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The kind of publicity this hobby can do without . . . . a MUST READ!

Serves him right, stealing is not good.:thumbdown:
 
Make all honest detectorist look like relic robbers. Not good.
 
In addition to jail, I hope they fine the living daylights out of that guy.
 
Could be a couple of detectors for sale cheap!:super:
 
Granted he did wrong ! but we are quick to judge people and the punishment that should handed out, whats that saying do not judge a person until you have walked a day in his shoes?

BP
 
When I suggested in a thread that a certain show where they were using shovels and pitch forks on public property was giving a black eye to our hobby, I was called a "Troll" and told that nobody likes being told what to do. By that same logic I might then say to those people that this guy has the same attitude, that he doesn't want to be told what to do either.

With freedom comes responsibility. If we don't police ourselves then there are plenty of people in the government that would just love to do it for us. That above article is just one example of bad behaviour in our hobby. More common than tresspassers like this is the bad reputation we are getting by guys who are too lazy to bend down and dig a hole. Keep taking those long handled diggers and miltary shovels onto public lands and see how fast those places are closed down.

These youtube videos and TV shows where they are (I hope) hunting on private land showing them using shovels and other long handled diggers doesn't help our public image either. They need to make it a point to say that they are only using those because they are on private property and have permission, and that they would never use such digging tools on public property.

The biggest problem in this hobby is a lack of common sense. People using offensive (in the public's eye) digging tools, guys who go to the beach or park when it is full of people and hunt right around others, people too lazy to do a good job filling a hole or picking up their trash, and so on. What about these guys who go around and hunt the tree lawns in front of houses without asking permission? The city may own that property but that isn't going to stop the home owner from calling the cops on you, and the next thing you know their city park is also now off limits.

I'm sure that guy in PA had the same attitude..."Nobody tells me what to do." Hey, I don't care for the government telling me what to do either, but that's why we have to police ourselves and use some common sense so that we don't attract unwanted attention to ourselves. You have no "right" to metal detect in the government's eyes.
 
BP . . . . in some cases that may be true but 1) he was convited before for the same offense so claiming ignorance does not hold water and 2) having hunted in the Petersbrg area (not on park property), the boundaries are in fact marked with signs so there was no chance of him making a mistake.

In this case, he got what he deserved and I am sure that readers of the Richmond paper have a negative opinion of metal detectorists after reading that article . . . making it harder to get permission to hunt private sites in the area

Andy Sabisch
 
Andy Sabisch said:
BP . . . . in some cases that may be true but 1) he was convicted before for the same offense so claiming ignorance does not hold water and 2) having hunted in the Petersbrg area (not on park property), the boundaries are in fact marked with signs so there was no chance of him making a mistake.

In this case, he got what he deserved and I am sure that readers of the Richmond paper have a negative opinion of metal detectorists after reading that article . . . making it harder to get permission to hunt private sites in the area

Andy Sabisch
Click to expand...

Not arguing with what he did was wrong Andy and that it will hurt us defiantly not arguing tha either,t just at the bottom of the article it said somethings that may explain why he did it and that doesn't make it right, but people do things that are wrong for more reasons than we may understand that's all i was saying.

BP
 
Smudge said:
In addition to jail, I hope they fine the living daylights out of that guy.
Click to expand...


I think he should have to do community service for every day he detected..using his Journal for the correct count on amount of days. He doesn't work, so no money for fines.
Add the fine to the community service deciding on what wages he would be paid if working in the parks etc.... If he gets a real job.... Community service on his days off...Looks to be around 6 or so years LOL..... Putting in a federal prison isn't going to accomplish much except punishment... free meals, free medical, free room and board...:shrug:
 
I dug a little on Google and found some more stuff about people being arrested for metal detecting. I could have found more but got tired of digging.

Here
 
It just takes a few bad apples to taint the entire metal detecting community with a black eye. Reminds me of this old saying or quotation I heard one time.

"If I do good deeds for family, friends and neighbors, they remember it never. If I do bad, they remember it ever."

This may not be the exact saying or quotation, but that's the jist of it.
People focus on bad behavior or actions and forget all the returned rings and other good deeds that metal detector members do, but they will remember something like this forever.
 
And there are always two sides to every story. We (detectorists) tend to feel that recovering the artifacts is better than leaving them in the ground to rot away while the NPS feels removing them without the context that comes with the documentation is history lost. There have been success stories where we have worked with the NPS archaeologists and hopefully there will be more of them in the future.

The superintendent of Kennesaw Battlefield in GA relayed a story as part of the article. . . . . a lady walked into the visitors center and asked if he could get some bullets identified. As one of the rangers looked them over he asked where she had come across them and she said innocently enough "in the grassy area in back of the visitor center, why?" She had bought a used detector and honestly did not know she could not hunt the battlefield. The rangers kept the finds, warned her about hunting there and sent her on her way.

However, when a few months later the rangers caught two hunters at 4AM in camo fatigues and face paint . . . . do you think they knew there was something wrong with what they were doing? They become poster cases for the NPS and rightfully so.

As far as entering a park with a detector in your car, it is only illegal if you are using the detector or are found with artifacts that you can't prove came from somewhere else. I simply let the rangers know as I enter the park that I have a detector in the car and do not plan on using it within the park and I have never had an issue.

Andy Sabisch
 
why do people go to all that effort is this stuff valuable in $ terms? i am not into it but it must be to go to all that effort to camo and face paint? or is it just for the challenge? people sometimes just do stuff for the adrenalin rush, like jumping off a mountain or whatever.

BP
 
Seriously...jail time for metal detecting? That's our tax dollars hard at work...and for 366 days he is gonna occupy a spot a murderer or rapist should be in. I am against what he did...but no one should face jail time for detecting...not like he broke into a museum and stole an old gold bar. Seriously...some do less time for a&b, robbery, armed robber, b+e, etc ...people don't do time for duis either...unless its their 9th time cought and a judge can't block a jury from hearing about priors. This is stupid...he should be forced to turn over finds and get a nice fine for tresspassing.


Smudge said:
In addition to jail, I hope they fine the living daylights out of that guy.
Click to expand...
 
366 days, has anyone here every done time? How about 36 days, that's a kick in the butt. How about a tatto on his forehead maybe that would be better. I'm about to quit this hobby because of all the paranoia. We are considered intruders regardless of all the attemps to look like hobbyist's. No matter how i try to portray myself to others they see me as destructive. I like the thrill of the hunt not the value. This man has the dark side all detectorist have but not the will power. I would never take for granted another persons property and never will but to challenge Andy's comment, he doe's not deserve that sentence. Maybe the next step is a firing squad. To all the gentlemen here, i read your post daily and respect you dedication to this hobby and try myself to convince others that we have a purpose. I only post when my feathers get ruffled or i've had too many beers. HH
 
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