RAINBOW FARM GOING UP FOR AUCTION

Conditions Applied To Land Use; Money To Be Held In Trust For Slain Man's Son

VANDALIA -- Since it opened in the mid-1990s, the owner of Rainbow Farm
Campground touted it as a place where visitors could gather, relax and
enjoy the peace of rural Cass County.

Last Labor Day weekend, all of that changed.

During a fateful five-day standoff, campground owner Grover "Tom" Crosslin,
46, and Rolland Rohm, 28, were both fatally shot by law- enforcement
officers after the two reportedly burned down most of the buildings at the
campground and shot at a news helicopter from South Bend's WNDU-TV, Channel 16.

Since that time, the campground that once played host to throngs of
revelers has remained quiet and overgrown, as authorities pondered its fate.

Nearly a year later, it appears those officials have made a decision: The
43 acres of rolling fields and woods will be divided into parcels and
auctioned to the highest bidder.

"I think it is a win-win situation," Cass County Prosecutor Scott Teter
said last week. "We are very pleased with the agreement."

In the wills of Rohm and Crosslin, all of their possessions -- which mostly
amounted to the campground, a historical brick home at the intersection of
Calvin Center Road and Michigan 60, and some property in Elkhart -- were
left to Robert Rohm, who is Rolland Rohm's son.

Robert, who is now 14, had been raised by the two men since he was 4 years old.

Now in state foster care, he has been represented by court-appointed estate
overseer John Gore and guardian ad litem Peter Smith in matters concerning
his inheritance.

Together, Smith, Gore and Teter devised the plan to divide and auction the
campground, with the proceeds from the auction to be placed in trust for
Robert until he turns 18.

However, the deal is not without conditions.

"Basically, we did not want the campground to be reopened under any
circumstances," Teter said. "We didn't want a repeat of what happened there
before."

To that end, there are a number of provisions in the agreement designed to
keep the land from ever being used for its former purpose again.

First of all, Teter said that the deed to each parcel will include a
restrictive covenant that the land may never be used for either a
campground or an entertainment venue again. And any successful bidder on
any of the parcels will be subject to the scrutiny of county officials, who
may veto the sale if the buyer does not pass muster.

"This way, we can conduct background checks" on the buyer if necessary,
Teter said.

In exchange for the conditions, Teter agreed to drop an action seeking
civil forfeiture of the campground under a law that allows property
involved in drug trafficking to be seized.

The action was initiated after an investigation conducted between 1996 and
2001 allegedly found that the property was being used to conduct festivals
that allowed rampant drug use and sales, and other illegal activities by
campground guests.

Friends and family members of the two slain men, however, have maintained
that the investigations were just a ruse to seize the land for profit.
Rolland Rohm's stepfather, John Livermore, said the plan to auction off the
land is further proof of that.

The land is worth "several million dollars," he claimed during a telephone
interview from his Rogersville, Tenn., home. The auction will bring only
"pennies on the dollar."

Regardless, Livermore said that the auction won't bring what the land is
worth, making Robert Rohm the ultimate loser.