NO BOOBY TRAPS FOUND

VANDALIA - "We have found nothing at this point" to suggest Rainbow Farm
campground had been salted with booby traps, Michigan State Police Capt.
Richard Dragomer said Wednesday afternoon.

Dragomer, former commander of the Niles state police post who is now the
Paw Paw-based Fifth District leader, joined FBI Special Agent in Charge
John E. Bell Jr. and Cass County Sheriff Joseph M. Underwood Jr. in leading
a camera convoy to ground zero of the five-day standoff which ended Tuesday
with two men dead.

"There was a lot said about" the potential for booby traps, as well as the
possibility that fires had been set to lure law enforcement officers into
an ambush. "Safety of our people and the community was our concern,"
Dragomer said.

Michigan State Police rotated about 35 officers, plus about 10 lab
personnel Wednesday, to the Newberg Township standoff which drew national
attention as it intensified.

The Daily News by Wednesday morning had received letters to the editor from
as far away as California, Colorado and New York condemning America's drug
war as the news raced through the cannabis community that lobbies for
marijuana legalization.

Dragomer said cadaver dogs were there to insure there were no other bodies
concealed in the rubble of burned buildings. Scorch marks and blackened
heaps of ash stood out in the otherwise hilly green landscape.

"There was never anybody out here other than our emergency support team and
the FBI SWAT team, and they worked different shifts," Dragomer said. "We
didn't have a lot of people out here. They were primarily observers, to see
what was going on. This area was never flooded with law enforcement
officers everywhere. Obviously, we were prepared that there was going to be
the potential for deadly force, so the more officers we put out here, the
greater risk to our own people," Dragomer said.

"Especially in this type of area. If you surround a building, you have the
potential of hitting your own officers."

If owner Tom Crosslin and his roommate, Rolland Rohm, looked out their
windows, "They probably did not see most of our people," Dragomer said,
although "they knew we were out here when they saw a light armored vehicle."

Dragomer said he could not provide a total of guns recovered "because
they're still working on that. I don't know that they have a total."

He also could not say how many times Rohm was shot.

"I can't tell you the exact distance, but it would be some length."

Two Michigan State Police officers with the emergency support team
discharged their weapons, according to Dragomer.

Contrary to the FBI, "Both our officers are currently on administrative
leave. That's routine" during such an investigation.

"I don't know what was here" in terms of weapons and bomb-making materials,
Dragomer said, so "I can't respond to that, but it certainly would be
unusual to me if they had that kind of equipment and material here."