Free Republic

The Rainbow Gathering and the U.S. Forest Service continue to trade charges over the festival that is expected to draw 10,000 people to a Northern New Mexico forest by Independence Day. More than 200 people so far have had to travel 240 miles round-trip from the site in the Santa Fe National Forest near Cuba, N.M., to Albuquerque to see U.S. Chief Magistrate Lorenzo Garcia ... Forest Service spokeswoman Denise Ottaviano said only six of the arrests have been for felonies — assault on a federal officer, theft of government property, damage to government property and conspiracy. Seized drugs, she...

Biggest concern is human and dog waste contained in a trench, Forest Service says... Between 300 and 500 people remain in Big Red Park this week after the mass exodus of people from the Rainbow Gathering in Medicine Bow/Routt County National Forest. The Forest Service is working with these people this week to develop the environmental rehabilitation process, after an estimated 15,000 people attended the annual event. So far, approximately 600 citations have been distributed by the Forest Service for camping and parking violations. The Forest Service’s biggest concern regarding the rehabilitation is the human and dog waste, which is...