USFS, Local Sheriff, Arrests and Check Points

Updated July 7 9:00 p.m. eastern time

I'm hearing that there is a mandatory and probably illegal checkpoint on the roads going into the gathering. People are being searched and their belongings gone through. This is a tactic the USFS uses every year to deter people from coming to the gathering.

If you are caught up in this "checkpoint," please video tape everything that you can, do not consent to a search of your vehicle or your person, do not admit anything. DO NOT ADMIT TO ANYTHING!

Know your rights!

Read Rap 420.

Read my rap on getting into the gathering.

Arrests by local sheriff or state police

 Apparently, if you are stopped on state land, the local sheriff is taking a zero tolerance approach to any amount of drugs. Some people have been arrested and taken immediately to jail. The  Lumpkin County Jail is supposed to have 120 beds. To see who is currently in the Lumpkin County Jail, click here.  If you search in descending order by arrest date, you will see arrests that may be related to people heading to the gathering. I see five for June 18 as of 5 p.m. eastern time. Some of these people were arrested for less than an ounce of weed and minor vehicle issues.

To find out when you can visit, call 706-864-0412.

To find the jail, 385 East Main Street, Dahlonega, GA 30533

The Appalachian Drug Task Force (ADTF) is a Multi-Agency Narcotics Unit that serves Lumpkin, Towns, Union and White Counties in Northeast Georgia and is very active in the area around the gathering. Click here for more information on the ADTF.

Arrests by Federal law enforcement aka United States Forest Service

If you are ticketed by the FEDS (U.S. Forest Service), please go to your court date. For more information on how the federal citations work, click here.At the Missouri 1996 gathering, a summary judgement indicated that

the Court finds that the government's interest in general deterrence is not substantial enough to outweigh the liberty interests of Park and other Rainbow Family attendees. While the Court finds that the Forest Service has a legitimate concern on how to handle such a great influx of people on national forest lands, the Fourth Amendment prevents the Forest Service from flexing its law enforcement muscle as a way to accomplish that goal. The Forest Service may not use the Rainbow Family gathering as an excuse to canvas the myriad of participants—most of whom are law abiding—in hopes of ferreting out a few lawbreaker

For all the documentation on this case, click here. Unfortunately, this case was heard by the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals and the gathering is in the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals so the case law may not be binding, but I'll leave that up to the lawyers to argue.

Be aware of illegal police actions and DOCUMENT EVERYTHING.