God Bless their hearts, all of them and shame on anyone for even attempting to take something so harmless and simple away. Honestly I look at all of the really evil stuff that people do and then I look at the insane choices that some of our elected officials make and I wonder how we as a people will ever survive their insanity.
I don't intend to be religious or political. I am just both sad and disgusted by the entire attitude some people take regarding dirt fishing. Preserving for the future? First off really how many of us have ever found a 'museum quality find' ? Oh, I am sure a few have and I have even seen a few over the years, but by and large most would hardly rate display space in the front of a museum. How many hundreds of thousands of holes were dug to find those few 'quality pieces'? The rest of the stuff might find a home tucked away on some back shelf in museum or university storage until space is needed and it makes it into one of those really great numbered boxes that no one ever looks in. Is this really preserving for the future or is it just a slick way for wealthy investors to hoard everything they can get their hands on away and who really benefits from it all? What, a few grad students or museum workers? I am glad that they will get to enjoy the stuff and I am sure that it will all be safer in the box rather than actually being handled by the general public. God knows no moron pushing a metal detector would preserve or possibly even go so far as to cherish whatever that old hunk of metal was. Give me a break. People live under some very ignorant and misguided notions about metal detecting (as a rule). We, my friends are misunderstood and probably with good reason. Most people regard the pop tab and tin foil excavation crew as an eccentric, but more or less harmless group. It's a strange hobby and that's on the good days. Don't believe me then take a good look at what any one of us would call a good day of coin shooting or hitting the 'tot lot'. It's difficult to get people to understand the hobby once their visions of buried treasure have passed. How do you even convince your wife that honestly those 11 Wheaties, 1 Indian and 1 silver dime equal a magnificent day of coin shooting? People see the hobby through a veil of dollar signs. The above mentioned treasure...what? Two, maybe three dollars? That was five hours of searching, sore knees and aching back. It was a magnificent day. It wasn't gold, it wasn't a living wage or even a fast food lunch. It was my hobby. A trip into the unknown where every signal could hold the promise of something really cool and different to tell all my friends about. A few hours to just let go of everything and really relax. I hear some people find similar feeling in hobbies of their own. I am happy for them and would not dare try to take away their hobby. I sure hope that in the end they choose to open their hearts and show me the same level of kindness. I am not asking for much. Let me get my permits, pay me fees, whatever, but let me find my pop tabs in peace.
The old fellow in the story...I know he still had a few parks to detect. I am glad they were kind enough to leave him that much. I am also angry about what they took away. I do not know what to think or say in the end. I am angry.
Doug in OR
