Tensions grow at Rainbow camp as melee erupts

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

[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.