Man Faced Charges Of Firing Gun At Aircraft VANDALIA -- A campground owner facing felony drug and weapons charges was fatally shot by authorities Monday night after a four-day standoff, police said. Grover (Tom) Crosslin, 47, was killed with one shot from an FBI agent's rifle after pointing a firearm at the agent, according to a news release issued by the FBI, Michigan State Police and Cass County Sheriff's Office late Monday. The perimeter of Crosslin's Rainbow Farm and marijuana advocacy campground in southwest Michigan had become a kind of modern American tableau over the holiday weekend, where politics, celebrity, crime and mass media converged. [continues 964 words]
A campground standoff ended in its fifth day Tuesday with a second man fatally shot by police after allegedly pointing a weapon at an officer. Rolland Rohm, 28, was shot about 6:30 a.m., the day after his roommate was fatally shot by an FBI agent, Cass County Sheriff Joseph Underwood Jr. said. Rohm had been ordered several times to put his weapon down, Underwood said. He said Rohm pointed the gun at a Michigan State Police officer and was shot. It wasn't clear which officer shot Rohm. [continues 552 words]
VANDALIA, Michigan (CNN) -- A campground owner involved in four-day standoff with police in rural southwestern Michigan was shot and killed Monday evening, according to a source at the multi-agency task force headquarters created to deal with the standoff. The task force was composed of members of the FBI, the Michigan State Police and the Cass County Sheriff's Office. Tom Crosslin, 46, owner of Rainbow Farm Campground, was wanted on federal charges for firing at an aircraft, in addition to state drug and firearms charges. [continues 299 words]
VANDALIA, Mich. (AP) - A campground owner facing drug and weapons charges was fatally shot by an FBI agent Monday night after a four-day standoff, authorities said. Grover T. Crosslin, 47, was shot and killed after he walked out of a building with a rifle and pointed it at the agent, Cass County Sheriff Joseph Underwood Jr. said in a news release Monday night. The FBI did not immediately return calls for comment. Crosslin became agitated after authorities brought a phone to him in an attempt to begin negotiations, Underwood said. Crosslin asked to speak with a third party, and when authorities denied the request, he began making threatening remarks and gestures, the sheriff said. [continues 417 words]
VANDALIA, Mich. (AP) - A standoff with the owner of a campground known for its advocacy of marijuana dragged into a fourth day, with police enlisting the help of a third-party negotiator and the FBI stepping in to relieve officers. The campground's supporters gathered near the site Sunday as police worked to end a standoff that has involved shots being fired at a news helicopter and police plane. ``The word is out about what's going on,'' said Shirley DeWeese, whose brother, Grover T. Crosslin, owns the southwest Michigan campground called Rainbow Farm. ``If they do kill him, it's not going to be the end.'' Neighbors said Crosslin 47, who faces drug and weapons charges, was burning buildings on Friday on his property, which is the target of civil forfeiture proceedings. Deputies went to the farm after hearing about the fires. Police did not know who fired the shots that whizzed by an unmarked state police plane Saturday and struck the tail of an Indiana television station news helicopter Friday. Both landed safely. [continues 255 words]
Crosslin Demeanor Different In June VANDALIA -- In early June, Tom Crosslin was hard at work restoring his 1830s home in Vandalia when a tour bus pulled up. Sightseers eagerly descended, anxious to take a look at a home that helped slaves find their freedom as part of the Underground Railroad. Crosslin, 47, seemed happy to share his three-story home with the 35 strangers who roamed its halls, peered in every bedroom and then grew silent when they gathered in the basement to look at an underground tunnel that slaves had squeezed through to get to the next farm on their way to freedom. [continues 776 words]
VANDALIA, Mich. -- A news helicopter was hit by a bullet during a standoff between police and the owner of a campground who was due to appear in court on drug and weapons charges. Police still had the property surrounded Saturday, a day after the shot was fired. The bullet tore through the helicopter's rear stabilizer, but the helicopter was able to land safely and no injuries were reported, reported the Indiana television station operating the aircraft. Sheriff's deputies went to the Rainbow Farm Campground about noon Friday after neighbors reported the owner, Grover T. Crosslin, 46, was burning buildings on the property in southwest Michigan. [continues 267 words]
VANDALIA -- A standoff between police and a Southwest Michigan campground owner facing drug and weapons charges continued Saturday, authorities said. Cass County Sheriff's Deparment deputies went to Rainbow Farm -- which is described on its Web site as an "alternative campground & concert arena" -- about noon Friday after neighbors said the owner, Grover Thomas Crosslin, 47, was burning buildings on the property. The 34-acre farm is at 59896 Pemberton Road, just north of Black Street in Newberg Township about three miles east of Vandalia. The community is on the eastern side of Cass County. [continues 454 words]
VANDALIA, Mich. (AP) -- A standoff between police and a southwest Michigan campground owner facing drug and weapons charges continued Saturday night, authorities said. A news helicopter from WNDU in nearby South Bend, Ind., was struck by a bullet Friday as it flew over the Rainbow Farm complex, but it landed safely and there were no injuries, the station reported. Cass County sheriff's deputies went to Rainbow Farm -- which describes itself on its Web site as an "alternative campground & concert arena" - -- about noon Friday after neighbors said the owner, Grover T. Crosslin, 47, was burning buildings on the property. [continues 481 words]
VANDALIA -- Several buildings burned Friday at a campground where five people were arrested in May as the result of a three-year investigation into drug trafficking, sources said. The road into Rainbow Farms campground was reportedly blocked by Cass County sheriff's officers late Friday, but the department was not releasing information. A South Bend, Ind., television news helicopter filming the fire was hit by a bullet fired from the campground area, but the helicopter landed safely and there were no injuries. [continues 201 words]
A helicopter operated by WNDU-TV, Channel 16, South Bend, apparently came too close for comfort at an armed standoff in Vandalia on Friday. As NewsChopper 16 approached Rainbow Farm Campground on Friday afternoon to check out an apparent fire, it came under fire from gunshots, authorities said. Rainbow Farm Campground owner Tom Crosslin or someone else on the site fired off 20 rounds of ammunition, hitting the helicopter. The WNDU-TV helicopter was following up a Cass County Sheriff's Department report about a fire at 59896 Pemberton Road about 12:15 p.m. EDT, Sheriff Joseph Underwood said. A caller told authorities that the property owner didn't want anyone on his property. [continues 200 words]
VANDALIA -- Tom Crosslin had a court date he apparently just didn't want to keep Friday. The 47-year-old owner of Rainbow Farm Campground was charged last May on criminal counts of manufacturing marijuana, maintaining a drug house and felony firearms following a two-year investigation into claims of illegal drug activities on his 34-acre property. And Rainbow Farm had been shut down twice this year by authorities, including for Labor Day weekend, through a civil suit claiming alleged drug use at the campground's gatherings constituted violation of Michigan's Public Nuisance Abatement Act. [continues 885 words]
CASSOPOLIS - Rainbow Farm's Memorial Day weekend will not include Hempfest 2001 or any other kind of party. Cass County Circuit Court Judge Michael E. Dodge granted an injunction Monday afternoon closing the campground immediately through noon on Tuesday, May 29. Cass County Prosecutor Scott Teter and Assistant Attorney General David Tanay sought the injunction following a three-year investigation into the alleged sale and use of illicit drugs at the campground on Pemberton Road east of Vandalia. Attorneys for the campground argued the festivals are protected by the First Amendment's guarantee of the right to free speech since Hemp Fest participants are campaigning for the legalization of marijuana. [continues 242 words]
Editor, Your editorial about the Rainbow Farms Campground ("Camping or carousing?" May 12), based on law enforcement statements, is far from the whole story. As a frequent visitor I have witnessed the superb efforts by campground security to keep out those who would sell drugs. Of course, those who work the unregulated underground market will seek any opportunity to make their high profits. Ask the DARE kids. It is easier for them to obtain marijuana than it is to obtain beer, in your schools and anywhere. [continues 260 words]
CASSOPOLIS -- People planning on attending Hemp Aid '99 will have a good trip after all. An attorney on Thursday confirmed the dismissal of a Cass County lawsuit that had sought to put a halt to a pair of hemp-related activities this year at the Rainbow Farm and Camp Ground in Vandalia. "The (dismissal) order is going out today (Thursday)," said Stephen Hessen, an attorney for the Kalamazoo law firm of Kreis, Enderle, Callander and Hudgins. The firm represented the county in its request for an injunction that would have canceled both Hemp Aid '99 over Memorial Day weekend and a similar Labor Day weekend activity called Roach Roast '99. [continues 487 words]
CASSOPOLIS -- If Cass County officials have their way, comedian Tommy Chong, the High Times Cannabis Cup Band and the Billy Bongster Band will have to cancel their trips to Vandalia for Hemp Aid '99. Hemp Aid is a four-day, three-night festival that has taken place at Rainbow Farm over Memorial Day weekend since 1993. Its purpose is to promote hemp awareness. (Marijuana is hemp's most well-known byproduct.) More than 3,000 people attended last year's event. [continues 446 words]
Arrived down a dusty country lane to the Rainbow Farm in south-central Michigan about noon Saturday of Memorial Day weekend for Hemp Aid 98! A peaceful gathering of over 3,000 people in support of The Rainbow Farm Initiative and other legalization efforts across the country. I was met at the gate by the Rainbow Farm's computer guru, TP Doug, who brought me to the Activist's Booth and Hemp Center. The Rainbow Farm's information center always plays host at the Rainbow Farm events as well as traveling to nearly 20 hemp shows and festivals around the country each year. [continues 925 words]
