Notesonthescene.com

2006

by Rob Robinson

Right before 9/11 in rural southwest Michigan, Tom Crosslin and Rollie Rohm’s dreams of a peaceful utopia were shot dead by sniper bullets. Owners and operators of Rainbow Farm, a campground and festival venue that became the center of marijuana activism in their region, and also the center of attention for one county prosecutor on a crusade to stop them.

LA resident, author and deputy editor of the LA City Beat, Dean Kuipers grew up just 20 miles from Rainbow Farm and knew the people in that area. From the moment Dean read about the shootings in the Kalamazoo Gazette, (the local Michigan paper he continued to have delivered to LA) he had a feeling that something was just not right.

Kuipers spent the next four years investigating researching and talking to all sides involved. The result: “Burning Rainbow Farm: How a Stoner Utopia Went Up in Smoke.” In this well written book, Kuipers offers a detailed account of events leading up to the siege, and a look into the lives of the men who died there.

This book is a must read for Libertarians, anti drug war activists, conspiracy theorists, or anyone concerned with peace and social justice in America. A well written true story of two men with a dream and the lengths our government went to stop them.

By admin|2006-01-01T00:44:35-08:00January 1st, 2006|Press|Comments Off

My Latest Book

THE DEER CAMP: A Memoir of a Father, a Family, and the Land that Healed Them

Some families have to dig hard to find the love that holds them together. Some have to grow it out of the ground. THE DEER CAMP: A Memoir of a Father, a Family, and the Land that Healed Them is the true story of the author’s family and the power of nature.

Bruce Kuipers was good at hunting, fishing and working, but not at much else that makes a real father or husband. Conflicted, angry, and a serial cheater, he destroyed his relationship with his wife, Nancy, and alienated his three sons—journalist Dean, woodsman Brett, and troubled yet brilliant fisherman Joe. He distrusted people and clung to rural America as a place to hide.

So when Bruce purchased a 100-acre hunting property as a way to reconnect with his sons, they resisted. The land was the perfect bait, but none of them knew how to be together as a family. Conflicts arose over whether the land – an old farm that had been degraded and reduced to a few stands of pine and blowing sand – should be left alone or be actively restored. After a decade-long impasse, Bruce acquiesced, and his sons proceeded with their restoration plan. What happened next was a miracle of nature.

Dean Kuipers weaves a beautiful and surprising story about the restorative power of land and of his own family, which so desperately needed healing. Heartwarming and profound, THE DEER CAMP: A Memoir of a Father, a Family, and the Land that Healed Them is the perfect story of fathers, sons, and the beauty and magic of the natural world.

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