Rainbows’ Image Goes To Pot California Town Doesn’t Want Rainbow Family Gathering

Pushed by people living here, national forest officials have relocated the annual summer rendezvous of the colorfully dressed, hippielike souls to a lake in Trinity County.

Rangers with Shasta-Trinity National Forests are directing followers of the nationwide Rainbow Family to the Cement Bluff area, which is private property surrounded by national forest. It’s accessible from a U.S. Forest Service road connecting to Highway 3 in the Scott Mountain Divide area - a long drive from Mount Shasta.

People from all over the country have already pitched camp at the lake, and more should arrive this month. Last year merchants and police in Mount Shasta complained that the approximately 600 people united by Rainbow Family trespassed, shoplifted, abandoned cars and panhandled on the streets.

“Not having them makes our life easier,” said Mountain Song Natural Foods owner Chris Tatro, who said he used to feel sorry for the young homeless girls but gave up when they stole from him. “‘Rainbow’ is a dirty word in Mount Shasta.”

People feared the gathering was headed to Panther Meadows on Mt. Shasta this year and would trash the environment, said Shasta-Trinity spokesman Bob Ramirez.

“The community is really up in arms about what they did last year,” said Dave Trevisan, a Forest Service recreation officer.

Last summer, before and after a gathering at Toad Lake 15 miles southwest of the mountain, campers spent time in Mount Shasta. Those encounters led to complaints of crime and disgust, said Police Chief Robert Montz.

“(Rainbow Family camping) is not anything that mom, dad and the four kids coming up would do - eat, stay at motels and go fishing,” said Montz, adding that he has photos of garbage and graffiti from Toad Lake.

Rainbow Family affiliates, who often go by wilderness-oriented nicknames and are often compared to gypsies or children of the 1960s, couldn’t be reached for comment.

For four of the past five years, Rainbow Family members have held reunions in the Shasta-Trinity area. Living in tents, school buses and vans, they will camp this year from early this month through the full moon on Aug. 28. Trevisan said people find out about the gatherings by word of mouth and a World Wide Web site.

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Scripps-McClatchy Western Service