Rainbow Family Blocked in Forest

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Rainbow Family Blocked in Forest

By LEAH DEITZ

U.S. Forest Service authorities have denied a permit application for the 2005 National Rainbow Gathering, but campers say they are going in anyway. Meanwhile, a U.S. Forest Service roadblock has separated many campers from family, friends and food supplies.
When the counterculture group last gathered in West Virginia 25 years ago, two women hitchhiking to the event were murdered in Pocahontas County. Those murders remain unsolved.

The Rainbow Family group announced earlier this month that the gathering would return to West Virginia, bringing thousands of nature lovers to a chosen site. Dozens of the group have arrived in the state as part of a scouting group in advance of a major event at the end of the month, expected to bring thousands to eastern West Virginia.

The site they appear to have chosen, however, has left them at odds with the U.S. Forest Service over the safety of several endangered species and the permit process.

"They (Rainbows) can come out, they just can't return," U.S. Forest Service's Rainbow Family Incident Team Information Officer Steve Stein said. "This is an unapproved site and they need to come out."

Campers are circumventing the roadblock, which entails a five- or six-mile hike and makes bringing in supplies difficult.

"We don't go around chasing people through the woods, so people can always sneak in," Stein said. "I drove through yesterday and there seemed to be a lot of empty camp sites."

The decision to go around the roadblock resulted from a democratic council amongst Rainbow attendees Thursday. Individuals were seeking entrance into the parking and camping facilities on the Forest Service recreational property along the Glady Fork River east of Otter Creek.

According to Stein, Forest Service officials will continue to enforce regulations if campers pursue the spot. "Upon the circumstances, we will have to take the appropriate legal actions," he said.

During the council, a camper read a message saying, "a gentle answer turns away wrath" and emphasized that campers should be respectful toward law enforcement agents at all times.

The permit application was denied because of environmental concerns regarding five species listed on a federal endangered species list, Stein said, including the Indiana Bat, Cheat Mountain salamander, Virginia big-eared bat and the West Virginia northern flying squirrel.

However, Rainbows contend that there is no rainbow organization, therefore there isn't a person "in charge" to sign a permit.

"We need someone to sign for the group," Stein said. "I don't know to how define a group, that isn't my area of expertise."

Currently, scouts and other interested volunteers are awaiting permission to enter the site so they can prepare the area for the thousands of other people who may want to visit the gathering site between now and the highly anticipated July 4 weekend event. Rainbow support teams are coming into the area to help assist in preparations which include impact mitigation.

Many Rainbow guests pride themselves on creating as little of an impact on the natural habitat as possible, gatherers said.

According to Rainbow Investigator for PCU Free Assembly Project Scott Addison, gatherers historically implement low-impact mitigation plans in order to have the lowest amount of disturbance on the natural habitat.

"These people have a long history of effective impact mitigation," Addison said.

Many gatherers at council asked that the others in attendance show respect for salamander species and other native creatures to the area.

Those outside of the gathering are anxious to begin privy, kitchen and other necessary site preparations while many inside the gathering are in need of clean water and food and anticipate finding members of their party, Rainbows said.

On Thursday, several campers crowded around, expressing their frustrations at not being allowed to reunite with family, friends and pets that are inside the site. One gatherer, identified as Leo, had already received nine tickets for trying to travel in and around the site. Others expressing concerns included a husband separated from his wife and a set of parents separated from their children by the roadblock.

A gatherer known as "Spidermonkey" said he was worried about his dog and her 7-week-old puppies. He said someone coming out of the camp told him the puppies were safe.

Forest Service officials had asked for a Rainbow representative to sign an application for a gathering permit. However, there is no official organization responsible for a Rainbow gathering, campers said. The Thursday council exemplified communication tactics for Rainbow attendees.

A circle was formed by any and all who chose to participate and each person took a turn to tell their names and their suggestions and concerns about the site.

Most gatherers expressed their individual desire to stay at the Glady Fork site near Alpena, W.Va., although Forest Service officials had offered to move the gathering to an abandoned mine site near the area.

"I asked the law enforcement officers if they would send their children to play on that site, and they said 'no,'" a camper named Purple said.

Back in W.Va.

By The Associated Press

The summer of 1980 was the first time the Rainbow Family had met in the eastern United States, and it was the last time they met in West Virginia.

Nancy Santomero, 19, of Huntington, N.Y., and Vicki Duran, 26, of Wellman, Iowa, were shot to death at Droop Mountain Battlefield State Park on June 25, 1980, while on their way to the Rainbow Family gathering in the Monongahela National Forest.

Their bodies were found on Briery Knob in Pocahontas County, about seven miles from the park.

Jacob Beard, a former Hillsboro resident, was sentenced to two concurrent life terms and served nearly six years in prison after being convicted of the murders in 1993. A new trial was ordered after serial killer Joseph Paul Franklin confessed to the murders. A Braxton County jury found Beard not guilty in May 2000.

In 2003, the state agreed to pay nearly $2 million to Beard, who filed a lawsuit against prosecutors and police alleging police coerced witnesses and ignored physical evidence that did not support their case against him.

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