GERLACH - Lovelock native Shannon Smith only needed one word to justify her ninth annual trek to the Black Rock Playa. Triple-digit heat, dust, rain, lightning and mud make the inhospitable desert seem like an unlikely vacation paradise for young professionals.
"Joy," said the technical draftsman. "It re-balances my body, makes me calm and re-orients me for the rest of life and of the year. I want to cry just thinking about it."
Smith said she tries to incorporate the Burning Man attitude into the rest of her life each year by riding her bike and complimenting her neighbors in Boise. The event has changed Smith's life by making her more sociable and to "give the joy," she said.
"Welcome home!" said a "greeter" named Legit as Smith made it through the third set of gates to Burning Man last week. "Wear your seat belt and obey the 5 miles per hour speed limit. We've had a lot of trouble with these guys."
Legit was referring to what he perceived as the heavy-handedness of law enforcement officers monitoring "burners" as they arrived early to install theme camps and art projects. By stopping vehicles for expired plates, broken taillights or other more serious infractions, "integrated" teams of Bureau of Land Management officers and Pershing County Sheriff's deputies made participants aware of their presence at this year's festival.
During one traffic stop, a BLM officer deployed a police dog for what appeared to be a quick once-around the exterior of an old VW bus. Down the road, another officer detained and interrogated a young couple about something he discovered in their car.
Reports of an alleged crackdown by law enforcement were transmitted online as burners warned participants headed for the playa to leave their contraband at home.
Long-time Burning Man participant Aaron Muzslaski sent a warning and fiery complaints to an online news blog regarding law enforcement activity at the event.
"In the 18 years on the playa, I've never seen a more aggressive police presence than what's been going down today," he said. "Whatever the cause, know this: law enforcement is going to be very aggressive at Burning Man this year. Keep your (bleepity-bleep) as right as you do in the world. Don't give them any excuses."
"We've seen an increased presence in law enforcement," Burning Man Regional Network Manager Megan Miller later said at Burning Man's Media Mecca. "I'll leave it at that."
As of Tuesday morning, three burners had been arrested and were incarcerated for DUIs and other offenses at the Pershing County Jail, according to Undersheriff Tom Bjerke. An alleged sexual assault was under investigation and a concerned parent had called the county about her teenager, who may have driven a stolen car to Burning Man, he said.
As for law enforcement tactics at the event, Bjerke said the major change is the "integration" of local and federal law enforcement at the Burning Man event. Sheriff's deputies and BLM officers have been teamed up in federal vehicles using BLM dispatch and communications.
While the integration saves money for Pershing County, it may challenge officers with conflicting views of appropriate law enforcement procedures. In an emergency, however, the law enforcement teams will back each other up even if they disagree on the "rules of engagement" with suspects, probable cause and privacy issues, Bjerke said.
"We've never worked as a team before because the rules of engagement are different between the state and the federal government," he said. "We'll see how that works out."
Bjerke read Muzslaski's assertion that law enforcement is an unnecessary intrusion on the event and the burner's use of a derogatory term for officers who are patrolling the event.
"This is where I live - you (burners) are actually the intruders," Bjerke said. "I read the burner's blog that said 'the pigs have arrived.' Why the negativity right off the bat?"
The 26-bed county jail in Lovelock is expected to be busy this week as new prisoners arrive from the playa, Bjerke said. Extra mattresses on cell floors will accommodate the new arrivals, but conflicts will probably occur between inmates. Luckily, most burners have the money to bail themselves out quickly so there's a high turnover rate, he said.
"It gets very hectic around here and tempers flare," Bjerke said. "Not between us and them but between the inmates. Our local inmates don't particularly care for the burners coming in with their attitude. They (burners) tend to be kind of a whiny bunch."
To avoid overcrowding, non-violent inmates who've already completed most of their sentences and are no threat to the community may be released early, Bjerke said. Other long-term inmates may be temporarily housed in other jails outside the county, if needed.
"We may have to ship some of the long-term inmates to Humboldt or Churchill County and have them held for two weeks or however long it takes."
Law enforcement actions depend on participants' behavior at the event, Bjerke said. Local sheriff's deputies tend to tolerate harmless mischief at large events as long as attendees are not flagrantly breaking the law or endangering themselves or others.
"The BLM officers tend to be more aggressive," he said. "We tend to back off at events and allow a little more than we normally would, as long as people are just having fun."
In a Tuesday morning phone interview from the playa, Pershing County Sheriff Rich Machado said the deputies under his command have been busier than ever due to the increased attendance at Burning Man. As far as he's concerned, law enforcement tactics are unchanged other than the cost-saving integration of BLM and county officers.
"It's been busier than in the past," Machado said. "We're probably going to have about 15 to 20 people in jail before the week is out. Our job is to maintain safety and enforce the laws. We are advising Burning Man participants to let common sense be their guide."
Burners found in possession of small amounts of illegal substances are cited and the drugs confiscated, Machado said. If larger amounts are discovered, the suspects will be arrested for drug possession or trafficking under state or federal law. Other incidents not unusual for the event that have already occurred include domestic violence, open and gross lewdness, sexual assault and driving under the influence of alcohol, he said.
Smith and Nori "Norion" Mukai of Los Angeles had no problems
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with law enforcement as they arrived early to set their "Miso Soup" theme camp. Their tents and recreation vehicles house an annual Burning Man reunion with more than 20 friends and relatives from Boise, Reno, Los Angeles and Lovelock expected to attend the rendezvous.
"This is our family's ninth Burning Man," Smith said. "My mom will be out here again, my aunt Darlene Vonsild from Lovelock, her sister and their other sister, both my sisters and a couple of my cousins. I've had both my kids out here before so we've had three generations in our camp more than once. This is our family get-together every year."
Smith and Mukai delivered "Aldo Silverado," an "art car" re-decorated with new lights and paint each year by Vonsild, Jennifer Osborn and other Lovelock burners.
In the non-commercial tradition of Burning Man, Mukai, a native of Japan, prepares a breakfast of miso soup for all takers who often offer food or drink in exchange, he said.
This year's event features 24 installations by foreign and domestic teams called the Circle of Regional Effigies (CORE) to be burned in unison on Thursday night. Miller said the work groups include artists from Russia, South Africa, France, Spain, Israel, New Zealand, Australia, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Taiwan and China.
"I act as a liaison between the international and regional groups from around the country, Canada and the world to build their CORE projects," she said. "Myself and volunteers are on hand to facilitate ways for folks to plug things into their local communities."
An information center provides information on year-round community arts projects, solar energy, medical and other nonprofit groups affiliated with Black Rock City, Miller said.
"We have a center called 'Everywhere' which houses the information and people from Burning Man's five main outreach arms," she said. "Those are the Regional Network, Black Rock Arts Foundation, Black Rock Solar, Burners Without Borders and our new non-profit the Burning Man Project."
Burning Man Communications Director Jim Graham of Santa Cruz said Black Rock City's population will gradually reach the peak of 68,000 participants on Friday as permitted by the Bureau of Land Management. Some burners will depart early to avoid treacherous traffic jams and potential accidents when the event ends on Monday.
"We've always seen that peak population, which is what the BLM always looks at, happens on Friday," he said. "Some people come early in the week then start heading out to beat the traffic. The Man burns on Saturday night but some people have already left."
Numerous aerial drones and other aircraft equipped with video cameras documenting the event are presenting safety concerns and privacy issues for Black Rock City officials.
"We've got a film crew out of France doing a three-dimensional I-Max film," Graham said. "They'll be flying around in a 25-foot dirigible to get time-lapse shots of the whole city going up. We're going to have upward of 100 drone operators out here like helicopters and planes with cameras. We've prohibited flying over crowds or ceremonies and we're going to have drones tagged so if any crash, we'll know who they belong to."
Along with greater attendance, there are more "big art" installations and over 400 theme camps, Graham said. It will take volunteers weeks to "leave no trace" after the event.
"It's the largest number of theme camps ever," he said. "The BLM said we did a good job of cleaning the playa last year so they bumped it up and they'll see how we do this year. It will take a month to clean up with the leave-no-trace policy that we have here."
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