silvertrader: terry, totcohand, jmary, BH, mitto, & Mike are all correct: EVEN THOUGH you may have had a legal standing (ie.: there was no prohibitions specific), yet it sounds like you went about it in an over-reactive way. Yes, I know it's not easy when Barney-fife types approach us, and heck, none of us likes to leave an area when we're digging old silver coins
However, to be honest with you, there probably IS verbage that disallows digging, if legaleze types were to scrutinize long enough and hard enough. I mean, even if the law didn't use the exact word "digging", I bet that, for sure, there is verbage in ANY park's dept code, that disallows "damage and destruction", for instance. Now, of course, WE all know that we will leave no trace of our presence, right? That is, we'll cover our holes with no trace, and thus, the implication of "damage" or "destruction" is the END result, right? So in our minds, if no trace is left, then technically, we haven't violated that, right? But you have got to admit, that no matter how we sugar coat it, there's still that interim temporary necessary evil of retreiving the object. And so long as you had so much a screwdriver (much less a trowel or leshe) who do you think is going to win that debate? They've got to respond to calls from busy-bodies, and ....... they can't spend all their time deciding who is *truly* being neat, verses who isn't doing a good job at covering and stomping their holes. So how can you fault them for this knee-jerk association? Odds are, they would never have paid you mind, if that cop had just been driving down the street. But when they get a call from a nosy-parker, they have to do lip-service. You can't blame them, when they're constantly coming under criticism for not responding, not being there when the public calls, etc....
Thus, put yourself in their shoes. It's better to give lip-service, and ......upon explaining to them you leave no trace, let them know that you'll help them appease the caller anyhow (with a wink and a smile), and move on ..... FOR THEN. Then, if it's a good park, producing nice silver old coins, you merely return at night, and continue hunting out of the scrutiny of busy-bodies
Heck, it's gotten to where I hunt a lot of parks after dark. NOT because there's necessarily any rule I'm trying to evade, but specifically so that no rule is ever MADE. Ie.: simply be more discreet, and avoid those random busy bodies, to begin with. Because if you think you're going to find parks where you can please every single passer-by, you've probably chosen the wrong hobby. I have never seen a park with neon signs saying "metal detecting welcome here". Nor can I envision a city hall desk-clerk who would tell me "sure, go have a blast, you can dig in the park all you want". So you have to face the facts: we're in an odd hobby that draws the stares of curious on-lookers, and we can not deny the fact of the retreival process knee-jerk assumptions. Thus, the solution is, avoid busy bodies, and keep a lower profile. Sometimes I just avoid a park for a year, then return a year later. And magically, often-time you can go till your blue in the face, because people tend to move on, or perhaps it was just an isolate incident (a single cop having a bad day, or a single busy body who has since moved away, etc....)
