Kansas Camp Gaea Loses Special Permi -- Pagans

28 Oct 2001

John Pearse/Clarity, of the Kansas Pagan retreat, Camp Gaea, just west of Kansas City, announces the loss of their special permit and their wish to fight and change this ruling.

Entire letter included.
Letter posted with permission.
Thank you to Talesin.

"As some of you have already heard through the local media and various grapevines, the Leavenworth County Commissioners voted 2-1 not to renew our permit.

There will no doubt be another article in the KC Star tomorrow as well as the Leavenworth Times, Tonganoxie Mirror and the Bashor paper.

Gendah, Wanda and I (with Robin Martinez ((attorney)) as our director) spoke briefly but with the necessary information about the issues involved.

Dave Bitters with NAC spoke briefly but to the point about naturism and nudity.

We kept coming back to the legal aspects, but that was not enough.

In the end the "family values" crowd won (at least for now). Believe me sitting there while people talked about the safety of their children with so many pedophiles in the woods was, at best, difficult."

"We tried to get through this based on what was legally right and haven't done so, now we will try to get all of the groups involved to support us through legal specialists and with a "Gaea Legal Defense Fund" for lack of better word.

We could end up with our permit back, or with a ruling that we don't even need a permit, or with Leavenworth County having to buy the land, it's improvements, a couple years income loss plus all legal fees and court costs. What we do know is that this is too important to give up without a fight."

Camp Gaea:
http://www.campgaea.org/
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Aegean/5509/camp.html

News article: "Before casting his "no" vote, Commissioner Bob Adams said he was keeping his "pledge to the people of Leavenworth County I would make this a better place to live, work and raise families." http://www.leavenworthtimes.com/display/inn_news/news1.txt

Loch Sloy!
Tuan Today
"Tuan MacCarrill/MacParthalon, forever the Celtic story!"
Lowell McFarland <lowell@optonline.net>

-------------------------------------------

From: john pearse/clarity [mailto:jpearse@kc.rr.com]
Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2001 23:31
To: campgaea@hotmail.com
Subject: Special use hearing

Dear Friends

I am sending this to LOTS of people (all blind cc'd) so I can't really personalize this to each of you.

a) Please read this entire thing.

b} Please, if you are going to post it to other groups or individuals, post the entire thing -- don't take what you want and leave the rest this time. Thanks.

c} There will be more to come.

I was going to wait until tomorrow to write this as I am probably as emotionally and physically drained as I have ever been, but so many of you have written asking for information that I'm going to work it out now.

As some of you have already heard through the local media and various grapevines, the Leavenworth County Commissioners voted 2-1 not to renew our permit. There will no doubt be another article in the KC Star tomorrow as well as the Leavenworth Times, Tonganoxie Mirror and the Bashor paper.

Gendah, Wanda and I (with Robin Martinez ((attorney)) as our director) spoke briefly but with the necessary information about the issues involved.

Dave Bitters with NAC spoke briefly but to the point about naturism and nudity.

We kept coming back to the legal aspects, but that was not enough.

In the end the "family values" crowd won (at least for now). Believe me sitting there while people talked about the safety of their children with so many pedophiles in the woods was, at best, difficult.

Two things to know for now:

1- It's not over till the vertically challenged female sings.... and she ain't even warmed up yet! (more in a minute)

2- While we can't run a camp, Wanda has invited everyone on this mailing and then some to her place Saturday night for Samhain ritual and pot luck.

We can not collect fees, but the wishing well is always there for donations.

Please print this out and bring it if you can as your invitation.

The gate will be staffed.

The Gaea Board and legal counsel will meet to strategize early next week.

This is the kind of stuff that attorneys study in school (according to one legal mind anyway) and could go all the way to the top before we're done.

Top meaning the US Supreme Court.

As you know if we pursue it that far, we will rack up some incredible legal fees and will be doing a lot of fundraising.

We will probably announce a legal defense fund via e-mail and on Witch's Voice soon.

We hope to enlist groups such as the ACLU (they've already sent us a letter indicating their belief that this is an "interesting" case and that they might be able to jump in. We will probably also contact the LAMDA Defense Fund and be in contact with the Naturist Action Committee to see what legal resources they have (does the Pagan community have a similar organization?).

We tried to get through this based on what was legally right and haven't done so, now we will try to get all of the groups involved to support us through legal specialists and with a "Gaea Legal Defense Fund" for lack of better word. We could end up with our permit back, or with a ruling that we don't even need a permit, or with Leavenworth County having to buy the land, it's improvements, a couple years income loss plus all legal fees and court costs. What we do know is that this is too important to give up without a fight.

We ask that no one contact the neighbors.

They are scared and who knows what their reaction might be. They are not the enemy.

They are only trying to protect themselves from things they don't understand.

A few outside instigators should probably consider exactly what color toad they wish to become, but that's another story.

We recommend that the representatives of the larger groups begin to look for alternate sites in case this is not resolved in time for the 2002 season opening.

If possible, don't commit with cash yet, but start looking. If you'd like, we will act as a clearing house for information so if you send us possible sites we can let all of the groups know and maybe ease someone else's load.

If you come to Wanda's Samhain party at Gaea, please know that the Sheriff might show up.

We think they'll need a warrant since it is private and not a "business" thing.

I am very proud of the way all of the Gaea family presented themselves today.

We may have lost a battle, but the war rages on inside each of us.

We will not lie down.
We will not be beaten down.
Enough is enough.

In only ten years, we have created a whole new community that encompasses groups people would not have thought to put together.

We have recognized our commonalities and we have forged new bonds through them.

While we may not always agree, we at least are willing to support each other's right to voice and to hold an opinion.

No matter how down I feel right now, I still count myself blessed to have my Gaea family.

You are my family of choice, and I will not let that slip away now without a fight.

Clarity <jpearse@kc.rr.XcomX>