Peace, Love, Dead Heads and Frying Pans

Ok, I read this article in the local paper, Eastern Arizona Courier, yesterday and I can’t stop laughing about it.  And, yes, I do live in a small town (for now).  I had to check the date to see if the article was dated April 1st.  Feel free to read the article at the Courier’s website to see if you see the humor without my commentary.

Apparently there’s a group of travelling hippies called “The Rainbow Family” that came near town last week.  Here’s the good stuff:

A camping retreat for members of the Rainbow Family at the old Cluff Dairy Farm on Mount Graham turned violent Wednesday evening as one member was allegedly beaten with a frying pan.

The Rainbow Family is a counterculture group that has gatherings of its followers to create temporary communities. The gatherings are usually held in outdoor locales and spread a message of peace, love, harmony and community. The largest Rainbow Gatherings have attracted 30,000 people. According to a Web site dedicated to the Rainbow Gatherings, the next scheduled gathering will take place in New Mexico later this year.

According to police reports from the Graham County Sheriff’s Office, a small group of Rainbow members were camping at the old dairy farm when a confrontation arose at about 10:40 p.m.  Cory Alan Joyner, also known as 2Tall, told officers he was arguing with his girlfriend, Candise Marie Olten, aka Candy, when the rest of the group got mad at them because arguing is not allowed. Joyner told deputies that another member of the group, Amanda Rudder, aka Memphis, attacked Olten with a rock. He said he attempted to help Olten and other members of the group attacked him.

Now, its usually pretty funny to hear about a counterculture group known for peace, love and harmony beat up a guy and hit him in the head with a frying pan for breaking the  “NO ARGUING OR WE’LL BEAT YOU WITH A FRYING PAN” rule. 

The tofu icing on the cake was when I read who broke up the fight:

Olten also told deputies Rudder had attacked her. She was found below the picnic area known as Wet Canyon by University of Arizona officer Jerry Garcia, who called Graham County deputies.

Apparently, the former lead singer of the Grateful Dead, who I thought had expired from this world is alive and well and leading a quiet life in Arizona – at least until this group of wannabe hippies moved in on his beat and messed up his groove.

I hope you enjoy this story half as much as I have.

A White Christmas in the Desert – A Day Late

My wife and I went to go see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (a strange movie) on Friday afternoon.  When the movie got out, we walked out to see real snow falling – from the sky. 

I went outside when we got home and watched it fall.  It was just beautiful and peaceful to watch.  It stopped a couple hours later without any sticking.  It must have started back up because I went outside a few hours later and there was about a half an inch on the ground.  It was a nice treat for me.  The snow is gone today but its still cold.

I wonder if Al Gore drove through town and brought a bunch of cold weather with him.

You people who read this in other parts of the country or world that get plenty of snow, I’m sure you think I’m crazy to love the snow.

Putting Their Money Where Their Feet Are (or something like that)

I read this article yesterday where a pastor of a church in Peoria, AZ encouraged the members of his church to come up and leave their shoes at the foot of the stage during church and the shoes would be donated to the needy.  The article stated that they collected 11,000 shoes (I would guess that meant pairs of shoes – the Arizona Republic isn’t as accurate as they should be).  It must be a big church.

I think that’s a great way to show people two things.  One, how to spontaneously give and two, what it feels like to walk around without shoes on. 

• Good job to Christ’s Church of the Valley in Peoria!  You guys answered God’s call to give to the needy.
• Good job to the pastor who found a creative way to show people how to give.
• This might be good for the economy in Peoria as people now have to go out and replace 11,000 shoes.
• Timing is everything.  It’s a good thing he didn’t try this in August.  I’m not sure people would want to walk barefoot on the hot asphalt in Arizona.
• I bet the local restaurants took a hit that Sunday.  You know “No Shoes, No Service”

Seriously though, I would encourage anyone who stumbles on this to try to find a way to give in a creative way in the next few weeks. 

I’d love to find out what you did or have done.  Feel free to leave any examples in the comments and I’ll post them on the site.