Appalachian Gathering 2012: Gathering Info to Download and Share

Where in the Appalachian Bioregion are we going?

Where in the Appalachian Bioregion are we going? The consensus was for the White Mountain National Forest (in the Northeast), or the Appalachian states of Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Georgia. Spring Council selected a site in North Eastern Tennessee.

If you're not familiar with the gauntlet on the road into the gathering, and want to avoid a mandatory court appearance ticket click here.

For the Howdy Folks and directions to the gathering, click here. For the United States Forest Service Incident Command website with groovy maps and updates, click here.

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Gathering Info to Download and Share

Last year some of the folks focalizing the Town Hall Meetings before the Washington Gathering put together some awesome information that was printed at distributed to the local folks. Since there's no point in re-inventing the wheel, here's the link to the 8 1/2 x 11 version and the larger sized version.
There's also a PDF version of the Rainbow Gathering Mini Manual here.

To create a site specific Rap 107/701, get the basic info from 107 here or 701 here.

It would be amazing for some folks who have access to cheap printing to make a thousand or more of these to share with folks at the gathering. Rumor is that new Rainbow Guides are being printed this year, but this basic information is very important to helping create a positive and healing gathering.

If you do print up pretty packets, bring them to Welcome Home or Info and the crew there will help distribute them. If you make a site specific Rap 107/701, Front Gate or Welcome Home are good places for these to be distributed.

1 comment:

Craig DeBoardMay 1, 2012 at 1:44 AM
I don't know if I can do a thousand but I can do a few hundred at least. Also please be sure to check out my blog at http://www.truestorybytruth.blogspot.com

I plan to have plenty of info on camping tips, living green, and links to resource sites.

Lovin' you family.
-Truth
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Getting into the gathering without getting a mandatory court appearance ticket

Getting into the gathering without getting a mandatory court appearance ticket
Every year the United States Forest Service Law Enforcement (USFS) Incident Management Team (the cops) attempts to write as many tickets to family coming home as they possibly can to justify their presence. They give out tickets for broken tail lights, failure to use a turn signal in a deserted parking lot at 2 AM, lack of seat belts, controlled substances (even just a trace amount), beads hanging from your rear view mirrors, prescription medications if the label doesn't clearly have your name on it and you can't prove who you are, dogs off leash, a vehicle missing a front license plate even if you live in a state that does not issue a front license plate and a lot more violations of the letter of the law.

However, these tickets are not the type of citation you would probably receive for any of these issues in your hometown. These are mandatory court appearance tickets. There will be special court dates set up just for us, so we can go to the local courthouse, fire station or visitors center and go before a magistrate. In the past, charges have been reduced, fines were often minimal and the court has allowed people to make payment plans ranging from 90 days to pay $75 to 18 months to pay $25 depending on the hardship cases people have expressed.

If you do not show up for your mandatory court appearance on the date indicated on your ticket, a Federal Bench Warrant will be issued for your arrest. Then the USFS LEOs will come into the gathering looking for you. If they find you they will arrest you and put you in jail until the next court date. If this happens on a Friday afternoon, you will be in jail until Monday. If they do not find you at the gathering, the next time a law enforcement officer for any reason stops you, your ID will be run through the database and you will go directly to jail.

Of course, everyone is free to manage this situation as they wish but I strongly recommend you go to your court date. I have seen people charged with crimes that could potentially result in a six years sentence walk out with a $500 fine and three years’ probation. Keep in mind that every year the dynamic is different and these results may not always be available. There are lawyers at the gathering (I am not a legal expert) who attend the court dates and will assist as best they can although I recommend you catch up with them before your court date to gain a better understanding of your specific charges and strategies to get the charges dropped or reduced. If you do not know these people personally, go to INFO and let them know you received one of the magic tickets and you need legal assistance.