Pubdate: Fri, 07 Sep 2001
Source: Niles Daily Star (MI)
Copyright: 2001 Niles Daily Star
Contact:  http://www.nilesstar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1555
Author: John Eby
Bookmarks: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
http://www.mapinc.org/af.htm (Asset Forfeiture)
http://www.mapinc.org/find?200 (Rainbow Farm Shooting)

MEDIA GETS TOUR OF RAINBOW RUINS

VANDALIA - Cass County Sheriff Joseph M. Underwood Jr. wasn't much of 
a tour guide for media escorted three miles Sept. 5 from the command 
post and staging area on Black Street to the blackened remains of 
Rainbow Farm.

He admitted he'd never been to his county's most notorious campground 
before this late-summer day - gorgeous except for a charred smell 
lingering in the air and bits of ash fluttering on the breeze.

"I've seen a couple of pictures of the front of the store," known as 
The Joint, "but I've tried to stay out of those investigations except 
to read some paperwork.

"Fire is a terrible destroyer. It's a pain to look at this area where 
everything has been burned down. I don't know what it looked like 
before," the sheriff said.

"We're always going to be second-guessed in what we do," he said. "We 
feel the public has put us in charge in doing certain things and I've 
made a commitment to the County of Cass to do those right things. We 
hope we still have that trust in law enforcement in Cass County. I 
will continue to represent the public as they think they should be 
represented."

With the site secured, safety restored and the barrage of jarring 
television images of billowing smoke, fishtailing police cars, 
officers brandishing weapons, angry protesters shaking signs branding 
law enforcement officials "murderers" burned into the brain and Cass 
County's reputation ricocheting around the nation alongside such 
federal battlegrounds as Waco and Ruby Ridge, it was time to go on 
the offensive.

The FBI, Michigan State Police and Sheriff's Office figuratively 
threw open the gates Wednesday afternoon after keeping the world at 
bay miles away during the standoff.

"The only thing you've been able to see for the last five days is 
smoke in the air," Underwood said. "We felt it was important that you 
have an opportunity to see what's going on back here and if you have 
questions, we're here to answer those."

Underwood defended the handling of the situation to all the cameras 
trained on him.

"From the onset, the goal was to try to bring a peaceful resolution. 
All three agencies that were involved were under that same mindset," 
Underwood said. "Whatever it took, however long we had to wait, we 
were not going to be the aggressors. We were going to do whatever we 
needed to do to try to bring this to a peaceful resolution. 
Unfortunately, some things weren't in our hands."

Underwood said everything burned Friday except for the main house, 
which went up in flames early Tuesday after negotiations with Rolland 
Rohm seemed to be leading to a reunion with his son.

Instead, Rohm walked outside with a rifle as the house burned and was 
shot when he reportedly pointed it after ignoring several warnings to 
drop the weapon.

"Whether they were burned jointly or by one individual" is difficult 
to determine.

"The only thing we can do is speculate" about why the buildings were 
set ablaze, such as pending civil forfeiture proceedings, Underwood 
said. Crosslin may have said, "'If I'm not going to have this 
property and the buildings on it, no one else is either.' That's only 
speculation on our part," the sheriff said. "We really don't know why 
everything was completely burned. Hearings had not begun on the 
property."

A Battle Creek television reporter asked Underwood whether the 
community is safer with Rainbow Farm shut down.

"We know there were weapons out here and people had been threatened 
not to be in this area - 'anyone seen in this area after dark is 
going to be shot.' We know that if you had an airplane and flew over 
this area, you were going to be shot at and it didn't matter if it 
was daytime or nighttime - or whether it was a police plane, a 
commercial vehicle or a news vehicle. Yes, we feel that this area is 
now safer," Underwood said.

A South Bend, Ind., television reporter wondered, "As you look at all 
the ashes and think about the events of the last few days, does this 
make any sense to you?"

"No, it doesn't make a lot of sense to me," Underwood answered. 
"Court proceedings haven't even started. There are a lot of things 
that have to take place in a process and that's where these types of 
issues need to be resolved. That's why you have courts."

What do you do to regain public trust and "to turn people's opinions 
around? Underwood was asked.

"I think we do what we have been doing and what we've always done in 
the past," the sheriff said. "We've had a good relationship with the 
public."

I think the community has a lot of trust and faith in me as their 
chief law enforcement officer for Cass County. I will continue to do 
and investigate what's right in the county. I think once (Crosslin's 
supporters) think about things and examine things, they will realize 
law enforcement only did what it had to do and that they used no 
unnecessary force. Our goal all along was to bring this to a 
successful conclusion with a surrender. We were working towards that."

Finding weapons and bomb-making materials was disturbing, he said.

"A person who is a felon is not supposed to be in possession of these 
types of things," Underwood said. "That's certainly a concern."

Until the past five days, the sheriff said, there had been no 
indication Tom Crosslin intended to do anything but appear in court 
as scheduled on Friday, "as he had in the past."

Was there any sign of a change in mood or thought given to martyrdom 
in light of the remark reported that he warned neighbors to evacuate 
before "all hell broke loose" and began roaming the grounds wearing 
camouflage clothing.

"That came Friday, when things started happening," Underwood recalled 
of the change in Crosslin's demeanor. "The buildings got set afire, 
people observed him out here in camouflage, carrying a weapon, and 
telling them to get out of the area, that 'all hell was going to 
break loose.' To our knowledge," that wasn't Crosslin's normal 
behavior.

"We didn't know exactly what we had," the sheriff said. "The first 
call came in about 12:15. The hearing time was for 1:30. When 1:30 
came and went and his attorney showed, but he didn't show up, and 
about 12:30 is when the (WNDU-TV) helicopter (responding to a fire 
reported at Rainbow Farm) was flying over and shots were fired at it. 
It was hard to get a read on it. We knew we had a situation out 
there. How bad it was, we didn't know, but we knew it was serious 
because we had a helicopter shot at and we knew Mr. Crosslin told 
people to get out of the area.

"It could have been even worse than it was," Underwood said. "We were 
prepared to continue to negotiate, all three agencies. We were not 
going to try to take the house. We wanted to be back, try to talk and 
work through this. It's unfortunate."

An Aug. 17-18 festival in defiance of a court order not to hold any 
more gatherings until a trial scheduled for February 2002 exposed 
Crosslin to revocation of his $150,000 bond from charges brought in 
May following a raid.

Did that represent a previously-unpublicized turning point for Crosslin?

Underwood answered, "The show-cause hearing for him to appear in 
court and defend was that undercover officers were in here and the 
same type of activities were going on. It was publicized, but at a 
lesser dollar amount. I don't remember if it was on the Web site."

Television journalists kept prodding the sheriff to talk about the 
incongruity of such a violent end and weapons pointed at police 
officers at a "peace and love place."

"His other situations have been handled in court and we felt he would 
continue to follow that," Underwood said. "We didn't feel this case 
was any different than other ones he'd been involved in. We always 
want to use legal channels and we want citizens to do the same thing. 
Unfortunately, it doesn't always happen that way. We try to be 
professional and make sure we do things the way they're supposed to 
be done. We're not the aggressors and we look for peaceful 
resolutions to situations."

The third man on the property during Crosslin's death, Brandon James 
Peoples, was released after a statement was taken.

Underwood said he entered the property Tuesday noon by hiking through 
the woods from the north side. He knew Crosslin, who motioned him in. 
"He was not carrying weapons and we've been able to verify his story. 
He was released the same evening" and is free to tell his story, the 
sheriff said, although according to other reports the FBI asked him 
not to talk about what he saw.
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MAP posted-by: Josh