gathering in Solidarity as people seeking Freedom and
Liberty or in Solidarity as Rainbow People seeking Freedom and
Liberty... either way.... individuals and the Assembly itself have
Constitutional Rights...


hopefully, there will be no one who will sign a permit
illegally... and without the peoples' will in the matter, the
peoples' agreement i.e. consensus for such an action, then a person
outa look at the reality of signing away the Rights of People who
would rather stand on their own and in Solidarity seek/petition the
FS to do the right thing and use the section of 36 CFR 251 that
allows for an "alternative manner' to be used...


hence, the FS can accomplish their "goals' of environmental
and public health concerns... and the Rainbows and friends can
Gather for petition and prayer on the public lands in relative peace...


thank you, whoever you may be, who might have been
considering signing a permit (illegally) for not doing so as yet, and
hopefully not at all, please let the People stand in Solidarity and
seek to Petition and Pray the FS, et. al... will take up the path of
peace... then, there will be still a small Lamp of Liberty still
burning in this Country...


This Country is busy telling the World how it
is to live in "Liberty and Freedom" yet this Country still Declares
an Emergency when 20,000 tourists i.e. Gatherers show up with Cash...
to an area remote as possible - scouts, spring circle done a good job
this year it appears -- who come in Peace, with families... Share the
Day and then Go Away, leaving the land the people with good vibes...


FS acting in peaceful cooperation with Rainbow Gatherers is
a small step for Peace and Healing in a World of Woes... I pray the
FS, and all its agents, Resource and LEO have their minds open, their
hearts clear, and act in the best Way... and go for Peace this year
in Colorado...
peace, love, and I am rolling,
barry, plunker, montana


--

 

Free the People from permits & roadblocks!!! Time to call out the Rainbow Navy; build another Ho Chi Moa Trail; they tried to keep the Family out of the Gathering in TX'88 but where there's a will, there's a way! Vibes of strength & Love to all the Warriors of the Rainbow; may they have the will to Free the Rainbow!!!!

 

ill update this, i was just there
around noon todday, teus. the roadblock was broken. the folks who were 'locked' out simply began rushing through. the FS took off so fast they left their lights and genorator behind, and all the folks who arrived monday night made it in. i left just after this, gave two kids a ride who had taken video of the blockade and the weapons the FS had, they needed to get the footage to the media (and probably have done so by now). as we left, about a mile out, we passed the 'bigger better' convoy. the FS returned with the sherrifs deputies, maybe 20 vehicles total, some unmarked. i dont know what happened after that...
but the good news is...the site is really really beautiful. the way things looked some more people prolly got arrested today, but things are bound to calm down.

 

I posted the onsite reports over to agr. I hope ya'll don't mind. They only noted there was a blockade, without details. ..

~w~

 

Officials abandon checkpoint after 'hippie' run-in

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS — U.S. Forest Service officers drew their shotguns but then got into their vehicles and abandoned a checkpoint without firing a shot after about 200 people at the Rainbow Family gathering surrounded the officers, an agency spokeswoman said.

''We're not going to compromise the safety of our officers,'' agency spokeswoman Denise Ottaviano said Tuesday. ''We have to reavaluate whether or not we're going to continue any checkpoints because of what happened.''

At least 500 people have converged in Routt National Forest for the gathering but the Forest Service had been turning away new arrivals from entering because the group hasn't gotten a permit for large groups. The group's annual event, often described as a huge gathering of hippies, is expected to draw between 15,000 and 20,000 people to the Routt National Forest for a weeklong July 4th event.

About 60 to 80 people already at the event site approached the officers who had been turning people away and surrounded them in a ''hostile manner'', Ottaviano said.

She said more than 100 other people who had been hanging out near the checkpoint because they were not allowed in joined the smaller group, forcing the officers to retreat.

Ottaviano said the checkpoint has been disbanded. No one was stopping people from entering the area but officers will continue their patrols, she said.

The Forest Service began issuing citations on Monday and so far about 60 people have been cited, she said.

Groups of 74 or more are required to get a free permit but no one has responded to the agency's request to apply for one, she said. The group can still apply for a permit and the Forest Service must issue a response within 48 hours.

In the meantime, the Forest Service has closed two motorized trails near the gathering near Big Red Park to avoid any potential conflict between recreationists and the Rainbow Family, she said. Trails 1204 and 1199 are set to be closed through Aug. 20 because it could take that long for all the participants to leave.

The group gathers each year on public lands. Last year, about 15,000 turned out for the event in Monongahela National Forest in West Virginia and the 2004 event drew about 19,000 to the Modoc National Forest in California.

 

Heyzeus thanks for the update.
Poorphucker,thanks for posting that news item. where did that article come from?

 

Rocky Mountain News is where the article came from.

(here) (seems page is blank today)

Another newer article in the same paper is (here)

Peace flees somewhere over the Rainbows ...

Forest Service says communal group menaced officers

It's not starting out with an abundance of peace and love. Federal forest officials Tuesday clashed with members of the Rainbow Family north of Steamboat Springs, where the free-spirited tribe plans to hold its annual summer gathering of as many as 20,000 celebrants next month.

The 35th annual Rainbow Gathering of the Tribes for World Peace & Healing is to be held July 1-7 in the Routt National Forest but so far hasn't gotten a special-use permit.

Denise Ottaviano, an information officer for the National Incident Management Team, said about 15 U.S. Forest Service law enforcement officers were forced to abandon a safety-and-information checkpoint after being encircled in a hostile manner by more than 200 Rainbows.

The conflict was sparked by the U.S. Forest Service's decision to start issuing citations to early-bird Rainbow campers entering the Hahns Peak-Bears Ears Ranger District - roughly 30 miles north-northeast of Steamboat Springs - without a special-use permit.

Ottaviano said the permit is required for a gathering of more than 74 people on Forest Service land.

About midday Tuesday, Ottaviano said, "a group of between 60 to 80 Rainbows started approaching the law enforcement officers from the interior of the gathering area in a very hostile manner.

"They broke up into groups and started surrounding the law enforcement officers at the checkpoint, and that incited the group of about 200 that was outside of the gathering area to then also approach and join in with the group that was already there, and start surrounding the law enforcement officers."

Ottaviano said that when the officers saw they were encircled, they drew their weapons but did not fire. They were then able to get into their cars and leave.

News of trouble in a planned paradise 10 days before the start of the Rainbows' mass summer reveries didn't sit well with Rob Savoye. He's a 47-year-old Rainbow Family member who lives near Nederland and helped locate this year's gathering site. He wasn't present at Tuesday's confrontation.

The problem with securing the required permit for the use of the federal land, Savoye said, is "nobody is in charge (of the Rainbows), and so nobody can sign a permit.

"We always say, anybody who looks like they're in charge, obviously isn't."

That reasoning won't wash with the feds.

"They have the constitutional right to gather on national forest system land, as does any group for any reason," Ottaviano said. "But they also have the legal responsibility to obtain the free special-use permit."

The Rainbows' permitting conflict has been played out for several years in a row, Savoye said.

"The last several years, somebody - most of the time unbeknownst to the rest of us - typically just jumps out of the woodwork to sign a permit, to save everybody from harassment," said Savoye, who describes himself as the Rainbows' "self-appointed Web site maintainer."

The Rainbows' literature describes the purpose of their annual summer communing with nature and one another as "expressing our sincere desire that there shall be peace on earth, harmony among all people."

 

The article was from Rocky Mountain News; it's posted on AGR too.

The LEOs never know what to do when they are surrounded; not enough bullets to shoot all the hippies and it wouldn't look good in the press shooting unarmed hippies. In Mo'96 & AZ'98(?) the LEOs threatened to bring in the National Guard to round up the hippies after they were surrounded, course they never did; some of the LEOs even apologized after the MO incident.

There's a lot to be said for holding the ground; Go Family Go!

and on the second article-ROTFLMAO 'surrounded in a hostile manner' They're the ones with guns trying to stop the people from using lands which belong to the people using the special use permit regs that were written just for Rainbow as an excuse. And exactly what excuse to they have for the road blocks in TX'88(or any other Gathering before the regs were put in place); no permit regs until '96 and even then, they weren't sure how to enforce them except by all out harrassment...

 

Yep, I bet the family was ohming at them real scary like. Either that or someone offer them hugs and it just scared them senseless.

 

HEY FAMILY!! I am leaving from Oregon Saturday the 25th and will be taking the interstate thru Wyoming and dropping into CO, does anyone know any SAFE alternate routes? Hopefully the 6-up will be a little less harrassing and we can actually get there, if anyone has any info at all PLEASE EMAIL ME!! wildjuniper_7@yahoo.com!

 

interesting article. if thats true then the convoy i saw was not headed to make another roadblock.
another thing the articles fail to mention, is that there really are a lot of rainbows at the site. i'd say well over 800.

 

Hey Fam, another ?, at California 2004 I came across the hammock camp, swingn in the trees, anybody know if this camp is going to be in CO? If so, youll find me there in my hammock...CANT WAIT TO BE HOME!!!! Juniper

 

gotta love the leos .. heres there side..

http://www.fs.fed.us/r2/mbr/news/2006/rainbow.shtml

News Release
USDA Forest Service
Rocky Mountain Region
Medicine Bow & Routt National Forests, Thunder Basin National Grassland


Contact: Denise Ottaviano, 505-301-1289

Diann Ritschard, 970-870-2187

Rainbow Gathering Illegal; Temporary Prohibitions Enacted
(Steamboat Springs, CO) June 20, 2006– The Rainbow Family has not yet obtained a special use permit for its annual gathering on the Routt National Forest. Therefore, participants and spectators involved in the illegal gathering are in violation of federal regulations and are being issued citations.

Also, Forest Supervisor Mary Peterson on the Routt National Forest enacted several temporary restrictions in and near where the gathering is occurring near Big Red Park for the purposes of public health and safety. The restrictions will be in place from June 20 until August 20 or until circumstances change.

National Forest System trails number 1204 and 1199 near Big Red Park will be closed from June 20 until August 20, 2006, for public safety. The trails are in the vicinity of the Rainbow Family gathering, which is expected to draw 10,000 – 20,000 people for a July 4 event. Participants have already begun arriving and will continue to arrive for the next couple of weeks and then migrate back out for several weeks following the event. The area is expected to be very congested during that time.

“This is the least restrictive we could be and still provide for safety,” said Law Enforcement Officer Dan Nielsen. “These closures represent only about 15 miles of the several hundred miles of motorized trails on the Routt National Forest.” For the status of all trails on the Hahns Peak/Bears Ears Ranger District of the Routt National Forest, please call the District office at 970-879-1870.

Thirty Forest Service law enforcement officers will be in the Big Red Park area for the next several weeks and will write citations for people not abiding by Forest Service regulations and closure orders, including local residents.

Other prohibitions include:

• public nudity

• camping within 150 feet of any running stream or body of water

• placing kitchen facilities, food preparation areas, gray water pits or slit trenches within 300 feet of any running stream or body of water

• Placing kitchen facilities, food preparation areas, gray water pits or slit trenches within 150 feet of any open road.

• Cutting any standing trees in the area described as: north of Forest Road 505, west of Forest Road 498, south of the private property in Big Red Park and east of Forest Road 500.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

News Release
USDA Forest Service
Rocky Mountain Region
Medicine Bow & Routt National Forests, Thunder Basin National Grassland


Contact: Denise Ottaviano, 505-301-1289

Diann Ritschard, 970-870-2187

Permit Not Obtained to Legally Conduct Rainbow Family Gathering
(Steamboat Springs, CO) June 15, 2006- The Rainbow Family of Living Light has chosen the Big Red Park area of the Hahns Peak/Bears Ears Ranger District of the Routt National Forest in northern Colorado to hold their 2006 annual gathering. These annual gatherings have been known to attract up to 15,000-25,000 people.

Currently, there are over 74 individuals on-site for the purpose of attending the annual gathering which requires the Rainbow Family to obtain a special use permit from the Forest Service for noncommercial group use. At this time, the Rainbow Family has not submitted a special use permit and are gathered illegally.

According to the Forest Service noncommercial group use regulation, a permit is required for noncommercial group use of National Forest System (NFS) lands for any activity that involves a group of 75 or more people, either as participants or spectators. The permit is free.

The Forest Service has delivered an application for a special use permit to members of the Rainbow Family and has expressed their willingness to work with the Rainbows on site selection and the issuance of a permit. A permit can be approved only if certain criteria are met which take into consideration public health and safety, as well as environmental factors.

The Forest Service recognizes that the Rainbow Family, like any other large group, has a constitutional right to gather on National Forest System lands, along with a legal responsibility to attain the required special use permit. The permit process does not interfere with the content or function of any group who wants to gather on NFS lands. Rather, the permit establishes time, place and manner restrictions that have been upheld by the Supreme Court and do not interfere with constitutional rights.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

News Release
USDA Forest Service
Rocky Mountain Region
Medicine Bow & Routt National Forests, Thunder Basin National Grassland


Contact: Denise Ottaviano, 505-301-1289

Diann Ritschard, 970-870-2187



National Team Arrives to Help Manage Impact of Rainbow Gathering
(Steamboat Springs, CO) June 14, 2006- The Forest Service's National Incident Management Team has arrived in Steamboat Springs, Colo. to help manage the impacts of a large group event taking place on the Routt National Forest. The Rainbow Family of Living Light is holding their annual gathering 40 miles north of Steamboat Springs in the area of Big Red Park on the Hahns Peak/Bears Ears Ranger District. The annual gathering is advertised as being from July 1 to July 7 and could possibly draw from 15,000 to 25,000 people.

The Forest Service will manage the gathering using a National Incident Management Team consisting of Forest Service resource managers from throughout the country, including professionals in law enforcement, safety and health, and community relations.

The Team will work to minimize resource impacts on National Forest System lands and ensure the health and safety of all forest visitors. Team members are working closely with the local Forest Service office, communities and Rainbow Family attendees to help manage impacts to the area.

The area where the gathering is taking place accounts for a small percentage of the 1.2 million acres of the Routt National Forest. Many forest recreational opportunities will be remain available throughout the coming weeks as well as a variety of community events in Steamboat Springs and surrounding communities.

# # # #


i just love how they tell us what there thinking.. of course we know what there thinking..

pfft/...
stay strong family,, we dont need no fuckin permit!!!!

 

everyone, this is important, if your requested to sign a permit or take a citation..take a citation!!! let themm hand out 1000 tickets.. &, when you go to court (typicaly a special rainbow court is declared at the closest convienient location to the site) do not plead guilty, or no contest (unless the rainbow lawyers suggest it) and, of they do what they did last year, give you an option of a small fine, or X # of hours of rainbow cleanup..take the cleanup, alotta folks took the fines thinking the rainbow cleanup would be forced with rangers following them around, but thats not the case, the judges fecognize that we are being harrassed, they would love to allow us to go scott free however they have to deal with 1000 angry ticketed hippies so they are very linient but not as lienient as they would be maybe
many times in the past when we were hassled the judges reprimanded the fs & leo's & even the governors came out & tolfd them to back off
1 other interesting note, the fs article says that the regs held up in the supreme court.. that is false, the supreme court has refused to hear the case so far (correct me if i'm wrong) however when its 4 people taking theyre cases tothe supreme court its ez to ignore, but if its 500+ they will have to hear it
stand strong & stand together, not in confrontation, but in unity..never give up your rights

 

i the real reason they closed those trails is to stop folks from bringing food in to the family. while there was a blockade (dunno if there still is) people had to 'ninja' miles through the woods to get food and supplies. people let the FS know that women and children are rainbows too, and they need food and supplies!

 

the courts upheld the decision years ago that they are not aloud to block supplies disabled access or medical transport & i believe part of that decision was that a shuttle would be allowed through
the fs & leo's are fuckin up left & right & the more they do the sooner a higher up will get em to back off