{news} Fwd: Feds preventing peaceful gathering in W. Va., enforcing blockade of state forest

[Karin Lee Norton]

Delivered-To: klnorton at greens.org
From: Garjurney at aol.com
Date: Wed, 15 Jun 2005 18:55:23 EDT
Subject: Glowing Feathers Update
CC: (names deleted for privacy)

Hi everyone,
  We received this newest update from Glowing Feather, but found it barely
readable because of hotmail squiggles. So here is a cleaned up version of the
update. Thank you Glowing Feather for your timely news.


See you all soon in the hills of WV.

                                     spotted zebra

  Info from the front line.

There now is an encampment of vehicles &; rainbows 1/4 mile long waiting to
get in. I guess we found parking. They are all off the road. There are plenty
(Miles) of places to pull over and that's where the majority of folks are
going. I again tried to get in for day visit and was denied and even 
they used the
word quantined I guess that's even stronger than a blockade. They thus far
have not ticketed those waiting but they all will be subject to 
ticket, thus far
no arrests. They have issued over 120 tickets for two mass court dates the
first being on June 28th. They are closing the regional headquarters next week
and they are over 100 law enforcement offices taking turns patrolling. They
offered to let in a news crew but had to be escorted by police they 
declined for
now. They did get statements from some

folks waiting to get in. There is a news story today in the local paper
www.theintermountain.com. There are some small encampments under 75 
and available
at spring council and at knob hill and low cost $2 night at bear mountain.
People waiting to get in asked me to tell folks to come ASAP and 
flood them with
demands to let us come hOMe. Badger has called for a council tomorrow
(Thursday) on the bridge at12 noon please post on agr  to all who are 
in the area. The
Forest Service has denied permit for this area but wants us to go to an old
mining quarry. I do not think we are even considering the move. I will e-mail
again after council

tomorrow. This is glowing feather and the spirit of the family here is strong
and united we need some family legal help and more national media also try to
think of ways that we can get around the blockade (legal challenge) All my
joy &; peace & Love the press got a big WE LOVE YOU from at least100 rainbows
waiting to get in. We are coming hOMe FAMILY Always All Ways

This is the information I sent to the media this evening (June 14th).
I hope it helps.

>Love,




Rumor Mill from the Rainbow Gathering

Rumor has it the United States Forest Service has erected a blockade at the
Rainbow Gathering in the Monongahelia National Forest east of Elkins, 
near Alpena to stop the flow of gatherers  heading home.

The United States Forest Services wants an individual to sign a group use
permit for the gathering. As the permit application states, it's a 
felony to  falsify information on a federal document and the person 
signing must be a "duly  authorized representative" of the group. The 
Federal government has created a  Catch-22 situation. No individual 
can be duly authorized by a non-hierarchical  free assembly open to 
all peoples. Any person that is terrorized by the United States 
Forest Service into signing  will be committing a felony.  Despite 
various alternatives offered by individual gatherers to the United 
States Forest Service over a number of years, the Incident Command 
team  continues to try to enforce a regulation targeting corporations 
and non-profit groups
on a public assembly event.

As people stream into the area to attend the annual Gathering of the 
Tribes  and are turned away from the gathering site, they are bound 
to pile up in  adjacent areas. As of June 13th, approximately 115 
people were at the gathering  site behind the blockade and countless 
others are wandering the back roads of

West Virginia with no place to land. As the days go by, the number of 
wandering gypsies stranded near Elkins West Virginia, it is bound to 
grow.

The only way to get the facts on this  situation is to go to the 
gathering site and talk to the people behind the  blockade. There are 
some gatherers with information on the situation holed up at  the 
Stuart Camp ground.

Peace!


-- 
Karin L. Norton-O'Connor
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