Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
HEBER CITY — Rainbow Family members may be filtering out of the Heber Valley after the Friday peak of their annual gathering, but Wasatch County authorities say some of them continue to get into trouble with the law.
At its height, an estimated 8,000 members of the Rainbow Family of Living Light attended the counterculture group's annual gathering, Uinta- Wasatch-Cache National Forest spokewoman Kathy Jo Pollock said.
By Monday, about 80 percent of the attendees had left the gathering site 15 miles east of Heber, Pollock said.
That same day, prosecutors filed separate felony cases against Rainbow Family members Sampson A. Carpenter and Aaron B. Akin.
Carpenter is charged in 4th District Court with aggravated assault, a third- degree felony. The 35-year-old from Cosby, Tennessee, was asked to stop interrupting an "om circle" at the gathering site Saturday and responded by hitting a man with a 5-foot-long wooden pole, according to court records. A doctor told investigators the blow fractured one of the victim's ribs.
Akin, 26, is charged with three counts of possession of a controlled substance and one count of possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute, a third-degree felony. He also faces a pair of misdemeanor drug-related charges.
The Seattle man's minivan was stopped Saturday when a Wasatch County sheriff's deputy saw Akin leaning out the driver's window with both hands out the window as well while driving down a winding mountain road.
"(He) appeared not to have control of the vehicle," charging documents state.
The deputy said he could smell the odor of marijuana and asked Akin about it. Akin — whom the deputy noted was "speaking very quickly" while "frantically searching for something" — replied that he had a prescription for medical marijuana but had not smoked the drug that day, the charges state.
A search of Akin's van turned up marijuana, cocaine, hashish and drug paraphernalia that tested positive for marijuana and methamphetamine, court records state. The deputy said he also found digital scales and small plastic bags used to package drugs for distribution.
Carpenter and Akin were both booked into the Wasatch County Jail, as was Travis E. Churchill, who was arrested Monday following an incident in the parking lot outside Wal-Mart Supercenter, 1274 S. U.S. 189.
Rainbow Family gathering maxing out local jail, officials say
The numbers are increasing by the day, and the arrival of thousands of Rainbow family members in Wasatch County has resources stretched to the limit.Churchill, 30, asked a woman for money while panhandling outside the store and then followed her around the parking lot when she turned him down, Heber City police officer Salvador Segura said.
"It got to the point that she feared for her safety and called 911," Segura said, adding that Churchill, who is from Truckee, California, fought with the officer who arrived to handle the call.
On Tuesday, prosecutors charged Churchill with assault on a police officer, a third-degree felony, and disorderly conduct, a class C misdemeanor. The assault charge, typically filed as a class A misdemeanor, was enhanced to a felony because Churchill has a prior conviction in Nevada for assaulting a police officer, Segura said.
The Rainbow Family of Living Light is heralded on the group's unofficial website as the "largest non-organization of non-members in the world."
"It's safe to say we're into intentional community building, nonviolence and alternative lifestyles," the website's main page states. "We also believe that peace and love are a great thing, and there isn't enough of that in this world."
The group gathers annually around July 4 in a different National Forest to pray for world peace. This year's visit to the Uinta National Forest proved to be a burden on local law enforcement and the courts, Wasatch County Sheriff's Chief Deputy Jared Rigby said.
Since the buildup to the July 1-7 gathering began in mid-June, authorities in Wasatch County have investigated two unattended deaths, multiple drug overdoses, an attempted murder, an attempted robbery and numerous felony drug offenses, Rigby said.
People would just go into a grocery store and eat at the produce area. Just consume food there — produce — and walk out.
–Mike Davis, Wasatch County manager
Eighty-seven people connected to the gathering have been booked into the 100-bed county jail since June 16, the chief deputy said. Hundreds of citations and warnings were also issued.
"People would just go into a grocery store and eat at the produce area," Wasatch County manager Mike Davis said. "Just consume food there — produce — and walk out."
The Heber Police Department has had all hands on deck since June 22. Highway Patrol has worked an extra eight troopers a day. Many Wasatch County Sheriff's deputies have worked six-day weeks. One missed his honeymoon. The extra manpower cost to the county alone?
"We're anticipating $75,000," Davis said. "Could go as high as $100,000 when we're done."
The Forest Service is making sure those left behind are living up to their promise to clean up, and nature will take care of the rest. The county says its concerns are subsiding.
"It's not something that we would want to solicit to come here, but we're glad we handled it and we're glad it's over," Davis said.
