Letter from Rainbow Legaliaison 2/21/93

RAINBOW FAMILY LEGALIAISON
P.O. Box 27217
Washington, D.C. 20038
(202) 462-0757

Cathy Way
Old Executive Office Building Rm. 218
17th Street & Pennsylvania Avenue N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20500

February 21, 1993

SUBJECT: A possible alternative to needless regulations.

Dear Cathy,

A couple of points which may have been lost in yesterday's voluminous letter.

Perhaps the fact most pertinent to OMB consideration is that the in Vermont, 1991 the Forest Service spent somewhere around $300,000.00. Apparently the most significant result of that expenditure was that "(s)ome local citizens were irritated by the increased law enforcement presence (and) felt it was an unnecessary show of authority that turned their community into a police state." Rainbow Legaliaison Appendix A, pg. 4.

Yesterday I ended by asking your correction if,
1) the Forest Service has offered some fact to show that peaceable assemblies pose a threat to public lands, or

2) there is any logical reason to regulate "inalienable rights" without any threat to public lands.

Today, let's pretend the Forest Service shows that a group of fifty people get together twice a year on Forest Service land to toast marshmallows with flamethrowers, and that that practice has caused several forest fires. Before drafting a regulation to ban marshmallow toasting, would it not be more reasonable and prudent for the agency to first notify the offending assemblage of their injurious behavior. This would allow the offenders an opportunity to alter their activities to eliminate the injurious behavior, while avoiding the expense of a regulation that would additionally punish public lands users who toast marshmallows without starting forest fires.

If the Forest Service has evidence of some injurious group user, can the Forest Service also show some evidence that they sought any remediation short of regulation?

For peace through reason,


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