The Rainbow Family

[Sunshineandmonkeys]

Is supposed to have one of their annual gatherings in your state this July, possibly in the Taos area.

Any clue as to whether they have any sort of comms of their own.......other than the smell of BO and patchouli?

[Exsmokey]

I would be surprised if they use much of anything for communications. If they do, I would guess it would be on FRS/GRMS and if not there some of the "dot" frequencies on VHF and UHF business. The Rainbow Family is loosely organized and I don't think they have anything official shown in their name. They don't follow the laws or regulations of any entity so if they use land-mobile radio they won't have any licenses.

This differs from the Burning Man event in Nevada that has a website, some FCC licenses, and an organization that includes a security entity. I've worked with several officers who have worked the Burning Man event and they have a lot of stories about some "unconventional behavior" but they report very few problems or disrespect beyond what is normal for having that many people gather in one place. A few under the influence, domestic dispute, and dehydration first responses is what is usually involved.

The Rainbow Family event is a terrific drain on taxpayer dollars. Ten years ago the cost to the Forest Service alone was around $300,000. Law enforcement officers from the National Park Service, BLM, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are brought in to supplement USFS officers. Travel costs, lodging and meal costs, etc. add up quite quickly.

As far as I know the Forest Service uses some NIFC frequencies for the event and digital encryption is now employed. It has been my impression that UHF is used. So the logistics portable repeater systems may be involved. It is possible that the UHF frequencies of another agency are used. I don't think this is really important due to the encryption.

They refuse to get a special use permit and don't tell anyone in an official capacity where the event is going to be held. Generally the Forest Service finds out about a week before the event begins and usually do so through back door type means. Rumors about where the event is going to happen circulating this time of year would be of questionable value. They might even be deliberate false rumors to throw off the agencies from knowing where the event will actually happen. I've seen this happen in past years.

The cost for the Forest Service is only for that agency, local and state agencies incur quite a bit of cost, perhaps equal or greater than the federal government costs. The Forest Service makes plans based on knowing the event is almost always on National Forest land, so they have officers that are already assigned to do the event and know they will have a few days notice of where to go. They are able to be quite flexible, but local agencies cannot know or do some pre-planning because the pool of counties/cities where the event might occur is huge.

No other group holds events of this size without some pre-planning as required by a special use permit. When the event occurs the disrespect shown to personnel of all the agencies is incredible. Sometimes there are incidents with some degree of violence, which the "Family" alway blame on the law enforcement entities. I have seen some video that documents the things I'm talking about as I had access to such things as a result of knowing people who were assigned to the event. There is a lot of video on You Tube claiming to show excessive force by law enforcement. One of these videos shows a large number of people who surrounded a Forest Service law enforcement officer's vehicle and did not allow the officer to pass or back up. When the law enforcement officer became impatient, fearful, and shouted, they claimed that it was the officer's fault. What would you do if people blocked your exit by slowly surrounding your vehicle and moving closer with ever increasing numbers of people?

They claim to love the land and then rip up stream banks, park vehicles everywhere, including off road, impact sensitive meadows by placing huge numbers of people on them, and then leave some messes. Some people work after the event and claim that they will clean up and mitigate impacts. In spite of these claims, the Forest Service usually has to bring in rehabilitation teams in an attempt to repair the damage.

They claim to be all about love and then thumb their noses at all the other groups that comply with special use permit requirements, treat law enforcement officers with disrespect, and cause taxpayers to pay for something they should not have to pay for. If more people knew about this event and what various government agencies have to do at their expense, many would be making inquiries of there congressional representatives and demanding action.

In my opinion the whole thing is a crime.

[Sunshineandmonkeys]

to teeter on the edge of anarchy or open revolt against lawful authority.

I found this:
Rainbow Family Center for Alternative Living Medicine (Click the communications tab on the left)

Good call on FRS and GMRS...............The ham stuff interested me, as did their suggestions that members get Tech and GMRS licenses too.....

Burning man is fun. Been to a few. Different for SURE, but fun.

As far as i can tell, with a lil bit of googling, their 09 gathering is slated for somewhere around the area of Taos.

[mancow]

Sounds like typical hypocritical liberal pukes.


The sad thing is that if it were any other group they would have been ran off and the thing shut down but everyone is scared s***less of the libtards now days.

[Sunshineandmonkeys]

They are an odd bunch, for sure.

[khoelldobler]

Originally Posted by Sunshineandmonkeys

They are an odd bunch, for sure.

Are these the same Rainbow people that are currently residing in the Ocala National Forrest down in central Florida near me?? I have read that the Rainbow people live in parts of our Ocala Forrest, and that the Parks dept and Forestry service run them off after written warnings of tresspass. I have even seen video of them on you tube, living off the land so to speak, in these cult like communes... many members have dredlock hair doo's.

[Sunshineandmonkeys]

Originally Posted by khoelldobler

Are these the same Rainbow people that are currently residing in the Ocala National Forrest down in central Florida near me?? I have read that the Rainbow people live in parts of our Ocala Forrest, and that the Parks dept and Forestry service run them off after written warnings of tresspass. I have even seen video of them on you tube, living off the land so to speak, in these cult like communes... many members have dredlock hair doo's.

One(s) and the same

[Exsmokey]

Originally Posted by mancow

Sounds like typical hypocritical liberal pukes.


The sad thing is that if it were any other group they would have been ran off and the thing shut down but everyone is scared s***less of the libtards now days.

This message sounds like it is from the Rush Limbaugh school of dysfunctional communications, where he calls people names rather than having an objective discussion of an issue. To use the Rainbow Family as an example of what some label "liberal" is analogous to using the Aryan Nation and skinheads to typify what some call "conservative." We need to stop using labels for people and ideas, especially derogatory labels, as doing so is stifles productive communication needed to solve problems.

We know that teams organized to take on projects in industry and government at the local level need a diversity of views and ideas. Why can't we use the same principle for the bigger picture and accept that we need both conservative and liberal ideas to formulate solutions? Neither one of these viewpoints works very well alone, it is their combination that over time has allowed us to solve many problems.

The Rainbow Family lives in some sort of dream world of their own creation and do not present any rational ideas of how a society or country should function. This can be likened to the extreme version of the "less government" viewpoint, which is really a "no government" viewpoint. Those who hold this viewpoint should move to Nye or Esmeralda Counties in Nevada where they can wait an hour for a basic EMT from a volunteer fire department to arrive while they are having a heart attack in many locations. In many parts of Nevada, at least in the so-called "cow counties" paramedics don't exist for hundreds of miles in any direction.

Suggesting that the Rainbow Family be run off and shut down would violate not only the letter of the law in the U.S. Constitution, but the spirit of it as well. If someone were to try to pull that off, I would defend the Rainbow Family's right to express their ideas. I just don't think that they should be allowed to run their event in a manner that violates the law, depends on a lot of taxpayer's money, and is not consistent to how many other groups conduct large events. The Burning Man event is an example of how a large event of "alternative" ideas can be accomplished in a cooperative effort with federal and local agencies.

[Exsmokey]

Originally Posted by khoelldobler

Are these the same Rainbow people that are currently residing in the Ocala National Forrest down in central Florida near me?? I have read that the Rainbow people live in parts of our Ocala Forrest, and that the Parks dept and Forestry service run them off after written warnings of tresspass. I have even seen video of them on you tube, living off the land so to speak, in these cult like communes... many members have dredlock hair doo's.

I will try to set the record straight on what you have conveyed here and hopefully have understood you correctly. It is the U.S. Forest Service that administers the Ocala National Forest and not the Florida Division of Forestry, the National Park Service or the agency that administers Florida State Parks. The U.S. Forest Service has regulations that limit the time someone can camp on National Forest land, otherwise many people would, in effect, take the land away from the public, by using those lands for residential purposes. There are also some regulations that govern how land can be used for temporary camping relative to sanitation, resource damage, and other occupancy issues. The U.S. Forest Service does not have a viewpoint or policy that singles out any group or type of group. They have objective regulations to ensure that everyone has a chance to recreate while not damaging natural resources and affecting the rights of others to have the same chance.

As far as people having dreadlocks, there is certainly no law that prohibits this. If we were all alike what a boring world it would be!

[Exsmokey]

Originally Posted by Sunshineandmonkeys

to teeter on the edge of anarchy or open revolt against lawful authority.

I found this:
Rainbow Family Center for Alternative Living Medicine (Click the communications tab on the left)

Good call on FRS and GMRS...............The ham stuff interested me, as did their suggestions that members get Tech and GMRS licenses too.....

Burning man is fun. Been to a few. Different for SURE, but fun.

As far as i can tell, with a lil bit of googling, their 09 gathering is slated for somewhere around the area of Taos.

I was wrong about the Rainbow Family having a website. I took a brief look at the site, with much interest on the 'communications" tab. An intelligent discussion of the various radio options can be found there. They even talk about studying and passing a test to get a ham technician license. Even more surprising is the wording about paying $70 for a GMRS license, something which K Mart and Wal-mart don't do! Update: they now cost $85, about 10 times what some of the radios are worth!

If I get the chance to read the rest of the website I might find some material to challenge my stereotypes. It's always good to keep an open mind, even when something appears to be a black and white case. You can find out that the stereotype is even more valid in some areas, is very wrong in other places, or more often, somewhere in between.

P.S. Taos and some of the rest of northern New Mexico have this sort of mystical image that the Rainbow Family seems to be buying into. I would think that Magdalena, Reserve, Quemado, Luna, or Glenwood would better. Oops, if someone from the Gila or Cibola (National Forests) reads this I will be cursed! Ultimately the best place for their event would be just outside Fence Lake or near the intersections of State Highways 36 and 117. Oops, now the BLM folks on the Albuquerque District are going to question the marital status of my parents at the time of my birth! I've been to all of the above locations and can say with some credibility that these would be good places for the Rainbow Family, especially Fence Lake and the described road intersection.

[Sunshineandmonkeys]

Originally Posted by Exsmokey

I was wrong about the Rainbow Family having a website. I took a brief look at the site, with much interest on the 'communications" tab. An intelligent discussion of the various radio options can be found there. They even talk about studying and passing a test to get a ham technician license. Even more surprising is the wording about paying $70 for a GMRS license, something which K Mart and Wal-mart don't do! Update: they now cost $85, about 10 times what some of the radios are worth!

If I get the chance to read the rest of the website I might find some material to challenge my stereotypes. It's always good to keep an open mind, even when something appears to be a black and white case. You can find out that the stereotype is even more valid in some areas, is very wrong in other places, or more often, somewhere in between.

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"It's always good to keep an open mind, even when something appears to be a black and white case. You can find out that the stereotype is even more valid in some areas, is very wrong in other places, or more often, somewhere in between".
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//quoted again for goodness

That bolded portion of your reply is SO very True!

I was SHOCKED to see bits aboot getting licenses for Ham and GMRS. Perhaps we and/or the retail and manufacturing machines at wally world and came apart^ have something to learn from the Rainbows--this page inspired me to renew my long lapsed ham ticket. The information presented on that site regarding the theory and organization they have as far as commo goes was pretty good stuff IMHO.

^Wal mart/Kmart