"ROOM" director to make "Burning Rainbow Farm" about 2 dead from FBI raid

[kpitcher]

These were customers of mine. A little paranoid on the phone when I had to call but a pro pot campground shouldn't be a death sentence. Hope the movie gets a lot of attention.


http://deadline.com/2017/03/lenny-ab...-4-1202048716/

Anonymous Content, Element Pictures and Film4 have optioned the Dean Kuipers book Burning Rainbow Farm, and will develop it as a directing vehicle for Room helmer Lenny Abrahamson. Playwright Cory Finley, who made his directing debut with the Sundance pic Thoroughbred, will write the script. It is the true story of two marijuana advocates who were gunned down by the FBI after a five-day standoff

Rainbow Farm was a peaceful, pot-friendly haven in rural Michigan, hatched in the 1990s by life partners Tom Crosslin and Rollie Rohm. Their annual hemp and music festivals led them toward becoming a catalyst for marijuana legalization in the state. Their festivals were well attended and High Times magazine judged the farm one of the top stoner travel spots in the country. But Crosslin and Rohm grew increasingly bold with their cultivation of marijuana plants. After an accident involving a teen attendee of one of their festivals who crashed his car and died, the farm was raided and the hippie couple was charged with possession of a firearm and for cultivating 200 plants. Their son was removed from their home and placed in foster care.

In an act of defiance, Crosslin and Rohm skipped their appointed court date on their criminal case, and torched Rainbow Farm. County officials called the FBI. A five-day standoff erupted, with shots fired, and the couple was eventually shot dead. The siege might have created more of a public outcry, but it happened days before the 9/11 terror attacks. The book was published in 2006.

[phill4paul]

+rep. I hadn't even heard of this and I consider myself read up on government abuse. Thanks for the heads up and in the meantime I will have to get the book.

[kpitcher]

I hadn't even heard of the book either, so I've ordered one to read too. It got some coverage while it happened on the local news but nothing major. Nowadays it'd probably be a national 24/7.

Interesting story, the cops were trying to civil asset forfeiture the campground when this happened.

They were Internet customers, I remember them leaving a message to call for some technical help. I still remember it years later because it made me laugh, almost like a cheech and chong skit.

Me: "Hi is Grover around?"
Phone: "<Almost a whisper, totally paranoid sounding> Who's asking??"
Me: It's your Internet company calling back to help you with your problem
Phone: <totally friendlY> "Oh Hey man!! Thanks for calling back...."