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Kicked Off Vermont Beach

B

Bernie

New member
I had a very unpleasant experience at a Vermont State beach on Saturday. I was all set to do some detecting, no one was on the beach yet. A very rude person who claimed he was the park ranger started yelling at me that I had to leave, couldn't be there with the detector, no detecting allowed, etc. I asked him if there were some state rules against metal detecting, and he said he had discretion as ranger and he expected a busy day at the beach and didn't want me disturbing other beach goers.

I have detected on beaches in Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts and never had this problem. I have sometimes been on the beach when it was really busy but the beach supervisory personnel have never given me a hard time. I am really pissed off that I was treated so rudely by a state employee whose salary I pay. I plan to follow-up with the Vermont department of parks. Being in the legal profession, I guess I can follow-up with legal action if I can't get some satisfaction out of the state bureaucrats.

I am wondering if any of you have had any similar problems, in Vermont or elsewhere.
 
Bernie, I just got kicked out of a local park in NJ that I have been detecting for years. Apparently this DPW guy has self-appointed himself park ranger and treated me and a hunting buddy quite rudely. Please see the thread about this on the Minelab Explorer forum and drop me a PM if you're interested. Sorry to hear of your bad experience....Erik
 
n/t
 
...get the idiot's name and the name of the SUPERVISORY ranger in charge of him and that area. He's probably a summer ranger with little knowledge as to what the rules truly are.

I work for the Corps of Engineers (until 30 Sep [retirement :biggrin: ] ) and our authority is Title 36. There is nothing in Title 36 that prohibits metal detecting on Corps-managed property. You are so right: It is PUBLIC property--not Corps, not State--but public property.

I keep copies of Title 36 with me at all times and am every-so-often approached by some imbecilic half-wit that has a new pick-up and a clip board and calls himself a 'ranger.' We hire a lot of school teachers year after year after year. They do a good job most of the time but don't have the knowledge of the regulations. Any 'discretion' they may exercise must be in writing from the lake manager!

There are some Corps districts that require a Special Use Permit and they may be acquired by the ranger on the spot usually. The only time the Corps disallows metal detecting is on a site that has historical significance and is archaeological sensitive. But 'previously disturbed areas such as beaches are just not a problem with the Corps. If I ever have a confrontation with some sap like you had, I just ask for their name and their supervisor's name, address and phone number.

I don't know what the state uses for its authority but I bet you dollars to donuts that its authority is available for download.

Regardless of the rules or lack thereof, there is NO reason for a public official to be the least bit belligerent to anyone from the public. Our rangers are trained to be professional--even with overbearing drunks on the 4th of July etc., but there are idiots in every crowd and bad apples in every barrel that we all have to watch out for.

A visit to whomever has authority over that beach should solve the problem, once you are talking to an upper-echelon supervisor. I don't like hearing of these things, but sadly, it seems to 'come with the territory' more and more these days.

aj
 
Once again, as in my previous post, You should nhave slipped him a knuckle sandwich with a kick in the sack for dessert.
 
In Connecticut you cannot detect on a state beach DURING the summer months before 6 pm. Because our beaches are small, the beach goer presents a problem to the DEP (Department of Environmental Protection) dogs. They frequently complained that the detectorists were stealing their money and jewelery thus tying up DEP dogs and Life Guards with basically lies. So they made the ruling of no detecting while the life guards were on duty. Connecticut does not post any sign to this effect but they do have the ruling in their offices at the park entrances. Also, in the rules you must turn in any valuables to the DEP dogs.........yeah right if you are stupid enough to tell anyone of your finds. Town and city beaches are exempt from the state rules and have their own set of guidelines to adhere by. You need to find out what rules apply to the area you wish to detect at, then carry a copy in a waterproof bag for the next park dog who comes along and starts barking at you.
 
When I purchased my MD I made a call to the Department of Parks of Westchester CO, NY to ask for rules, restrictions and regulations on use of MD in Westchester. The woman who spoke to me was SOOO rude (without any reason)!! Stated that any MDing activity is illegal in Westchester, that she did not know where I was going to detect and that I`d better return my MD to the dealer.
I doubt that harmless MDing is really illegal in Westchester Co like drug dealing or rape or theft, but these people create their own rules to feel important and powerful.
Not everyone of us is lawyer, and ordinary citizens are totally helpless and unprotected against the huge enormous bureaucratic machinery.
 
n/t
 
Why is it that so many people equate finding something with a metal detector as STEALING! I just can't understand this mentality, especially with water hunting as a ring lost in the ocean is a ring that is gone for good, this isn't stealing by any stretch of the imagination for normal people but there are some who just can't get their head around the concept.:stars: Wedding bands in particular seem to ellicit this response from some members of the nondetecting public. I'll stop now before I really begin to rant.:ranting:

Cheers,

BDA:cool:
 
PROOF of ownership is what is needed when they are trying to claim something. Some idiots think it is funny to make false accusations just to try and claim what we have found...............I will gladly give them all my pull tabs and sinkers!!
 
Thanks for all the support!! I just received a return call from the Vermont Superintendent of Parks who apologized for the conduct of his employee. He told me that it is perfectly legal to detect on the beaches, in fact there are specific rules that allow it. He promised to take care of the situation. We'll see, I am going back to that beach next weekend to see how he takes care of things. I guess it might have helped a little bit that I am a judge, but I think that we all need to assert our rights in situations like that.
 
Hey bernie we need more people like you to give us advice and help stop this nonsense, I also came across some young cops, one was a young girl and lordy lord was she a real #$@*& she almost shot me pulling her gun out cause she didn't know what my detector was. You would figure law enforcement would know what a metal detector is.
 
I wonder if anybody has ever mounted a serious challenge to the rules banning metal detecting on some of the beaches. It seems that if they are allowed to ban us, what is to stop them from banning any group that they choose? Like children, old people, people who don't look good in bathing suits, etc. Unfortunately, such challenges would be costly and, unless there is a large enough group to spread the cost out, probably won't happen. It would be a good pro bono project for a young lawyer.
 
I've been asked several times to show my detecting permits. They won't take my word for it why should we take theirs! I think they should be the ones to produce the paper work showing us that detecting is not permitted. We can't let these people make up the rules as they see fit.
 
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