From: dresfwaswdrssphdcj To: ColoradoRainbowFamily Sunday, July 16, 2006 8:54 PM Subject: [ColoradoRainbowFamily] From a 2nd generation Steamboat Springs local
I rode into the gathering on a bike with a friend. We rode all through it, going in on the bottom trail and out on the top. My friend's son had been in a few days earlier and had camped overnight, one of my friends went in on the 1st and left on the fifth. The only negative thing any of us saw for ourselves was the "A Camp" population. We all thought the whole place was well organized, not a threat to the national forest, very impressed by the fresh, clean running water at the Kid's Camp, astounded at the giant Yurt, and thought everyone we met way back in were very nice and engaged them in conversation. Very impressed with the bread making group. If the drugs and alcohol were supposed to stay in A Camp, newsflash, we saw them everywhere. I am too young to have experienced anything like this, therefore I knew this would be my only chance. My comments are that I agree that the A Camp should not be the first thing everyone experiences. I have no idea how you will all change that, but I think it would do a lot of good for everyone. The other thing is, I know that it is possible that the Rainbow people might have been surprised about how uptight this community of Steamboat Springs is...therefore, before picking a location, maybe the pickers should get to know the community and read the papers a few days in a row before they choose a place. This community is historically conservative and racist. There was actually a Ku Klux Klan faction here in the late 1800's. I talked to a lot of the early arrivals, because I work at Columbine Cabins, and I heard from many that they had know idea what they were getting into when they chose the location. I want to apologise for the reactionary response from my home town and can only explain that we have an uneducated and conservative sheriff who is really into the ENFORCEMENT part of law. He is retiring. I hope the relaxed candidate wins. Steamboat Springs as a community has camplained a lot in the past year about how unreasonable the police and sheriff's office have been. I think we are all hoping for a change. The entire community thought the Forest Service and Law Enforcement overreacted to the gathering. And today, the 16th of July, 2006, I haven't heard or read a thing about it since about the 6th of July. We all think that had there been no overreaction, the outcome would have been the same. I think you should think very carefully about your next choice of location, try to get that lady from Washington not to attend, and move the A Camp from the entrance. I think the A camp and the people who hang out in town are the biggest detrements. Other than that, I had a positive experience from my one day visit. Oh yeah...rumour has it that several Rainbow members actually trespassed on people's decks and got into their hot tubs up by Clark. As I am a Real Estate Broker and I heard that from people who lived there at a closing, I have to believe it. Maybe someone could discourage trespassing.
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