Kicked out of park

[Pastor bob]

Went hunting back at the site of my last post on the small town park with my brother. Found some older wheaties but nothing too exciting. On the way home we stopped at another small town park that used to have an old school next to it. Really wasn't finding much but after about 20 minutes of searching we notice a deputy sheriff approaching. He calls us over and says he had a call about people digging in the park. I told and showed him what we were doing and he said he had no problem with it, but the person that called was on this towns (pop. 200) city council. Officer was very kind and asked a lot of questions about detecting, but one busy body had to make known he was unhappy. First time in 20 years I have been kicked out of a city park. It is a shame that some people don't understand that we generally leave the area in better shape than when we left.

 

[mudpuppy]

Well, chalk it up to an adventure. Not many people have the opportunity to get run out of a park the way we do! If anybody belongs in parks and beaches and areas, its us! We do a lot of good and keep an eye on things, and are usually prepared for any emergency situation or helping somebody.
I'm surprised it took 20 years for that to happen, you must be nearly invisible!
Mud

 

[Sailorman]

Yeah, somebody had to feel important. A few weeks ago we had the mayor of a small city sic the cops on us. However we were on private property and had permission. The officer was nice and I don't think thought much of his boss and was pretty good about the whole thing.

 

[togamac]

I went to city hall and asked about MDing in the local park. Was told it was OK. Went to the park and in about 5 minutes, a woman in a 4 wheeler approached me and said, "No metal detecting allowed here." She worked for the city and the park was her responsibility. I explained nicely that I had received permission at city hall. She wanted the details so that she could rip them a new you-know-what. In the meantime I explained how responsible MDers leave a place better than we find them and showed her my broken glass bottleneck with cap attached that I always carry with me. I left the park on friendly terms but it irks me that while there are no city laws against MDing on city property, the employees can kick you out.
I think one answer is to form a club, put together a presentation showing how responsible MDers do their searching, present it at a city council meeting, and politely but firmly explain that we're taxpayers too and if there are no laws against it, we're going to enjoy our hobby on city property. Otherwise, we'll continue to get kicked around.
I'd like to hear other points of view on this subject.
Mac

 

[Sailorman]

Well, I'm welcome at a few places that local club members are not. Clubs can get painted with the reputation of a few bad members.

 

[widebody]

[size=large]it's a mistake to think employees have the authority to kick you out. the rules say technically no damage to root systems. there are no rules against just metal detecting. i let the pee-on know this and send them back to work. they don't get paid to hassle me. they get paid to mow the lawn. if they have problems they need to report them to a supervisor. it's why we start as far up the permission food chain as possible. one has to protect ones rights themselves or one does not have those rights. just be nice when excercising those rights. they already don't like you. you have nothing to lose. as long as you find and mark the targets you can go back after the jerk is off work and retreave it. just my idea.

HH[/size]