Gawd damn hippies
May be more than you want to see.
Posted on 06/27/2003 9:00:38 AM PDT by 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.
Pray? To whom? Oh, that's right; mother Gaia, the Earth goddess.
Something like this?
Gawd damn hippies
May be more than you want to see.
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.
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,Isn't that special....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.
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.
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