VANDALIA CAMPGROUND OWNER CONTINUES STANDOFF WITH POLICE

VANDALIA -- A standoff between police and a Southwest Michigan
campground owner facing drug and weapons charges continued Saturday,
authorities said.

Cass County Sheriff's Deparment deputies went to Rainbow Farm -- which
is described on its Web site as an "alternative campground & concert
arena" -- about noon Friday after neighbors said the owner, Grover
Thomas Crosslin, 47, was burning buildings on the property.

The 34-acre farm is at 59896 Pemberton Road, just north of Black
Street in Newberg Township about three miles east of Vandalia. The
community is on the eastern side of Cass County.

Deputies evacuated six nearby houses and watched from a distance as
three buildings burned, Sheriff Joseph Underwood said. About 20 shots
were fired from within the campground, he said.

A news helicopter from television station WNDU in South Bend, Ind.,
was struck by a bullet Friday as it flew over the propety, but it
landed safely and there were no injuries, the station reported.

The pilot and a cameraman were unaware a bullet had pierced the
helicopter's horizontal stabilizer but left the area after police
radioed a warning, WNDU news director Ellen Crooke said.

"They flew back to South Bend to refuel, and when they did so, the
pilot looked at the ship and realized it had been hit," she said.
Authorities arrested Crosslin and five others on drug charges in May
after a two-year investigation into allegations of marijuana use at
the 34-acre campground, Underwood said.

Crosslin was charged with possession of a firearm, growing marijuana
and maintaining a drug house. On Friday, he was facing a $150,000 bond
revocation hearing because authorities believed he was violating the
terms of his release.

Crosslin's property is also the target of civil forfeiture
proceedings.

"I assume he's upset about the court hearing," Underwood said
Friday.

The May arrests were made just before Hempfest 2001, a Memorial Day
weekend event at the campground.

A statement on Rainbow Farm's Web site says it "supports the medical,
spiritual and responsible recreational uses of marijuana for a more
sane and compassionate America."

The FBI will try to determine whether Crosslin or someone else inside
Rainbow Farm shot at the helicopter, Special Agent Dawn Clenney said
Saturday. "If he shot at an aircraft, that's a federal violation," she
said. Crosslin's sister, Shirley DeWeese, of Elkhart, Ind., said her
brother wants to be left alone.

"I can't talk to him ... he was very angry with the government and the
way they have done things," DeWeese told a South Bend newspaper. "I
just hope he remains cool and calm. He doesn't want all the violence."

A message posted Thursday on Rainbow Farm's Web site said the
campground's Labor Day Weekend Camp-Out was called off. "Bad
government has intervened, once again, and closed Rainbow Farm
Campground," the message read.

On May 2, Cass County Circuit Court Judge Michael E. Dodge granted a
preliminary injunction closing the campground until May 29, stopping
Hempfest 2001.

A probe into the campground allegedly showed use, delivery and
possession of drugs, such as suspected marijuana, cocaine,
Methamphetamine, LSD and prescription drugs at festivals there. The
events were attended by out-of-state visitors and many teen-agers,
authorities said.