Rainbow gathering in Ocala National Forest takes darker tone
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/state/orl-rainbow2308feb23,0,3225243.story
The forest's annual lovefest has taken on a darker tone.
Stephen Hudak | Sentinel Staff Writer
February 23, 2008
OCALA NATIONAL FOREST - With rainwater, Rob Korotky rinsed out the
tin pail he used to whip up pancake batter for 20 guests from his
"kitchen" at an oak-shaded campsite near Salt Springs.
Korotky, 52, a drum-maker and musician known to fellow campers as
"Kodi," spent $400 on gas to drive from Woodstock, N.Y., for the
annual Rainbow Family Gathering about 80 miles north of Orlando. But
as he cleaned up cookware, he wondered if there weren't more
freeloaders than free spirits among the estimated 500 people in the
woods this year.
"It ain't Rainbow people, per se," Korotky said. "It's all of those
drifters and floaters who have never been to a gathering before but
who have heard about it as a place to land and party."
Rainbows, as the campers are often called, have gathered in Ocala
National Forest each winter since the mid-1980s to commune and pray.
But the event -- rooted in the 1960s counterculture and loosely
committed to spreading love and peace on Earth -- has attracted a
less-idealistic crowd this year, said veteran participants and U.S.
Forest Service officials.
"A lot of people seem like they're here for the wrong reasons," Becki
Barnes, 34, of Brandon said this week as she was preparing to leave
the gathering, her 14th. "It's totally changed."
Some campers, especially weekend visitors, are lured not by utopian
ideals of peace, love and harmony but by the possibility of scoring
sex and drugs, authorities say.
Nudity is often prominent.
Crime has been, too.
Federal law-enforcement officer Chris Crain counted 14 arrests
through the first seven days of the gathering, which unofficially
began Valentine's Day and ends on Leap Day, Feb. 29. Crain said
federal law officers made only six arrests during last year's event
and just one at the 2006 gathering. Marion County deputies have
investigated four assaults in the forest, three of which sent the
victim to the hospital.
"Something's unraveling," Ranger Rick Lint said. "I don't know if
it's people involved in the event or people glomming onto it."
There were problems from the beginning this year. The Forest Service
had to force hundreds of visitors from Duck Pond, near Paisley in
Lake County, because officials said the crowds could hurt sensitive
lands already trampled by ATVs and other off-road vehicles.
Dozens of people were ticketed for parking vehicles on closed forest
roads or for refusing to leave.
Others, disillusioned, stayed away, perhaps explaining the smallest
gathering in at least seven years.
The Rainbow Family claim no leaders, hierarchy or official
spokesperson and open their arms to "anyone with a belly button."
Visitors to the camp's inner circle are greeted with hugs and the
salutation, "Welcome home."
Campers at the gathering eschew money, except for passing a "magic
hat" to collect funds for water or other communal needs.
They beat drums and dance.
They span spiritual and economic spectrums. Some Rainbow campers
arrived in the forest by hitchhiking or aboard rickety church buses,
others in Mercedes SUVs. One minivan was slathered with "Jesus" and
Right-to-Life messages. A bumper sticker affixed to a Volvo sedan
read, "God Bless the Freaks."
Though some campers playfully describe the group as a
"disorganization," this year's event has been especially chaotic,
said Pat Tolley, a 25-year employee of the U.S. Forest Service who
works closely with campers in the Ocala forest.
She said Rainbow participants who for years served as "focalizers" --
planners who arranged for water deliveries, trash removal and other
essential services -- decided to camp separately at Buck Lake, about
25 miles south of this year's gathering.
"They just got tired of doing all the work," Tolley said.
The decision by women who used to do the planning led some campers to
brand them as "High Holy Hippies," a slur suggesting they are
self-righteous and elitist.
"It is a little hurtful," said April Hendry, 31, who manages an adult
superstore in Gainesville and uses the Rainbow name "Dirty Momma."
Nonetheless, she shouldered the duty of sanitizing and delivering the
gathering's "water buffaloes," large tanks of water.
By contrast, the gathering's main campground includes a collection of
so-called "drainbows," moochers who float from campsite to campsite,
eating free at communal kitchens and offering neither labor nor trade.
Despite the gathering's problems this year, Korotky, the drum-maker,
has relished his stay.
He beat a drum for hours earlier this week beneath a lunar eclipse.
"Wow, man," Korotky said, describing the satisfying rush he felt that
night. "There's no other place I can play my drums as loud as I want.
It's still good."
---
Stephen Hudak can be reached at shudak@orlandosentinel.com or 352-742-5930.
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Deputies Say 'Rainbow Family' May Be Responsible For Assaults, Shoplifting
http://www.wftv.com/news/15376281/detail.html
February 22, 2008
MARION COUNTY, Fla. -- The annual gathering of campers known as the
'rainbow family' continued Friday morning in the Ocala National Forest.
Hundreds of people are taking part in the commune-type camp near Salt
Springs. Marion County deputies said there has been some trouble in
the area. They have arrested at least three people for assaults and
shoplifting.
The 'rainbow family' insists the majority of its members are peaceful.
"Rainbow is powerful, man. It's more than a movement," said a man
known as "Magoo". "It's a way of life."
The 'rainbow family' has a forest service permit to camp until March
9. They've been camping in the forest for the past 20 years.
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Forest camper charged with blocking deputy's vehicle
http://www.ocala.com/article/20080220/BREAKING_NEWS/482259803/1368/googlesitemapnews
Feb. 20, 2008
Austin L. Miller
STAR-BANNER
SALT SPRINGS - On Monday, when a sheriff's deputy was taking an Ocala
National Forest camper to jail following a fracas, other members of
the Rainbow Family of Living Light joined hands and tried to block the vehicle.
Although deputies activated their sirens, the Rainbow people still
would not move until a fellow camper told them to, according to the
Sheriff's Office.
On Tuesday, deputies went back to the Syracuse Island area to look
for several people involved in the disturbance. They arrested Gerardo
G. Salazar, 20, who they believe took part in blocking the vehicle.
He was charged with obstruction, which is a misdemeanor involving
resisting arrest without violence.
Salazar told officials he did it because he was trying to help his
"brother," the report said.
--------
Rainbow Family camper charged with simple battery
http://www.ocala.com/article/20080219/BREAKING_NEWS/890206926/1368/googlesitemapnews
Feb. 19, 2008
Austin L. Miller
STAFF REPORT
SALT SPRINGS - A 28-year-old Oregon man camping with the Rainbow
Family at Syracuse Island in the Ocala National Forest was arrested
by a sheriff's deputy Monday and charged with burglary of an occupied
conveyance, simple battery and criminal mischief.
According to a Sheriff's Office report, a woman and her son told
deputies they were camping in the Forest and got into their vehicle
and headed to town to get water.
They told officials they were stopped by a man, who was yelling at
the woman's son. They said the man, later identified as Bernard
Randolph Tully, punched the son in the face. The woman said several
people then dragged her son out of the vehicle and beat him.
When deputies arrived, the duo described the man who they said
instigated the confrontation.
Tully told deputies he never hit the woman's son and only struck the
vehicle because it hit him. He did not reveal the names or
whereabouts of those who reportedly assisted him.
As Tully was being driven away in a patrol vehicle, officials said
several people joined hands in an attempt to prevent the vehicle from
leaving. Once the deputy activated the sirens, they moved out of the way.
Tully was transported to the Marion County Jail.
--------
Rainbow People forced to move from Ocala National Forest
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orl-rainbow1908feb19,0,7842483.story
Evicted from their Ocala forest spot, the hippies continue their
annual gathering up the road.
Stephen Hudak | Sentinel Staff Writer
February 19, 2008
OCALA NATIONAL FOREST - Dirty Momma just wants to protect the land.
That's why the 31-year-old Florida woman, known outside Rainbow
gatherings as April Hendry, didn't resist the U.S. Forest Service's
effort to force her and hundreds of other free spirits from Duck
Pond, though many did.
"We love the Earth," Hendry said, surrounded by other barefoot and
bedraggled campers in tie-dye.
Though Duck Pond, near Paisley in Lake County, was pegged for months
as the site for the annual counterculture convention in the Ocala
National Forest, forest officials feared the two-week event would
wreak irreversible damage on an environmentally delicate area deeply
scarred by all-terrain-vehicle riders.
"Allowing that many people to tramp around sensitive land that is
trying to heal makes no sense," said Heather Callahan, spokeswoman
for the Forest Service.
Forest officials estimate the annual gathering will draw 600 Rainbow
Family members this year but could swell to 1,500 if the weekend
weather is good. The federal agency, in charge of managing and
protecting the 383,000-acre forest, has increased its law-enforcement
presence to 11 officers, more than twice as many as usual.
The hippies have been congregating for several weeks at a time during
the winter in the Ocala forest, partying, singing folk songs, playing
drums and praying for peace. The gatherings began in the Ocala forest
in the 1980s. Some members of the loose-knit group have been known to
prance around naked, and authorities have said they sometimes take drugs.
Members of the Rainbow Family, which espouses ideals of peace, love
and nature on Web sites, began arriving this month at Duck Pond and
ignored directives to leave.
U.S. Forest Service lawman Chris Crain said officers posted warning
notices that read: "This is an ILLEGAL gathering of 75 persons or
more without a permit. The max penalty is six months in prison and/or
a $5,000 fine."
Officers also ticketed 56 people who had parked their Volkswagen
buses, vans or other vehicles on forest roads that were closed.
"Their group wasn't singled out. They got the same as any ATV'er or
hunter in a motorized vehicle off a designated route or trail," said
Crain, dubbed "Officer Killjoy" by some Rainbow People.
The fine is $175.
Officers then issued tickets to Rainbow People who refused to leave.
Crain said 30 were cited for camping without a permit, an offense
carrying a $225 fine. Some avoided citations by fleeing into the woods.
James Bryant, 59, a retired California horse trainer who identified
himself by his Rainbow name "Riversong," chuckled about his escape
from the camping ticket. But the possibility of another $225 ticket
convinced him to move to Syracuse Island, where the Forest Service
has funneled the free spirits and freeloaders attending this winter's
regional gathering, which will continue through the end of the month
or into March.
He said most Rainbow members don't want trouble -- though he noticed
the "No Panhandling" sign the nearby grocery posted on its door to
discourage begging.
"But there is some riff-raff that follow us," he said.
Though federal officials were relieved the Rainbow People left Duck
Pond, the folks running the campground at the Salt Springs
Recreational Area were not. Rainbow People, hunkered down in adjacent
woods, have jumped the campground fence to use hot showers and
restrooms reserved for paying guests, most of whom are snowbirds who
pay $23.45 a night.
Not only are the restrooms in shambles every morning, but some
Rainbow People have used the springs' freshwater swimming area as
their personal bathtub, said Judye Nix, the area manager.
"I tried to stop this woman with shampoo in her hand. I told her,
'Ma'am, this is a nature area, an environmentally sensitive area,"
Nix said. "She just ducked her soapy head under the water. When I
pulled her out, her shorts were down at her ankles. This one old
gentleman was sitting there, just a-watchin'. I told him, 'You know
that song, 'Bad Moon Rising'? Well, you just saw it."
---
Stephen Hudak can be reached at shudak@orlandosentinel.com or 352-742-5930.
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