Re: Where is the Wizard & Lightning

Greetings all, indeed this is unfortunate. Wizard, did you hear about or see any of this when you were at Burning Man?


Burning Man death was a first at festival
BELMONT WOMAN DIED IN `ART CAR' ACCIDENT
By Linda Goldston
Mercury News

A young Belmont woman apparently died doing what she loved most: being artistic.

Katherine Lampman's death early Saturday at the Burning Man counterculture festival in the Nevada desert was the first time that a participant died during the event, organizers said.

``Ms. Lampman and her friends had created an art car, an artistically decorated vehicle which they used to transport themselves through the event grounds in the Black Rock Desert in northeastern Nevada,'' Marian Goodell, director of business and communication, said in an e-mail Monday evening. The event location is so remote cell phone reception is not possible.

``According to the Pershing County sheriff's department, Ms. Lampman stumbled while dismounting from the slow-moving vehicle and was fatally injured by a trailer towed by the art car.''

Lampman, 21, a student at the Academy of Art in San Francisco, died about 3 a.m. Saturday of chest injuries ``due to blunt motor vehicle trauma,'' according to the Washoe County Coroner's Office, which conducted an autopsy.

The Burning Man festival -- which started on Baker Beach with a small group of people in San Francisco in 1986 -- attracted a record crowd of more than 30,000 people this year, officials said. Festivities were also marred by two plane crashes at the site, about 120 miles north of Reno, which injured five people, who remain in serious to critical condition.

Goodell said event organizers work closely with local and federal safety officials to prevent accidents.

``It is unfortunate that, despite these precautions, this unusual accident'' involving Lampman occurred, Goodell said. ``During each of the last several years, the event has had approximately 30,000 participants, and despite the size of the gathering, the event has had an excellent safety record.''

Security measures were increased in recent years after a drunken driver drove into a tent in 1996, injuring three people, and a man died on the way to the event when his motorcycle ran head-on into a van.

Larry Harvey, founder of the Burning Man festival, said in a statement, ``We are always saddened when a member of our community dies, and it is especially disturbing that Kathy died during the event. Our heart goes out to her family and friends, and her spirit of participation will be missed."

Goodell said a ceremony in Lampman's honor was held by some of her friends and members of the festival community ``at the Temple of Honor, a sacred place built to honor members of the community that have died.''

Funeral services for Lampman are pending.