Editor:

I am not a "Rainbow." I am an observer of all things political or controversial. Every year the Rainbows go someplace and drive the "locals" crazy. There are rumors and tales about the "gatherings" that are as absurd as tales about space aliens and Bigfoot.

In every instance, there is pretty much mass hysteria before the gathering. The hysteria grows a bit milder about mid-way through the gathering.

And once the gathering is over folks seem very confused about why there was hysteria. Someone wrote in an article in this newspaper that some of the "hippies" stay, even after the gathering until, "all of the food is gone." That is not why most who stay after do so.

They stay after to do recovery of the land. They do not leave untill every possible trace of the gathering has been remediated. You will not find a single piece of trash, not even one cigarette butt or candy wrapper or empty chip bag anywhere on the land.

Not all people who come to the gatherings have the Rainbow spirit. Some are just bums, some are just stupid youth, some are mentally ill. But as long as they behave in the manner of the Rainbow spirit, they will be taken care of, and be cleaned up after, by the "Rainbow Family."

Typically, usually a couple of months after a gathering, the "locals" have seen that their forests haven't been destroyed; their children haven't been kidnapped; their property has not been pillaged, and the worst lingering negative memory is: "Those Hippies really smell bad." I sincerely hope that for Wyoming, that will, once again, be the worst thing that lingers.

KATHY DARDEN, Brownsville, Calif.