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Put too many anarchists in one place, regardless of their goal to pray for world peace, and there's bound to be trouble.

Spokesmen for the Modoc County Sheriff's Office said Harry "Hugs" O'Neill, 47, of Whitehorn, Calif., was arrested Sunday after shattering a pickup truck's windshield with a shovel, then using the shovel to repeatedly strike the vehicle's two occupants.

O'Neill remained incarcerated today at the Modoc County Jail on two charges each of felony assault, felony battery with serious bodily injury, and personal infliction of serious bodily injury.

One victim, Christopher Witcher, 47, of Roan Mountain, Tenn., was flown from the camp to the Mercy Medical Center in Redding, Calif., where police said he was listed in critical condition with a punctured lung, ruptured spleen and head injuries.

Kelly Cook, 44, of Brosnan, Texas, was knocked unconscious but declined medical treatment.

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One witness said Cook was driving his vehicle through the camp, located at Bearcamp Flat on the Modoc National Forest between Likely and Eagleville, at an unsafe speed.

Police said O'Neill flagged the vehicle to a stop, then struck and shattered the windshield with his shovel. When Witcher exited the vehicle, O'Neill struck him five to 10 times. When Cook tried to assist Witcher, police said he was struck at least three times before passing out.

Using violence to establish order in a collection of anarchists...isn't that part of the reason man developed government?

The assault was one of several incidents at the camp. The incident management team assisting Modoc National Forest officials with managing the event said an arrest was made Saturday for interfering with an officer. In addition, officers recovered a stolen vehicle and apprehended the two people. For safety reason, some vehicles that were blocking Forest Service roads had to be towed. Officers are also making frequent contacts on minor violations.

The law enforcement is being done even as Modoc officials continue efforts to have Rainbow representatives sign a noncommercial special use permit.

One person attending the gathering said Monday he has obtained de facto authorization from the Forest Service. Barry Adams said he and others notified Forest Service officials of the location for this year's assembly site June 10, then met with Modoc officials the following day to discuss resource concerns, at which time oral application for special use was made by Adams.

Adams claims that by law the Forest Service must process all such applications within 48 hours. Unless a written denial is issued within 48 hours, he said proposed events are considered "approved." No denial was issued by June 14, "indicating that the gathering site is approved," Adams said.

Anarchists tend to reject government bureaucracy, though some will accept government benefits like welfare. No question legally that a verbal request is insufficient. The forest service has to gather enough information on such a large event that it can do a limited environmental assessment. Do you suppose a gathering of 20,000 with, for instance, no public latrines will produce a FONSI (finding of no significant impact)? How about fire prevention in a dry forest?

One might think that environmental activists would decry such devastation of a natural area...if one were naive. Too many activists are using environmental issues to push other agendas that involve opposing the government, industry, etc. They're not going to waste their energy fighting a group of anarchists that lacks political power and produces a percentage of their activist base.

Green is too often a banner of convenience, and ideal to project upon others and to selectively ignore as one pleases.

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