ArrowCorps5 Location “Canceled”?
Posted in Current Events by John E. Pannell on July 7th, 2008 at 6:46 am 
This was first reported to me on Sunday by a friend here in North Carolina who sent me links to a couple of news stories about this. Please read the whole post as this is a developing story and the press reports are not entirely accurate!
It has been reported in the media that the Bridger-Teton site for this Summer’s ArrowCorps5 has been canceled in favor of a gathering of the “Rainbow Family“, an unorganized group of “free spirits” supposedly dedicated to principles of non-violence.
The above article reports:
“…But the conflict arose with the Wyoming location and dates, because Rainbow Family participants announced they would meet in the same general location as the Scouting work was to take place. The Rainbow Family events are not organized, there is no official website, and the makeup of the assemblage varies. Their activities grow to a peak over the July 4th weekend and then taper off, but the cleanup from the estimated 25,000 people expected to invade Wyoming’s Sublette County, population 6,000, is expected to take the time the Scouts otherwise would have been doing repairs…”
A gathering of Boy Scouts to do volunteer work in a National Forest has been canceled because of a group of unorganized hippies invading the same spot who will make such a mess that officials will still be cleaning up the place weeks after their gathering is concluded! Notice the irony here.
However this is not completely true!
It appears the event can still go on at a different location:
“…Mary Cernicek, a spokeswoman for the Bridger-Teton National Forest, told the Casper Star-Tribune federal officials will look for other work in another location to substitute for the Scouts…”
I since have been told the Rainbow Family gathering only affected the location to be used by about 150 of the service team members. An alternate site has been found and the project will go on as scheduled!
It would appear the decision was based upon publicity and law enforcement concerns:
Rey told WND he thought the decision to move the Scouts to somewhere else and leave the Rainbow Family alone was the best under the circumstances. He said the government allows the Rainbow Family to bypass its regular permit requirements in favor of an “operating plan” but the bottom line was that the government didn’t want to be arresting hundreds or thousands of people.
Just imagine the logistics behind the Forestry Service having to arrange for the expulsion, arrest and detention of a large number of “free spirits”. Now imagine how the media in this country would report the story! So from that perspective allowing the unorganized mob to get their way may have been the most expedient choice.
Another article has report how Rainbow Family members treated National Forest Service officials this past weekend.
“National Forest Service officials, surrounded and attacked yesterday in Wyoming with sticks and stones by 400 members of the Rainbow Family, were given reason to regret their decision to cancel a long-planned national service project by the Boy Scouts of America in favor of the unorganized annual gathering of hippies, anarchists and “free spirits” who commune with nature and each other…”
That does not sound like the actions of a group dedicated principles of non-violence. I can guarantee the Arrowmen scheduled to work at this location would not have treated the officials in this manner!
If you’re not outraged enough yet here’s another story. It has been reported by AP that the ACLU plans to investigate Rainbow Family treatment that allegedly sparked the mob attack on the government officials.
Popularity: 9% [?]
UPDATE
The following message has been sent to all Bridger Teton Service
Project Contingent Leaders:
“Some of you may have become aware of a story that all or part of the
Bridger Teton (BT) Service Project has been cancelled. I want to
assure you that the Bridger Teton project is going forward.
Here is the situation. A group called the Rainbow Family decided at
the end of May 2008 to hold its annual gathering in Wyoming -
someplace in the Bridger Teton National Forest from July 1-7, 2008.
During the first week of June, they announced that they would locate
this year’s gathering at the Dutch Joe/Big Sandy area (DJ). The
annual gathering of the Rainbow Family can number more than 10,000.
As of last week, there were approximately 1,500 people already at the
DJ location. The Forest Service communicated that there was a
conflict in use of the area but the Family members were already moving
into the area developing their kitchens, latrines, and infrastructure,
etc. Discussions designed to get the Rainbow Family to move to one of
the locations originally offered by the USFS were not successful.
While many members of the Rainbow supported the move to avoid a
conflict in use of the area, the group could not gain agreement among
themselves to make the move.
The DJ is the same area where we were planning to conduct fence
removal, habitat improvement and trail building – it was one of our
two remote project locations. Our plan was to locate approximately
150 staff and participants at the Dutch Joe location. While most of
the Rainbow group will be gone by the time we arrive in late July, the
impact on the land and environment will not have had a chance to
recover by the time we arrive. After discussions with the Forest
Service, I made the decision to seek an alternate project site rather
than bringing our participants and staff into the Dutch Joe area
following the Gathering. At this time, we will not be conducting the
project at the DJ location this summer.
In conjunction with the USFS, we have secured another beautiful area
in which to provide service and the 150 participants and staff with a
great experience and program. We will be removing fence and
addressing a number of trail improvement projects near the Gros Ventre
Wilderness area.
Rest assured our BT staff and our USFS partners are going to make the
alternate project just as successful and meaningful as the DJ site.
While the DJ site was beautiful, the Gros Ventre is a great site too.
The location isn’t as important as the service, leadership, program
and fellowship opportunities ArrowCorps5 is all about. I look
forward to seeing you and your contingent in a few weeks as we gather
in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. The 1,100 of us participating in the BT
project will soon make history by completing our commitment to service
in 2008.”
Dan Segersin
Bridger Teton Incident Commander
[...] Pannell has an ArrowCorps5 update on some issues with parts of the Bridger-Teton site, including a comment from Dan Segersin the [...]
I was stunned by the incomplete reporting that was done on this and had to call some people on the AC5 staff in the Western Region. The facts that John has stated in his comments section are accurate. Peace loving hippies (my a**), don’t they know that fade has long since passed.
Yep, either the writer for WND was sloppy or not too bright, or the editors decided to push their bias rather than reporting the facts accurately.
This turned out to be a good example of why one must read any news story with a critical eye.