At the gathering, when telling various people tidbits of useful information, many of the listeners said something to the effect "everyone should know this." So here goes.
USFS and the road in - the cops are always on the road looking to bust you for anything they can. If they can't find anything else, they'll write you a mandatory court appearance ticket for something as mundane as a broken turn signal or beads hanging off your rear view mirror. This happens every year - be prepared. If you haven't read my tips for a safe journey home, click here and read it.
The tickets - the tickets the cops write for us are always mandatory court appearance tickets. Now I know that back home (where ever that may be), a broken tail light, loose bumper or even a less than perfect stop at a stop sign primarily involves mailing money to the court. But the USFS writes gatherers mandatory court appearance tickets. This means that if you do not show up to the court date on your ticket, the judge will issue a federal warrant for your arrest. IF YOU MISS YOUR COURT DATE YOU WILL HAVE A FEDERAL WARRANT! Now the cops love to come into the gathering and look for people who didn't show up and drag them off to jail. But it's not just at the gathering, any time a cop runs you for any reason, you will be on your way to jail if you did not deal with your ticket. If you go to court for a mandatory court date, YOU MUST CHECK IN WITH THE CLERK OF THE COURT AND MAKE SURE YOUR PRESENCE IS NOTED. IF YOU DON'T AND THE JUDGE/MAGISTRATE DOESN'T CALL YOUR NAME, YOU WILL BE ISSUED A WARRANT FOR YOUR ARREST.
Court - court is a joke. Most of the time, the court gets sick of dealing with us and is willing to drop charges or plea down the charges to something you can live with. Of the last two times I've gone, once they dropped all charges, once I had to pay $65 within 3 months. I've seen people get fined $10 and have a year to pay; or receive community service to be performed at the gathering; or have major drug charges reduced to a fine and probation. There are various gatherers who are also lawyers and are often at the court - so you can get free legal advice. At the gathering, go to INFO and ask them where to find a lawyer ahead of time so you can discuss your particular situation. PLEASE DON'T BLOW OFF YOUR COURT DATE. If you already blew things off, get a lawyer to help you untangle the situation now. If you email me your situation, I will forward it to various lawyers I know who attend gatherings and they may or may not be able to help you at this point.
Karin's Rainbow Gathering 2009 news and ideas for creating a safe, fun and healing gathering in New Mexico July 1 - 7, 2009. As with all things Rainbow, this is not an official source of information and represents my thoughts only. Other people will have different ideas.
Posts
5 comments:
With the Henry Louis Gates thing in the news, I can't help making a comparison. Aren't the roadblocks and "random" searches a lot like racial profiling ?
Anybody on the road leading to "The Gathering" of those "Dirty Hippies", especially if they have long hair, and/or a beard, are driving a school bus or an old beater car or van, especially if there are beads hanging from the rear view mirror or if it sports a "librul" bumpersticker or two, must be a Dirty Commie Faggot Dope-smokin' Hippie Pervert. (And so what if they are ? It isn't against the law.)
Isn't that just like racial profiling ? The difference is that we DFHs aren't covered under civil rights legislation.
But maybe we should be.
Aren't the roadblocks and "random" searches a lot like racial profiling ?
YES
Anybody on the road (snip) those "Dirty Hippies", especially (snip) long hair, and/or a beard, are driving a school bus or an old beater car or van, (snip) if it sports a "librul" (sic) bumpersticker (snip)
YES And right wing stickers too!
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=97374
Ron Paul, Chuck Baldwin, or Bob Barr (3rd party Presidential Candidates)will get you pulled over. Last year at Rainbow, Vermin Supreme bumperstickers on my car got me followed for days ultimately I was ticketed. Maybe 100 stickers were seized and I was forced to remove Vermin 08 stickers from my clothing. The case was thrown out of court in August 2008.
Isn't that just like racial profiling ?
YES
The difference is that we DFHs aren't covered under civil rights legislation.
YES I have complained to Government in writing specifically about this and have been informed that it was not Religious Racial or Gender based and therefore not covered.
hey,
i just browsed by, found your site, remember my first gathering back in '99 and haven't been back for too long. i just wanted to send a note to let you know that i see the love you put in to it, and want you to know you are loved back, even if from afar! i hope your body and soul are loved up close too. thank you for being a kind being out there in a world that often doesn't quite appreciate it.
love, marcos
Wow it sounds like this system is really corrupt. I work at a drug rehab
and pretty much every system is really corrupt. I know this since most of the people who come here for services have some kind of legal issue or another.
Wow it sounds like this system is really corrupt..take a new one and enjoy..lol
--
Jack
Best Affordable Security Systems Suitable for Renters and Apartments, Business and RV
Post a Comment