Phantom Jets Disturb Peace Group

Post-Dispatch Special Correspondent

Salem, Mo. - About 4,000 people who had assembled in the Mark Twain National Forest to pray for world peace got an ear-splitting reminder of war when two F-4 Phantom jets flew a simulated bombing run over their site Wednesday and Thursday.

The jets were from the Missouri National Guard out of Lambert Field. They thundered over the horizon at the annual Rainbow Family Peace and Spiritual Healing Gathering, clearing treetops and sending several frightened children crying to their parents for protection.

"Isn't this great?" asked one Rainbow father. "We don't have to be in Beirut. We can experience terror right here in our own country."

The Rainbow Family is a loosely organized group of latter-day flower children. They chose a 300-acre, forested site in the Salem ranger district of the Mark Twain Forest for their annual gathering July 1-7.

Salem District Ranger Bruce Platt said he had complained about the Phantoms after their first flight Wednesday. He was told by Air National Guard authorities that the jets routinely made simulated bombing runs at near by lead mines.

"They said there was nothing we could do about them," Platt said "But Thursday, we had two small planes and a helicopter in the vicinity at the same time. We radioed the Highway Patrol that this was congested air space and they got the jets out of there."

The jets screeched across the sky just before 4,000 people joined hands to pray and meditate silently for peace.

The crowd gathered at a large meadow dotted with tents, teepees and makeshift shelters. Paths from camping areas above and below the meadow were filled with a pilgrim like procession of dressed, partly dressed and undressed men, women and children who silently joined the prayer circle under the noontime sun.

Inside the ring of people, others quietly meditated alone or in small groups. One man blew soap bubbles over their heads, while another went silently from group to group offering water. Two women hugged each other and danced to an inner music while a solitary woman swayed with an unseen partner.

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