Pubdate: Thu, 06 Sep 2001
Source: Kalamazoo Gazette (MI)
Copyright: 2001 Kalamazoo Gazette
Contact:  http://kz.mlive.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/588
Author: James Pritchard, The Associated Press
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
http://www.mapinc.org/af.htm (Asset Forfeiture)
http://www.mapinc.org/find?200 (Rainbow Farm Shooting)

STANDOFF SITE PROBED

VANDALIA - The pastoral beauty of the gently rolling land at Rainbow Farm 
Camp Ground belies the violence that claimed two lives there this week.

Investigators from the FBI, Michigan State Police and the state fire 
marshal's office searched Wednesday for evidence that might provide more 
insight into the deaths of Grover Thomas "Tom" Crosslin and Rolland Rohm.

"We're trying to find out exactly what occurred here," said John E. Bell 
Jr., special agent in charge of the FBI's Detroit bureau.

Bell said investigators found several weapons, hundreds of shell casings 
and evidence of a pipe bomb.

Crosslin, 46, a prominent supporter of the decriminalization of marijuana, 
owned the 34-acre tract located about 30 miles northwest of South Bend, 
Ind. Rainbow Farm hosted at least two music festivals each year, HempAid 
and RoachRoast, according to the campground's Web site.

Crosslin was shot to death Monday afternoon during a police standoff that 
started Friday. Rohm, 28, who lived with Crosslin at Rainbow Farm, was 
fatally shot Tuesday morning.

In both cases, the men were shot by law enforcement officers after 
allegedly pointing loaded, .223-caliber Mini-14 semiautomatic rifles in 
their direction. An FBI agent shot Crosslin and two state troopers shot at 
Rohm, though it's unclear whether one or two hit him, authorities said.

Crosslin's funeral was scheduled for 11 a.m. EST Saturday at 
Walley-Mills-Zimmerman Funeral Home & Crematory in Elkhart, Ind. Funeral 
arrangements for Rohm were pending.

The FBI had 15 to 20 people at the campground Wednesday, including members 
of a national team from Washington, D.C., who are conducting an internal 
investigation. Bell said this is standard procedure after every shooting 
involving an agent.

Another 10 state police personnel were working at the scene, said Capt. 
Richard E. Dragomer of the Paw Paw post.

The investigators spent much of their time sifting through the rubble of 10 
campground buildings destroyed by fire. Nine of the structures were set 
afire Friday and a fire was set early Tuesday at the two-story house where 
Crosslin and Rohm lived, authorities said. Evidence of the exploded pipe 
bomb was found in the home's basement.

Bell emphasized that Crosslin and Rohm set the fires.

"Law enforcement didn't start any of those fires," he said. "They were 
started by the people on this property."

The burnt-out shell of a late-model Volkswagen Beetle sat next to what used 
to be the campground store, where blackened shelves and chairs were among 
the few recognizable objects.

Painted on a concrete wall of the house's basement were the faint words 
"LET FREEDOM RING."

The only structures still standing at the campground Wednesday were a 
doghouse and a chicken coop about the size of a garden shed.

A handful of people continued protesting the shootings at a site along a 
road on the eastern edge of Vandalia, about two miles from the campground.

A Cass County sheriff's deputy arrested one protester, Brian McCullough, 
38, of Gilbertville, Ky., on Wednesday at the entrance to the campground 
and charged him with disorderly conduct. He posted a $100 cash bond and 
later returned to the protest site.

McCullough, who drove to the campground with three other protesters, said 
he was arrested after uttering an obscenity to the deputy.

Holding a handwritten sign bearing the words "THEY KILLED THEM," Mesick 
resident Melody Karr, 37, said she didn't know how long she and her fellow 
protesters would continue.

"I think as long as it takes to get some answers," Karr said.
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager