Getting into the gathering without getting a mandatory court appearance ticket

GETTING INTO THE GATHERING WITHOUT GETTING A MANDATORY COURT APPEARANCE TICKET

Every year the United States Forest Service Law Enforcement (USFS) Incident Management Team (the cops) attempts to write as many tickets to family coming home as they possibly can to justify their presence. They give out tickets for broken tail lights, failure to use a turn signal in a deserted parking lot at 2 AM, lack of seat belts, controlled substances (even just a trace amount), beads hanging from your rear view mirrors, prescription medications if the label doesn't clearly have your name on it and you can't prove who you are, dogs off leash, a vehicle missing a front license plate even if you live in a state that does not issue a front license plate and a lot more violations of the letter of the law.

However, these tickets are not the type of citation you would probably receive for any of these issues in your hometown. These are mandatory court appearance tickets. There will be special court dates set up just for us, so we can go to the local courthouse, fire station or visitors center and go before a magistrate. In the past, charges have been reduced, fines were often minimal and the court has allowed people to make payment plans ranging from 90 days to pay $75 to 18 months to pay $25 depending on the hardship cases people have expressed.

If you do not show up for your mandatory court appearance on the date indicated on your ticket, a Federal Bench Warrant will be issued for your arrest. Then the USFS LEOs will come into the gathering looking for you. If they find you they will arrest you and put you in jail until the next court date. If this happens on a Friday afternoon, you will be in jail until Monday. If they do not find you at the gathering, the next time a law enforcement officer for any reason stops you, your ID will be run through the database and you will go directly to jail.

Of course, everyone is free to manage this situation as they wish but I strongly recommend you go to your court date. I have seen people charged with crimes that could potentially result in a six years sentence walk out with a $500 fine and three years’ probation. Keep in mind that every year the dynamic is different and these results may not always be available. There are lawyers at the gathering (I am not a legal expert) who attend the court dates and will assist as best they can although I recommend you catch up with them before your court date to gain a better understanding of your specific charges and strategies to get the charges dropped or reduced. If you do not know these people personally, go to INFO and let them know you received one of the magic tickets and you need legal assistance.

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Can you help find out what happened to Marie?

Marie
For forty years this family has gathered and to the best of my knowledge we've never lost anyone.  Let's make sure Marie doesn't stay lost.  If she's alive, all her family needs from her is a phone call.  If Marie is deceased, her family wants her body back so they can grieve and bury her.

Marie came to the gathering with Cathy and Mellow. She was last seen on the morning of July 7th.
Cathy

Marie’s family is now asking everyone who saw Marie, Mellow or Cathy at any time during the gathering come forward with dates, times and specifics about locations and people who were seen with Marie.  If you met any of these people at the gathering, know the details may help us find Marie who has now been missing for over a month. Her grandchildren are hurting and finding out what happened to Marie will help them and the rest of her family heal. Don't leave Marie's grandchildren crying for her.
Mellow

  • Marie arrived at the Gathering on July 2nd with “Mellow” and camped near Lovin’ Oven.
  • She and Mellow moved their camp to the Rear Gate on July 5th.
  • They were joined by Mellow’s girlfriend Cathy on July 6th.
  • The last sighting of Marie was the morning of July 7th near the rear gate. She never came back to camp, leaving all of her belongings.
  • Mellow searched for Marie, showing her ID to people at the Gathering until the morning of July 10th, when he and Cathy returned home.
If you saw Marie, Mellow or Cathy at the gathering, please contact the family or if you prefer to remain anonymous, you can post your comments on this message.  If you wish, you can email me any information you have with instructions to not reveal where I got it and I will honor your privacy.  All we want is to find Marie: dead or alive.

Even if you don't remember these three people, if you were near the rear gate (150 Road -- kitchen supply drop off; handicapped parking; Omnivore Cafe) on July 7, please contact me with everything you can remember about that morning. No detail is too small.  For more information, photos and details of the search efforts to date, visit http://mariehansonmissing.com/.

Please share this plea with everyone you know who attended the Washington Gathering this year. 

Posted by Karin at
Reactions: 

4 comments:

  1. I was parked along this area on road FS 32(west of FS 150). http://mapper.acme.com/ ... N 46.09499 W 121.87760 ... Hundreds of other vehicles were also parked along the road and there was a steep and significant drop off that would have lead to an injury if someone had fallen. This is the only significant clue that I can offer. In fact, I was getting some supplies out of my vehicle one day and thought to myself how you would not want to fall off this cliff. If S & R go out again, they should check the areas outside of the main gathering site and look into the areas off the main roads where someone may have fallen.

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  2. from http://mariehansonmissing.com/.

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    ???

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