Now I am sure I don't know you but let me assure you one thing... I don't PARTY. I have degrees in Theatre Production , Music, and Public Relations. Your statement was awful and mean spirited. As Public Relations Director for One Family Gathering I am not sure what I did to promote it as a "drug fest."
You know there's a scripture in the Bible that state's let us forgive the trespasses of our youth. Did it ever occure to you that Weather might have had a life altering situation happen in which he changed the path he was on and hired a production team? Yes I am sure your faire had more people then our s being that its ... 30 something years old. What was the attendance first year?
Sure there are different representations of our two organizations . I have never attended the Tonasket Barter Faire. And from what I gather on this board its nothing but alot of Judgemental hippies affraid of change who are willing to strike down a brother who goes out on his own. Where can I buy tickets for that!!! WOW how much fun is that ... OR am I only seeing one side of the story and I should experience it for myself to understand what it is truely about. WOW I think the later statement is the more responsible way to handle it. I believe you also should see things with your own eyes before you judge them. You were not at our gathering however.... You are welcome to attend and witness what it is we are doing. If you still feel it's a drug fest then I will gladly take your advice at what I can change!
I agree with the who f----G care about undercovers being at the faires. I'm not doing anything wrong I'm not worried .... HOWEVER I have 400+ patrons who were obnoxiously ticketed for things such as a dirty license plate while going down a dirt road, or swerving over the middle line to give room because police had someone pulled over on the right and getting a ticket for crossing the center line. OR my personal favorite... the young lady who slowed down because of police activity on the shoulder of the road who recieved a ticket for impeding the flow of traffic. Tell me these people deserved these fines?
I appreciate that you will infact tell it like you see it... But don't you think you should have a less narrow vision of the situation before you open your mouth?

Not trying to upset you my sister just calling it as I see it.

One Family One Love
Jess Blue
Executive Producer Llama Family Reunion
Associate Producer One Family Gathering
Get On The Stage Productions

Well... where do I begin...

I’ve had to think about this posting of yours for a moment before I approached it. I’ll tread lightly here and explain why after a couple small retorts I cannot help but make.

Let's start with your comment about my "little drug fest" as you call it. Beside the fact that I’m offended by that unfounded accusation I would like to point out that as far as I am aware there were no drug incidents of any kind at my event. Harmony Event Medicine was there and could easily verify that.

Second I would like to point out that my event DID NOT get “busted” as you would like to proclaim. There was however an illegal police blockade on the highway outside my event.

Next, I would like to hear exactly how I promoted it as a “drug fest” as I was not aware that I was doing so. Once again this seems to be an accusation without grounds.

I feel the OFF had an aggressive security stance last year as the culmination of the gradual influx of “conservative” Tonasket city dwellers into positions of influence in the event accompanied by the influence of agent provocateurs and the paranoia induced by the targeting and persecution of Allen Lindt, the producer of the Llama Family Reunion.

I’m not sure what you’re afraid OFF will become if you call OFG it’s antithesis. Of course you really have no grounds to base your decision making process on as you have no firsthand knowledge of what actually occurred at the event.

All problems of any severe nature occurred outside the event. Charges were dropped on all but six of the arrestees, and there was only one seizure. Of course none of these people came from my event, they may have been on their way to it, but the world will never really know.

If you are afraid that OFF will be targeted without cause by a corrupt corporate government, you’re already too late. Agent provocateurs are in your midst, and have been since 1991. Their plan, divide and conquer. Do not try to single anyone out as an agent; these people obviously just need more of our attention in order to help them understand what community is all about; as does anyone on the periphery who draws questions about themselves.

You once again point out that I do not currently live near Tonasket. Please allow me to point out I lived near Tonasket for over 4 years, I am a member of Sun Meadow Farm, I worked with Mikkel at the Solar Shop for at least 2 years, next time you’re at the counter in the Food Coop look up, I helped install that light, go out front and look up, I erected the scaffolding for that painting to happen. I just decided I couldn’t just sit up there and getting old while the outside world (ever worsening) creeps in. I’ve been to the m

Your next comment; “The ‘One Family Gathering’ is just a name you attached to it.” If you cannot believe my explanation of my reasoning, I cannot convince you. We all must decide for ourselves what we believe, do not let the truth stop you from doing so, I speak from my heart, which is all I can do.

At the membership meeting for OFF last fall I stated my opinion that we should designate areas for groups with different intent to be able to camp with each other, it may have been something like “Party all night camping” and “Family (with children) Camping”. I feel similar to that now. To build a community that does not turn on itself we must find a way that any factions that exist can be unified. A simple solution in my eyes, is to create an area where it is acceptable to scream “barter fair” at the top of your lungs at 3am (no matter how much we ALL agree it’s annoying) and a place where it isn’t. We don’t need to “keep the kids and families out,” but we DO need to accommodate those who participate in our community without prejudice.

Also, what is wrong with a party? Or what is the problem with accompanying your child when in a crowd of 10,000 people?

Next you make an assumption about me “getting off on all the attention from setting this stuff up.” Honestly hon’ what “got me off” was being relieved from gate Sunday afternoon of OFG and walking into the main stage dome to hear Baby Gramps sing and witnessing what had been a bunch of strangers having been turned into a community. That was the highest I’d ever been, I wasn’t on any drugs. The attention from two or three annoyed members of OFF however, doesn’t float my boat. Maybe if we find some way to agree, that might do it for me…

On the next issue; under-covers I have a strong opposition to them being at our events as they allow for outsiders to develop a bias against our community based on the sample that they specifically seek out. That is not what I intend to address by my statement though. I am speaking of agent provocateurs.

An agent provocateur is a person assigned to provoke unrest, violence, debate or argument by or within a group while acting as a member of the group but covertly representing the interests of another. In general, agent provocateurs seek to secretly disrupt a group's activities from within the group.

Agents provocateurs are employed to disrupt or discredit a group by performing acts for which the group will be falsely accused, by leading the group into activities that they would not otherwise pursue or by creating discord between group members. Provocateurs may encourage illegal acts, recommend belligerent tactics a group might otherwise reject, spread false rumors intended to provoke hasty action by a group, spread malicious rumors within a group about a group member or employ other tactics intended to provoke improper action by a group or to divert a group from its chosen purpose. An agent provocateur might attempt to implicate as an accomplice an innocent target who the agent unwittingly involves in a crime or criminal conspiracy.

Agent provocateurs sometimes try to disrupt a group by creating discord between group members. They may argue for unity, while themselves promoting dividedness. They may argue against factionalism, while consistently advancing the positions or actions of one faction in the group. Disruptive group members might not be agents provocateur if they do not represent an outside interest; the term "agent" usually implies representation of or employment by another interest.

In this case the stated intent of those who have been embedded is to “create tension between two or more target groups.”

The phrase create tension between two or more target groups comes from a 1993 book by Paul H. Nitze: Tension Between Opposites: Reflections on the Practices and Theory of Politics. Alleged to be connected with the Council on Foreign Relations, the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University is said to be a spy school.[1]

Creating tension between two or more target groups, perhaps originally a technique more commonly employed for political and military purposes, is often employed as a propaganda tactic. Typical forms this tactic takes include:

* Creating a dummy or shell group that has no purpose except to advocate a view bystanders will see as compatible with that of another target group and which is also opposed to the view of the manipulating group; Then legitimate groups can be drawn into turf wars, be discredited by visible engagement in unappealing confrontations with the new rival, and ultimately discredit their "shared" view - which is of course the opposite of the manipulator's view.

* Finding legitimate but incompetent or purist advocates of a view roughly compatible with that of another target group, and funding the incompetents or purists or extremists to become the dominant voice on the issue. Not dealing with the issue is thus easy to excuse, as the dominant view is more extreme than the public's own.

* Dealing directly with moderates and requiring concessions that will be found unacceptable by purists, thus co-opting the middle and alienating purists. If purists can be simultaneously drawn into dummy, shell, incompetent or extreme groups, preferably many of these, then an entire movement can be splintered.

If you cannot see this happening in our community, look at this forum. The intent is to divide and conquer. Divide and conquer refers to the common strategy of seeking to cultivate neutrality or support from those considered 'moderates' as a way of undermining and marginalizing those deemed the 'radicals'. As far as I can tell I must be deemed ‘radical’.

At OFG itself, there were not any interventions from law enforcement. I’ll admit it the event was ten times it’s size (like OFF) we may have had such occurrences (like OFF did), but we did not. ALL police activity resulting in citation or arrest occurred on the highway or county road BEFORE entering the event. For the record we have 798 members that attended One Family Gathering near Christmas Valley.

Please tell me how I “facilitated an environment that encouraged law enforcement to bust (my) fairegoers.” We approached the Sheriff of Lake County repeatedly with requests for information and cooperation with developing a good working relationship but his responses were of total disinterest. All I can guess is that it seemed more profitable to him to develop animosity for a short term payoff rather than to support an event that has the potential to significantly improve the economics of the local community.

I agree with you on one of your points, the event that became OFF is 35 years older, it has a reputation where as we are developing one. OFG is owned by a for profit limited liability corporation managed by an executive producer who oversees a handful of associate producers who in turn coordinate a team of coordinators who manage over 130 volunteers. The executive producer appoints all positions. OFF is a 501c3 nonprofit corporation whose board is elected by a membership body who are required work a certain number of to be given a vote. The board is elected by said membership (lots of details left out here) and the board is responsible for appointing coordinators capable of managing the volunteers and facilitating the event. The choice to be different here is intentional. You wouldn’t drive a car by democracy would you? I look at OFG as a vehicle to bring our community together. I know where we’re going, don’t worry. We’re going to a place where we can coexist.

OFG is first and foremost a UNITY gathering (look at the website, see for yourself), it features a barter fair, a music festival, and a rave. We gather what each faction enjoys in one place in order to be able to enjoy it together and to find what we have in common.

How do you mean representation? Do you mean as in with OFG; Jess and I represent the group where as with OFF the board of directors does? Or do you mean it in such a way as; OFG publishes a website, fliers, posters, announcements, e-mail groups, and message boards which contain official information about our activities and intent of our event; as opposed to OFF which publishes very little?

Don’t forget we also have a music festival as well with organized activities 24 hours a day to encourage people to stay involved with the event. Idle hands… We keep them busy.

Forgive me for being a little slow in responding but I’ve facilitated 2 small events this weekend and had to drive many hours to do so. I’ll catch up in a bit.