Peace, love and probation
Rainbow campers facing rural justice
Charlie Brennan, Rocky Mountain News
Published June 24, 2006 at midnight
Routt County Sheriff John Warner spent much of Friday watching a federal court proceeding in a rural firehouse.
It was day one of a special session to process more than 200 members of the Rainbow Family cited for entering their chosen summer gathering area north of Steamboat Springs - for which the loose-knit coalition of traveling free spirits still has no permit.
"It's slow," Warner said. "A lot of these people are wanting a trial to the judge. At 10:30 this morning, we were six-for-six" in convictions.
The unusual serving of justice was being doled out at Routt County Fire Station 2 in Clark, near Steamboat Lake.
Although the campers' citations were punishable by up to six months in jail and/or a fine of $5,000, Warner said the most typical sentence for the tie-dyed campers Friday was probation, with the added condition that they must leave the forest.
The 35th annual weeklong summer gathering of the Rainbow Family of Living Light, slated for the Hahns Peak/Bears Ears Ranger District in Routt National Forest, doesn't officially begin for another week.
But at least 2,000 of the nomads have poured into the Big Red Park area. It has been estimated that more than 20,000 might be on hand a week from now.
Thursday, the Forest Service denied one Rainbow's application for the needed permit - based on fire safety concerns and a conflict with activities already permitted in the area.
Rainbows customarily go by whimsical names they have chosen for themselves, but Warner said U.S. Magistrate Judge David West, who had traveled over from his usual base in Gunnison, was having none of it.
"He is addressing them by their God-given names, and the tickets are written out that way, too," Warner said.
About 80 Rainbows were on Friday's docket, and Warner said the ad-hoc court sessions were to continue today.
Meanwhile, Warner confirmed that he has asked for assistance from police agencies across the state - but he declined to provide many details.
"I'm not even going to tell you how many," he said. "I'm not going to expose our plan to them."
But Colorado State Patrol Master Trooper Ron Watkins said that 12 troopers are being deployed and should arrive in Routt County by Thursday.
Warner said he knew of no plan to evict campers. For now, he said he expects that Forest Service officials will simply continue to write citations.
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