The Buzz: With Rainbow Gathering conflict, Scouts pull plug

I read the letter from Brad Mariner about the Rainbow Gathering. There is a little bit of truth in what he warns about. It's not a party. Alcohol is discouraged. Last year at the Colorado Regional a bunch of kids came up from a neighboring town with a keg of beer and had to be told that they were not welcome with their keg of beer and if they wanted to stay they had to go to a special area, "A camp" set aside for alcohol users. I can still remember their response, "What kind of party is it, if a keg is not welcome?" Well, not a party at all, although people have fun. It's a prayer meeting... Pray for peace and all that. Everyone is welcome, but young people just coming out to drink and party is not good and responsible parents and peers should discourage that kind of behavior. Think of it as church in the woods, and consider whether what you have in mind when you visit fits into church. Another matter, everyone who is in touch online and on the conference calls from the Forest Service and the Rainbow Family is trying in good faith to resolve the conflict between the planned Boy Scout activities and the Rainbow Gathering. It may not be resolved to everyone's satisfaction, but it will not be for lack of trying. It would be a very poor outcome if the Boy Scout project has to be canceled, but it may be impossible to talk the people who are already on the site into moving. I hope your readers will understand that in an organization with no leaders, it is not possible to order people around. It takes time and patience and there may not be enough time. So, if it does not turn out well, we beg your forgiveness. Fred Bauder Crestone, Colo.
COLO

Please! The American public isn't that stupid. These fluffy comments come from the disinformation campaigns of the rainbows themselves. It's pure rainbow propaganda. If you read the FULL forest service reports you can see that there is lots of illegal drug use, lots of alcohol, lots of teenage runaways and panhadlers - it's not going to be just a few peaceful people smoking pot and dancing around in the nude. And by the way, pot is illegal in Wyoming. There will be violence, theft, drug overdose, vehicles blocking road so emergency vehicles can't get in to fight the fires they'll start, and thousands of people trampling OUR public lands. It's ridiculous to think that an invasion of thousands of people who don't have any respect for authority won't have a negative impact on our communities! THINK! The rainbows have NEVER left an area the way they found it. They always tell the press they did, but the forest service and the taxpayers always have to foot the bill for their irresponsibility. THINK! FACT: the rainbows will deposit over 72 tons of human feces on OUR public lands over the next 6 days and they will not take full responsibility for it. How can they? Their waste will get into the water and the soil and it will be there for years. The vegetation they destroy doesn't grow back immediately. The ruts in the roads won't be repaired for years and what if it rains? What a mess! The Forest Service will have to spend money cleaning up after them that could have been put to better use. The rainbows will create trails with their feet and ruts with all those gas guzzling vehicles that need not be there. How do you think these concerned environmentalists are going to get here? They will have to DRIVE here! They always stick the community they invade with a huge unpaid medical bills and clean out the food banks. Google it! Don't blindly accept their propaganda or rely only on info from a rainbow site. The rainbows are NOT above the law they are EQUAL to every other citizen in this country. They should be treated EQUALLY as any other citizen who breaks the law and disturbs our beautiful environment. Any elected officials who don't take appropriate action on this are going to find themselves recalled. And I want to see pictures in the media that show the real condition that they leave our public lands in! No more puff pieces! Get with the progam are you journalists or are you lobbyists for the naked hippies?
Ray White

While I hate to be on the side of a bunch of hippies, I have to admit that they were great (if unintended) neighbors when my family and I were camping a couple of years ago. Trust me, I had my reservations... But they won me over with their behavior. While it is odd to see a bunch of hairy, semi-clothed people en mass, they were very neighborly and considerate. I guess my grandmother was correct when she said, "it's not what someone looks like, it's what they do." While I would not plan to camp out near a rainbow gathering, I wouldn't change my plans to avoid them either.
Kristen