APnc 06/19 1438 Rainbow Family Graham Residents, Rainbow Family Members Meet ROBBINSVILLE,

APnc 06/19 1438 Rainbow Family


   Graham Residents, Rainbow Family Members Meet

   ROBBINSVILLE,  N.C.  (AP)  --  The  Rainbow  Family,  during a
meeting aimed at easing the concerns of Graham County  residents,
says   most  people  attending  the  Family's  gathering  in  the
Nantahala Forest next  month  will  be  staying  close  to  their
campsites.

   And Family spokesmen said during the Thursday meeting that the
Rainbows  would send lawyers to a court hearing next week so they
could fight a state effort to block its annual gathering.

   Family members also told  Graham  residents  that  that  water
supplies and sanitation are among their primary concerns.

   Family  members,  who  often  go  by nicknames, said they hope
something can be worked  out  to  get  the  Department  of  Human
Resources to  drop  its  lawsuit  against  the  gathering.    The
department  is  seeking  a  preliminary  injunction  against  the
gathering  because  the Rainbow Family has not applied for a mass
gathering permit.

   A  hearing  is  scheduled  for  Tuesday  in  Jackson   County.
Frenchy,  a Rainbow spokesman, said if agreement can't be reached
before then, the Family will have a "lawyer or two there."

   Family members dispute the state's claim that  they  have  not
shown adequate  sanitary  preparation  for  the gathering.  Water
supplies and sanitation are  "our  most  serious  preoccupation,"
Badger said.

   The  Rainbow Family plans to hold its annual "Gathering of the
Tribes" July 1-7 at the Nantahala  National  Forest.    Officials
have said 5,000 or more people could gather at the meeting.

   Members  of  the  Rainbow  Family  requested  the meeting with
residents to show slides, talk about their  past  gatherings  and
answer questions from local residents.

   County  Commissioner  Raymond  Williams  said the meeting went
well and Rainbow Family members agreed.

   Family members said most people who  attend  their  gatherings
stay  close  to the main campsites and will not be coming to town
often.

   There is some nudity at the campsites, but nudity is  confined
to  certain  areas  and  "we  won't  be walking through town like
that," one Family member said.

   Family members told the crowd that many of them  have  regular
jobs and  are taking their vacations to be at the gathering.  One
member said he is a shrimper, another a social worker, another an
artist.  One member said he served on a nuclear submarine in  the
U.S. Navy.

   Meanwhile, Graham County officials said earlier this week that
they  have  not  officially declared a state of emergency to deal
with the Family.

   Following reports Tuesday that such an action had been  taken,
the  state's  area  coordinator  of  the  Division  of  Emergency
Management apologized for the misunderstanding.

   W.F. Perrigo said Graham County officials "have not officially
proclaimed a state of emergency, but they have  requested  mutual
aid to be available due to the possible emergency conditions that
could arise as a result of the Rainbow Family gathering."

   Perrigo  told U.S. Forest Service officials Monday that county
officials had declared an emergency.  The term state of emergency
is a "matter of semantics," Perrigo said. "I'm  really  sorry  it
happened."

   Perrigo said he assumed county officials had requested that an
emergency  be  declared  following  several  meetings  with other
emergency  coordinators  from  surrounding  counties  to  discuss
mutual aid agreements.

   Graham  County  Commissioner  Raymond Williams said the county
asked for mutual aid assistance Sunday if it is needed.

   "We are planning for the worst in  this  thing  and  hopefully
none  of  it will happen," he said. "We've made long-range plans,
but we are far away from declaring an emergency."
   
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