cannabisnews.com: Siege Recalled by Neighbor





Siege Recalled by Neighbor
Posted by CN Staff on September 03, 2002 at 07:51:13 PT
By Lou Mumford, Staff Writer
Source: South Bend Tribune 
The irony of the violent deaths a year ago of marijuana-rights activists Grover "Tom'' Crosslin and Rolland Rohm on the Rainbow Farm Campground where peace was the reigning theme hasn't been lost on supporters of Crosslin and Rohm.At an impromptu gathering Monday of supporters and family members at the burned-out campground, Three Rivers area resident Robert Blivin recalled the peaceful atmosphere that prevailed at the campground's popular Memorial Day and Labor Day weekend festivals.
Buggy Brown, a neighbor of Crosslin's former farm and campground at 59896 Pemberton Road, said the concerts, featuring such entertainers as Tommy Chong and the late Merle Haggard, would attract thousands but there was seldom any trouble."You wouldn't have as much trouble as you would at a bar,'' he said.Crosslin sponsored the concerts, in part to promote his strong belief that marijuana should be decriminalized. The functions drew many who were quick to sign petitions seeking to get Michigan lawyer Greg Schmid's Personal Responsibility Amendment on the state ballot.Brown said he believes Crosslin and Rohm would be alive today had police and the FBI backed off instead of surrounding the farmhouse."I always said they (authorities) didn't need to be out here,'' Brown recalled. "Tom and Rollie weren't going anywhere. This was their home. They weren't going to flee.''The two died on the fourth and fifth days of a five-day siege that began on Aug. 31, 2001, when Crosslin and Rohm allegedly set fire to some of the campground's buildings.Surrounded by police, Crosslin was killed on Sept. 3 when he was spotted outside the farmhouse raising his gun to shoot at an FBI agent, said Cass County Prosecutor Scott Teter. A single round from a marksman ended Crosslin's life.Rohm died the next day after he allegedly set fire to the farmhouse and ran outside, carrying a gun. He was shot when he raised the weapon to fire at an approaching armored vehicle, Teter said.As the intermediary that carried messages between Crosslin and Rohm and the authorities, Brown played a key role in the standoff. He said Monday he didn't believe initially the siege would end in tragedy."I felt that if the cops took their time, that it would have a peaceful ending,'' he said.He said he had lived in the area just two years and had only a casual relationship with Crosslin and Rohm.Yet he said he knew Crosslin well enough to recognize his close relationship with Rohm's then 12-year-old son, Robert.Robert, raised by the two since the age of 4, had been removed from the property by a court order a short time before the standoff began.Brown said Crosslin was probably more troubled by Robert's removal than the drug charges he was facing and the notice he had received that the state had initiated the process of confiscating his farm."Robert was probably one of the hardest things,'' Brown said. "When you come to take a man's child ... based on total speculation. Then he (Crosslin) danced through all the hoops to get him back and they still denied him.''While the siege was going on, Brown said he was struck by Crosslin's relatively calm demeanor."He had his position he was standing for. He wasn't yelling or raving or anything like that. Our conversations were normal,'' he said.As for Rohm, Brown said he, too, appeared unconcerned by the police presence outside the farmhouse."Rollie was just as mellow. He'd be watching soccer on TV, between the news footage (coverage of the standoff), and he'd talk about the soccer games,'' Brown said."With Tom, it couldn't have been anything else ... but a shoot-to-kill order,'' he said. "In a hostile situation, you go for the sergeant.''Note: Family, friends gather at campground.Source: South Bend Tribune (IN)Author: Lou Mumford, Staff WriterPublished: September 3, 2002 Copyright: 2002 South Bend TribuneContact: vop sbtinfo.comWebsite: http://www.southbendtribune.com/Related Articles & Web Site:Tom & Rollie Memorial Pagehttp://freedomtoexhale.com/rb.htmVandalia Pair's Crusade Continuing in Cyberspacehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13961.shtmlKin Still Have Doubts http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13960.shtmlRainbow Farm Going Up for Auction http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13959.shtmlRainbow Revisited http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13950.shtml
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Comment #2 posted by tlspn on September 03, 2002 at 11:36:17 PT:
Kaptinemo
I would sell my soul if I had your ability to express myself so articulately and fluently. Keep on doing what you do so well. Thank you for an excellent post.t
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Comment #1 posted by kaptinemo on September 03, 2002 at 09:00:20 PT:
Very telling, that was...
With Tom, it couldn't have been anything else ... but a shoot-to-kill order,'' he said. "In a hostile situation, you go for the sergeant."A sniper's job is literally to decapitate the head of the local enemy structure whenever possible. That's why troops wear dull insignias in the field. Makes it harder to figure out who's who. So long as no one salutes, the sniper has his work cut out for him in figuring out who's the boss.Rather like the strategy of attacking the Compassion Clubs by taking out their leadership. And then going after more general and vocal leaders not directly involved with the issue, but are linch-pins nonetheless.Anyone who thinks that there is not some Fed strategy of doing just that hasn't been watching what's been happening here. Peter McWilliams murdered by judicial fiat. Rene Boje forced to flee. The same for Steve Tuck and others. The Kubbys forced to evade the sure-as-Eastern-sunrise judicial attempt on Steve Kubbys’ life that the jail time would represent.And these are the best, well known cases; what's happening to others whom we have no names or faces to attach to, but are fighting just as as hard? The Feds planned as far back as early 1997 to roll back the gains provided by the initiatives and referenda. They have done this knowingly, in some cases brazennly and with breathtaking (for a bureaucracy) arrogance, essentially daring us to assault their positions out of a smugness they could trounce us for doing so. In violation of the various Fed and State Hatch Acts, they have used taxpayer monies to attempt to derail democracy in California and Arizona and now any other State with a referndum or legislation on the way.They always said it was a war...one which we most decidely did not declare upon them. We didn't fire the first shot...much less draw any blood. But the Feds have the blood of scores of thousands of cancer victims on their hands from hiding the 1975 glial cell cancer research information which was was later re-discovered some two years ago in Madrid, Spain. And they have the blood of Peter McWilliams, Tom Crosslin and Rollie Rohm, Alberto Sepulveda, Esequiel Hernandez, Patrick Dorisomnd, Ismael Mena, etc. dripping from their trigger fingers. In a war, you try to chop off the head of the commanders. The Feds here are doing just that. And, like the Communists in the Soviet Union (whose actions they unconsciuously emulate) have been busily forcing out those 'dissidents' they have not been able to kill to safer areas...where the message can actually reach more people.Tyranny is rarely marked by brilliance; most often it is remembered for it's stupidity after being overthrown. What the Feds have been doing has been patently stupid...and they will someday wish they have not done what they did. Because what comes around goes around...and I hope to be sworn in some day as an amicus curiae in a human rights court to testify on what has been done to the rights of a free people under the aegis of this DrugWar. 
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