By JIM MARTIN
Staff writer
You won't find Bill Fox banging a drum or praying for peace July 4 at the Rainbow Family gathering in the Allegheny National Forest.
But he'll be there nonetheless.
Fox, who hails from Montana, serves as incident commander of the 50-member U.S. Forest Service's National Incident Management Team.
It's his job to prepare the forest for as many as 30,000 people some of whom will eat, sleep and drink in the forest for more than a week. Fortunately for him, he's not doing it alone.
Nor will he be alone when the Rainbows arrive. He'll be accompanied by police, health department officials and health care providers. The outside help should allow local forestry officials to go about their business as usual, said Dale Dunshie, spokesman for the Allegheny National Forest.
For instance, Rose Davis, who works at Caribou National Forest in Idaho, will serve as Forest Service spokeswoman for the gathering, the largest annual event on Forest Service lands.
The incident management team includes an emergency services specialist from Wyoming, a law enforcement director from Georgia, a California-based section planning chief, and a logistics officer from South Carolina.
Davis said many team members drove their Forest Service vehicles from as far away as California.
"If the point is to take the heat off the Allegheny, we can't very well take their vehicles," she said.
Fox has been here since May 31. And, like most other members of the team, he's expected to spend five or six weeks in the area, working before and after the gathering scheduled for June 28 to July 10.
At its core, the loosely organized philosophies of the Rainbow Family are about peace and harmony. But Davis, who has been involved with nine annual gatherings, said she's seen a disturbing trend.
No longer are the gatherings populated only by an eclectic mix of aging hippies and new age followers. "I have seen changes in the attitude," she said. "They may have started with some noble reasons for going into the forest. (Now) there are more lost souls, people looking for a party."
The Rainbow Family philosophy centers around a sense of community. A mailing encourages participants to camp together and establish neighborhoods and to light only community fires. Meals are prepared in a central kitchen. The same mailing notes: "Alcohol is discouraged, guns are inappropriate, violence is contrary to the spirit."
Not all adhere to that same credo, Fox said. "The face of the Rainbow has changed," he said. "The Rainbows themselves have told me they refer to them as the Drainbows. There is a tough group that comes in."
If predictions come to pass, this tiny spot in the middle of the forest will effectively become the second largest city in northwestern Pennsylvania, if only for a few days. Because of that, some problems can be expected, Davis said.
The Rainbows themselves contend there was only one major incident at last year's gathering in Arizona. Rainbow security, called the Shanti Sena, apprehended a murder suspect wanted in Florida and turned him over to local authorities.
This year's event, which could see people scattered over as much as 100 acres, will be held in Elk County at Little Bear Creek. "That is somewhat of a remote area," Fox said. "I think there will be less user conflicts." But he and Dunshie are unhappy with the Rainbow Family's failure to obtain a free special-use permit required of all groups of 75 or more.
Dunshie said that means the Forest Service didn't have a chance to study the impact the gathering might have on a particular area, or suggest an alternate location. The group's lack of a permit won't be ignored. "It will become an issue," Fox said. "We will issue citations and violation notices. We ultimately will go into federal courts over this."
Fox said he's also concerned that Rainbows don't plan to use portable toilets, but plan to dig trenches for latrines. Davis said the Forest Service is working with the group to find soils that can safely handle the human waste. Working with the group, she said, is not an endorsement, nor an acceptance of its failure to get a permit.
"We cannot manage the gathering," she said. "We manage the effects. It's a fine line of semantics, but it would be arrogant to say we can manage them." Fox said the Rainbow Family usually does a good job of cleaning up a gathering site. It's a message the group stresses in its unofficial literature.
"Cleanup begins when you arrive," the newsletter says. "Bring in only what is necessary. There is no janitor here. You are the cleanup crew." The gathering will attract lots of attention over the next few weeks, but Davis stresses the Forest will be open for business as usual. No one should change their plans, she said.
Is the Forest Service over-reacting by committing so many resources to the gathering? "I think you would be remiss if you didn't have enough resources," Fox said. "When you have 25,000 people come in, you sort of see it all."
In past years, there have been reports of drug use and other illegal behavior. While the state police say they don't plan to conduct raids, Fox said the Forest Service won't look the other way if resources are damaged or laws are broken. The gathering, he said, is not a private affair. "We have a right to be there and we will be there."
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