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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- As members of a countercultural group begin gathering in the Wasatch-Cache National Forest -- 1,344 Rainbow Family members at last count -- the infractions against them are adding up.
Each summer, the Forest Service dispatches a special Incident Management Team to police the annual gathering of the group. And each year, the team keeps a tally of the infractions racked up.
In its report this week, which includes 18 categories from "DUI" to "assault," it also lists the number of warnings, violations, arrests and incident reports.
So far there have been 47 incident reports, 75 warning, 43 violations and four arrests for various infractions. Law enforcement officers responded primarily to "traffic and vehicle" incidents. They handed out 47 warnings and noted 16 violations.
The next largest category was "drug related" in which 12 incident reports were filed, along with three warnings, 11 violations and two arrests. The report lacks specifics on which drugs were involved.
With a group that has the potential to draw nearly 20,000 people to the Little West Fork Black's Fork area, about 70 miles east of Salt Lake City on the north slope of the Wasatch-Cache National Forest, it's not surprising that there might be some arrests.
Missing so far from the tally: any incidents of nudity.
Apparently even the most free of spirits keep their clothes on when the temperatures drop drastically as they have in the last few days in Utah.
"I'd hazard a guess, that's why there were no nudity citations," said Becky Banker, information officer for the Forest Service. "It's snowing up here right now and there's 8 inches on Elizabeth Ridge."
The gathering reaches its crescendo on July 4 with a meditation for peace.
(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
