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Murder at Rainbow Farm
Josey1
Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
Murder at Rainbow Farm Grover Crosslin and Rolland Rohm are two more victims of the war on drugs Join the Discussion Are Crosslin and Rohm just the latest victims of drug warriors who drive normally peaceful people to fight back?Rainbow Farm According to Cass County Prosecutor Scott Teeter, the FBI and Michigan State Police were perfectly justified when they gunned down Grover "Tom" Crosslin and Rolland Rohm. The two hadn't actually done anything violent to merit the attention of law enforcement authorities, but they didn't knuckle under when police laid siege to Rainbow Farm Campground, their home. Prominent figures in the counterculture, the two were wanted for advocating and dealing in disfavored intoxicants. In the eyes of Teeter, the men's resistance to police efforts to kidnap them and steal their property was enough to legitimize a death sentence. Rainbow Farm Campground was a well-known refuge for modern hippies and marijuana smokers. The property was reportedly once rated by High Times magazine as one of the nation's best places to catch a buzz. Not surprisingly, the very characteristics that won praise from the tie-die set also attracted the attention of America's fanatical drug warriors. Both Crosslin and Rohm were arrested on drug charges in May and were free on bail at the time of their deaths. The property itself was targeted for civil forfeiture -- a variety of legalized theft by the state that has become extremely controversial in recent years. Officials also took away Rohm's 12-year-old son and introduced him to the dubious hospitality of the foster care system. The standoff between the property's legitimate residents and police apparently began when Crosslin began burning structures at the campground in order to keep them out of government hands. He then reportedly fired on a news helicopter that buzzed the land -- and later a police aircraft. Crosslin was killed after visiting a neighbor's farm to get food and supplies. He stumbled upon FBI snipers in the woods and was shot in the ensuing confrontation. Seemingly having concluded that his time was up, Rohm resumed burning campground structures. He then left the main house and, in what sounds like the sort of suicide called "death by cop," pointed a gun at police. State police snipers obligingly killed him on the spot. Apologists for the police will say, as did Teeter, that the officers were only doing their jobs. Arguably, they fired only in response to actions taken by Crosslin and Rohm. But the police and the FBI had no right to be harassing the two men or interfering in the peaceful if eccentric festivities at Rainbow Farm. Nor did the authorities have any right to target the property for outright theft. And taking Rohm's son away because of his activism on behalf of mind-altering substances was nothing more than kidnapping. The arrests, forfeiture proceedings, siege and killings were all done in the name of the War on Drugs. To enforce the state's distaste for certain intoxicants, the authorities pushed two men so far that they finally fought back. Crosslin and Rohm may have turned despondent and violent in the end, but who can blame them? They were defending themselves against true believers who'd rather destroy lives than let adults get high. The police and FBI agents on the scene may have been following orders and enforcing the law, but those orders and laws are evil. I've said it before and I'll say it again: people are responsible for their actions at all times. When ordered to arrest people for engaging in peaceful activity, they have an obligation to refuse the order. When told to lay siege to the property of people who have caused no harm to others, they must say "no." Grover Crosslin and Rolland Rohm were murdered. They were murdered by cops just following orders, by lawmakers who put evil statutes on the books, and by a mealy mouthed prosecutor named Scott Teeter who tried to excuse the bloody mess. As long as fanatics are permitted to wage "war" on peaceful activities, the body count will continue to climb. . acted in self-defense when they shot and killed the two men who owned and operated Rainbow Farm in Vandalia after a four-day standoff, Cass County Prosecutor Scott Teeter said Monday. http://civilliberty.about.com/library/weekly/aa011102a.htm
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