Don't Get Kicked Out Of The Park Yet! Please Read!

[metalfun]

I moved back to my small hometown (population around 700) 3 & 1/2 yrs. ago. Although I do more water hunting, I had started to hunt on land in our small town park after reading some of the posts on park finds. I had never had any problems until last Friday. I was hunting & a guy on a town truck pulled up beside me in the park & told me I couldn't metal detect out there. I told him I had been hunting out there for some time & had never had any problems. I told him that a matter of fact some of the town police had been out there eating lunch in the car while I was hunting & never even spoke to me. I started walking toward the truck saying "I'm not trying to start any trouble, but is there a town ordinance saying that metal detecting is not allowed?" I don't think he even heard what I asked as he drove off while talking on his phone. About 15 minutes later, the town police pulled up beside me & told me I had been called in. This officer used to be the chief of police & I happen to know him. He told me if I would go & talk to the 5 town commissioners they could vote on it & if 3 out of 5 voted yes I wouldn't have any problem continuing to hunt. After seeing 3 of the commissioners, who seemed not to oppose, I was told to go by the town hall and let them know that I wanted to be in the town meeting Mon. night. When I reached the town hall the first one in the office I saw was the town Mayor. I told him that I wanted to address the town board in the meeting. He said that I could, but I wouldn't get an answer the same night. He then said that if I could tell him what I was trying to find out he might could give me an answer. Not wanting to, I told him anyway what I was doing in the park when I was confronted by the town employee that called the law on me. He then said that his thoughts were what would his park look like if he allowed me to hunt & then 50 other people wanted to hunt there. I told him that in our small town I didn't think that would be a possibility. I also told him how I pick up cans, nails, tin, etc. that would keep kids from getting hurt on them. He said he didn't know if we have an ordinance against this, but he would look it up & I could go back by that afternoon he would let me know. I went back to the officers (previous chief) house thinking that the Mayor would surely say no. My police officer friend told me that if I went back & he said there was an ordinance against metal detecting to ask to see it because it is PUBLIC RECORD. So, dreading to go back, I showed up about an hour before closing and the mayor was still there. He told me that all he could say was that when you dig a hole cover it up (which I always do anyway). He said there was digging ordinances, but the all pertained to sewer lines. I told him Thank you & he told me if there were any changes in the future he would let me know. I felt several times during this four day ordeal that maybe I should just forget about it, after all I only found 27 cents on my last visit before being run off by police, but I'm glad I didn't give up and I'm happy to say for now I can hunt in our small town park! Just remember if it happens to you first of all be nice, second stand up for your rights, and make sure the guy who tries to run you off has the authority to do so. (By the way, the guy who ran me off I found out was in charge of parks & recreation in our small town.) Thanks for reading! HH!!!

 

[matthias]

Great post! Thanks. Job well done. HH. Matt

 

[markg]

Great story. I too had that happen at a small park out in the country. The only one to kick us out was the park director. No laws against digging, he just didn't want us there. Oh well, someday he will move on.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

thanx for posting. This just goes to show that you can get a "yes" or a "no", depending on who you ask, or who you run into. Ie.: if you ask 5 people, you will get 5 different answers (presuming, of course, there were no actual real rule). The reason is, the dreaded ambiguous things that ALL parks have, like "disturbance" "altering", "defacing", etc.... Heck, if you asked enough people, you'd probably even find one who tells you that it falls under the catch-all "annoyances" clause! So the moral of the story? : Don't take one persons word for it, or one person's booting as authoritative!

I just avoid those kill-joys, to begin with, as much as possible. In your case, you had to address it, because perhaps the town is just to small to avoid the lookie-lou in the future. Glad it worked out for you.

Notice though that the mayor had told you the caveat: " ... as long as you cover it up...". Bear in mind that all your parks and rec. guy needs to do, is claim that you're not covering it up "good enough" (grass blades might die, or whatever), and presto, it'll become a p*ssing match of word definitions, opinions of what's good enough, etc.... Hence I just avoid such semantics debates, whenever possible, to begin with. Out of site it out of mind.

 

[Critterhunter]

Not saying this at all about your situation, so don't think I am. I think you handled the situation perfectly in terms of those events.

After hearing these stories and also having a few of my own "life's lessons", that's why I play it safe and won't dig in front of anybody that I think might give me a problem (cops, groundskeepers, around a bunch of people, and so on). I play it safe and avoid conflict because I don't want to roll the dice on my spots. If just a normal citizen confronts me (never has happened) I plan to not argue and just leave. I can come back another day and chances are I'll never see them again, but if I argue and they call the police then chances are I'll get kicked out of there just so they can resolve the conflict and pacify the person complaining. Only if my back is against the wall from a city employee or cop will I then seek permission from the city government. Doing that when you don't need to can potentially result in a "no" on record, and then I'll have no excuse the next time if they catch me there.

In your situation you did the right thing, as it's obvious this person was a city worker with the ability to find you there on future occasions. Good job.

I was recently somewhat criticized for taking this kind of "hedge my bets" approach to my hunting sites. I found that rather odd, since I wasn't telling anybody they shouldn't dig in front of cops and such. Just that based on my experiences that's just the kind of caution I excercise in my personal detecting. I've had too much bad luck in life to take those kinds of chances, so I keep a low profile as much as possible so there is less chance to have things blow up in my face. If I'm to be ridiculed for that then so be it, because I guess only I know just what my kind of bad luck is like. Others who haven't experienced the things I have will of course be more confident, but the low profile thing works for me.

 

[metalfun]

I agree totally with what you say, and I always go when there's no one else there. But, even then, the jerk showed up. HH!!!