[[]]  Another FS Rule to Fight…

In mid-March 1994, I was just back in Chicago, just weeks since returning from DC – where I had spent 7 months fighting the Forest Service’s proposed rules on ‘Noncommercial Group Use’ in the National Forests.  It was then that we got word of another USFS rulemaking in-progress, posing more ominous threats to public rights:  The ‘Notice of Proposed Rulemaking’ (NPRM) had been published in the Federal Register in February, and half of the short 60-day comment period had gone by when we finally heard about it:

•  Proposed Rule, re: USFS Law Enforcement – Feb.’94  (( GPO text-doc link–> ))
Federal Register, Vol.59, No.32; pp. 7880-92 (Feb. 16, 1994)

Understandably, it took a bunch of ‘Rainbows’ to see the significance of this move, and the peril to citizens’ rights in the woods.  In tandem to the Group Use proposal still pending, and hanging over the Gatherings, this was a clear power grab by USFS Law Enforcement and Investigations, creating sweeping new police discretions.
And not surprisingly, this proposal was spawned under Reagan’s USFS Chief, F. Dale Robertson, and the agency contact named in the publication was Jack Gregory – then a high honcho at LEI headquarters in Virginia, and for years a persistent nemesis to the Gatherings.

So upon some urgent calls, fast faxes & emails, there was a meeting in Madison, WI on March 17… a crew of ad hoc allies converged o discuss this new rulemaking and figure out what to do.  About 20 concerned folks attended – hippies, yippies, & lawyers – and we stuck to a tight agenda:

The rule proposal was reviewed in detail, identifying the provisions posing a threat and agreeing on the reasoning… then we decided to compose our findings and views, and to get this information out around the country.

In light of the leading role and proven capacities of “People for Compassion and Understanding”** in moving public information on Forest Service policies, it was agreed to put out this new info in that name.
(** = “PCU_/Free Assembly Project”, before the name change later that year.)

We got right to it, and the ‘PCU Volunteers’ made sure we got it right… they sat me down in front of a keyboard, I composed concepts & lead-lines, and we launched the legal analysis – with the likes of Laurie Starfire, Ben Masel, and ‘Info Dwayne’ Holloway haranguing over my shoulder.  The result was this infamous public info blurb:

•  ‘Son of FrankenRegs’ – New Police Powers to Come Down in the National Forests…
P.C.U. ~  Madison, Wi  ~  March 1994

This 3-page item went out first to email subscribers , usenet newsgroups, and allied websites… then it was wired, faxed and mailed to environmental & rights organizations, and to press contacts nationwide.  It also was presented to Congress members and the 6 Senate and House Committees that had received our critiques on the ‘Group Use’ regulations and other Forest Service anti-rights policies since July ’93.

We didn’t know it yet, but this little public information piece loosed a torrent of public outrage and opposition on the FS.

[[]]  A Tumble of Events, April-May’94…

(( To be Continued… ))