Urgent Call to Action!!! There is a situation in Mason City, Iowa

[jeff of pa]

There is a situation in Mason City, Iowa that needs immediate attention.
Mason City, Iowa wants to ban metal detecting from its city parks. The Parks Department will be meeting at 6pm on Tuesday, October 13, to discuss the banning of metal detecting from its parks, simply because someone asked for permission.

Take a few minutes to review the news article and board meeting minutes (links below), then write an email, or call the board members listed below to voice your concerns over this issue as soon as possible.

Article: http://globegazette.com/news/local/...cle_2c62c214-37d9-5c2a-8227-04c1d43f0808.html

Minutes: http://www.masoncity.net/agendalist.aspx?cid=9257



MASON CITY PARK & RECREATION BOARD MEMBERS

Don Nelson - Chair
Phone: 641- 530-4154 Email: [email protected]
Kyle Easley - Vice Chair
Phone: 641-430-2033 Email: [email protected]
Steve Diaz - Secretary
Phone: 641-420-2424 Email: [email protected]
Frank Pearson
Phone: 641-425-8660 Email: [email protected]


Please be polite in your communications with board members, and if you live in the area, attend the meeting! Get the word out, and help protect our hobby

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Cry Of The Eagle: History And Legends Of The Cherokee Indians And Their Buried Treasure - Grab it through Amazon!

[CincinnatiKid]

Yea I just received the same email.
Hopefully someone can provide answers as to why this has suddenly happened in Mason City.
Peace ✌

 

[cw0909]

how big are these city parks, that you can bow hunt, but not metal detect
=========
Applications to Bow Hunt in City Parks

Posted Date:
10/6/2015

Press Release

Applications to bow hunt deer in City Parks are now being accepted. Deadline to apply is October 28th at 4:30 pm. Application documents can be found on Police pages under Your Government.

Mason City, Iowa - Official Website

Press Release
http://www.masoncity.net/docview.aspx?doctype=fd&docid=42966

home
Mason City, Iowa - Official Website

 

[cw0909]

folks that live there, i would look to see if City Council approval, is need to add
or change,to the park rules

the minutes from,2015 Park Board September Minutes
http://www.masoncity.net/docview.aspx?doctype=minute&docid=17036

Discussion Use of Metal Detectors in Parks – Tricia Sandahl, Planning & Zoning did submit a memo to the Park Board stating there can’t be any metal detecting on buyout property. Jim Sayles was present to ask

about using his metal detector in other Parks. After discussion, staff does have concerns regarding power lines / water lines. The real issue is, does the Park Board want to take on the liability of exposure? The Board as a group decided they would not take on that liability. Board did agree there should be a line added to the City Code regarding this issue. Mr. Trout will look into this and bring some info to the next Park Board Meeting. As for the ordinance, item D. No person shall deface or injure any building, tree, shrub or plant, or other improvement addresses digging in the public property and is not allowed per 5-2-2. Item G. No person shall scatter or litter the grounds or riverbanks with any form of garbage or waste material, etc. which would apply to material dug from the ground and scattered about and is not allowed per 5-2-2.
Mr. Pearson noticed a Wedding going on in one of the Parks, and they had a Drone above video taping it. Mr. Pearson wondered on the legality of this. Mr. Trout mentioned there are Federal Regulations, he will check into.


Adjournment Mr. Binnebose moved for adjournment. Mr. Easley second the motion. All voted Yea. Motion carried. Meeting adjourned at 6:30 p.m.

 

[jeff of pa]

folks that live there, i would look to see if City Council approval, is need to add
or change,to the park rules

the minutes from,2015 Park Board September Minutes
http://www.masoncity.net/docview.aspx?doctype=minute&docid=17036

Discussion Use of Metal Detectors in Parks – Tricia Sandahl, Planning & Zoning did submit a memo to the Park Board stating there can’t be any metal detecting on buyout property. Jim Sayles was present to ask

about using his metal detector in other Parks. After discussion, staff does have concerns regarding power lines / water lines. The real issue is, does the Park Board want to take on the liability of exposure? The Board as a group decided they would not take on that liability. Board did agree there should be a line added to the City Code regarding this issue. Mr. Trout will look into this and bring some info to the next Park Board Meeting. As for the ordinance, item D. No person shall deface or injure any building, tree, shrub or plant, or other improvement addresses digging in the public property and is not allowed per 5-2-2. Item G. No person shall scatter or litter the grounds or riverbanks with any form of garbage or waste material, etc. which would apply to material dug from the ground and scattered about and is not allowed per 5-2-2.
Mr. Pearson noticed a Wedding going on in one of the Parks, and they had a Drone above video taping it. Mr. Pearson wondered on the legality of this. Mr. Trout mentioned there are Federal Regulations, he will check into.


Adjournment Mr. Binnebose moved for adjournment. Mr. Easley second the motion. All voted Yea. Motion carried. Meeting adjourned at 6:30 p.m.

Looks to me like allot of Power Hungry paranoid Morons in that city.

Water Lines ? thinking Detectorists dig that Deep ?
material dug from the ground and scattered about and is not allowed ? seems a bit Presumptuous that the detectorsts will throw the trash they dig back down. & go after them instead of Litterbugs.
Federal Regulations on drones for a wedding in a Park, it's not an Airport

I've seen Old Shallow Power Lines , But not Live ones yet.
so I Don't know on that.

But


Gonna be an Uphill Battle.

What about the Liability from Bow Hunters ?
Are the Bow Hunters Purchasing a Permit.

Perhaps Money will Talk

A new provision of the application process includes a proficiency testing requirement prior to

submitting application documents. This proficiency testing will be conducted by the Mohawk

Archery Club. Testing will consist of 10 arrows shot at target(s) from 20 yards and 10 arrows shot at
target(s) from 15 yards. An 80% score is required to pass and be allowed to apply to hunt within the

City Parks. The cost to participate in this testing process is $15 per shooter.

Perhaps a Detecting proficiency testing, With the money Bribe to the city

 

[Tom_in_CA]

......Planning & Zoning did submit a memo to the Park Board stating there can’t be any metal detecting on buyout property. Jim Sayles was present to ask about using his metal detector in other Parks.....

Interesting. The newspaper article seemed to suggest that it started when Sayles was given a "scram" from a park worker griper at a park. And then he goes to seek clarifications, fight it, etc... (instead of just letting it blow over and be treated as a single person fluke after years of non-eventful md'ing there).

But from what you're quoting here, he does indeed seem to be escalating it into a form of permission seeking. And hence became a victim of the "no one cared UNTIL you ask asked" routine.

Not sure which of the two scenarios actually occurred. But in either way, he's now made it into a "pressing issue" to cause an actual specific rule to be formulated.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Also notice the implicit takeaway in all of this: If it's up for a vote on whether to make a specific "no detecting rule", then ... WHAT DOES THAT TELL YOU ? That tells you that anything prior to that, they were relying on (deface, alter, disturb, cultural heritage, etc...) was not, in-and-of-itself, necessarily meaning "no metal detecting". Because if it WERE that clear , then ....... why have any need to "make more rules"?

So the only thing his griping did, was further cement the very thing he didn't want

 

[Anduril]

folks that live there, i would look to see if City Council approval, is need to add
or change,to the park rules

the minutes from,2015 Park Board September Minutes
http://www.masoncity.net/docview.aspx?doctype=minute&docid=17036

Discussion Use of Metal Detectors in Parks — Tricia Sandahl, Planning & Zoning did submit a memo to the Park Board stating there can’t be any metal detecting on buyout property. Jim Sayles was present to ask

about using his metal detector in other Parks. After discussion, staff does have concerns regarding power lines / water lines. The real issue is, does the Park Board want to take on the liability of exposure? The Board as a group decided they would not take on that liability. Board did agree there should be a line added to the City Code regarding this issue. Mr. Trout will look into this and bring some info to the next Park Board Meeting. As for the ordinance, item D. No person shall deface or injure any building, tree, shrub or plant, or other improvement addresses digging in the public property and is not allowed per 5-2-2. Item G. No person shall scatter or litter the grounds or riverbanks with any form of garbage or waste material, etc. which would apply to material dug from the ground and scattered about and is not allowed per 5-2-2.
Mr. Pearson noticed a Wedding going on in one of the Parks, and they had a Drone above video taping it. Mr. Pearson wondered on the legality of this. Mr. Trout mentioned there are Federal Regulations, he will check into.


Adjournment Mr. Binnebose moved for adjournment. Mr. Easley second the motion. All voted Yea. Motion carried. Meeting adjourned at 6:30 p.m.

The City may have legitimate concerns here, but they should be verified and not simply assumed valid as a matter of routine or speculation.

For example, do the parks actually have any of the following present, and if so, to what depths?

Electric (Utility)
Electric (Premise, Out Buildings, etc..)
Low voltage electric (Landscape Irrigation)
Gas Lines
Communications (Cable-TV)
Communications (Phone, Fiber, etc..)
Water
Sewer
Septic
Etc...

If a park doesn't have any of these utilities present, there is no liability (potential harm to detectorists), and perhaps some accommodation of detectorists would be possible.
But even if a park does have one or more of these utilities present, a survey would establish their respective depth(s), and probability of being distrubed by detectorists activities.

For example, if everything is provided in an easement that is covered by a sidewalk - hard to see a problem there!
If on the other hand, in the case of power lines buried down the centerline of a roadway that is seasonally plowed for snow removal, the actual conductor depth probably shinks a bit each season. Hard to know whether the conductors are deep enough or not!

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Anduril: You're asking a lot of valid questions. Which do in fact put a face of silly-ness on the whole issue. Like, seriously now: Are md'rs likely to hurt pipes? OF COURSE NOT. Are md'rs likely to deface , alter, and leave trash on top of the ground? OF COURSE NOT!

So you're asking that these things be "verified" [Ie.: prove them wrong and very the "of course not" aspect of this.] Right?

But in all seriousness, PUT YOURSELF in their shoes: If you didn't care-less about md'ing (and our wander lust for a mercury dime or whatever), WHY THE HECK WOULD YOU BE BOTHERED? In their mind's eyes, this just opens the pandoras box for "all sorts of yahoos" to be out "digging in the parks". Yes we know that's not a correct characterization of us. But do you REALLY think you're going to convert them to see things your way ? To get the to "love you and roll out red carpets for you?"

Since it's too late from "becoming a bullseye", perhaps we have no choice but to debate semantics. But the guy would have been MUCH BETTER SERVED to have not been a bullseye for them, in the first place

 

[cw0909]

map of parks mentioned from press release for bow hunting
https://goo.gl/maps/GEF54LJVVW12

when you zoom to each park, its scary, i havent shot a bow in 10yr, and
to me the parks are to small for bow hunting, and JMO, a accident waiting
to happen, from the PR

In October of 2014, the MasonCity Parks Board approved hunting in Parkers Woods,
MacNider, Murphy, Georgia Hanford Parks aswell as Highland Park Golf Course.
Rules and an application process were established last year, the first year of the program.
http://www.masoncity.net/docview.aspx?doctype=fd&docid=42966

 

[TheHunterGT]

So this dude is approached by a city park employee. He then takes all his finds to protest city hall, at which time they rebuff his attempts and decide to have some new legal wording prepped for the next meeting?

This man is a fool. To throw him in with others that "ask permission" in a intelligent and thought out manner is bonkers.

 

[cw0909]

James Sayles has an ally, in the Mason City Globe Gazette
nice media speaking up for Mding

September 15, 2015 5:00 am
Globe Gazette editorial: Metal detector ban seems unnecessary

 

[FreeBirdTim]

Water lines have to be below the frost line, which must be pretty deep in Iowa! So that concern is baloney. And any power lines that are in the ground must be encased in something to protect them from damage (metal casings and/or plastic pipe). Too bad this guy wasn't smart enough to refute these silly claims about "liability" to the town.

 

[Dr. Syn]

These folks must have their heads up their behinds. They allow folks with lethal weapons out there to hunt "Bambi" and such but are concerned/worried about some guy swinging a M/D, and maybe digging up a find? What are they going to do when someone kills a persons dog while hunting, or someone gets hit in the eye with a Frisbee?

Umm, just my opinion as a land owner. I have more trouble with hunters (I am one too) Knocked down fences, vehicles blocking gates, trash all around their stands, yeah the stands I find nailed into the trees, empty shell casings, not to mention the bat rasturds who kill and leave the bodies laying where they fell.

Some guy swinging a M/D? Heck the ground hogs do more damage then they would.

 

[jeff of pa]

James Sayles has an ally, in theMason City Globe Gazette
nice media speaking up for Mding

September 15, 2015 5:00 am
Globe Gazette editorial: Metal detector ban seems unnecessary

Excellent Article !

Thanks for Posting it

 

[Tom_in_CA]

James Sayles has an ally, in theMason City Globe Gazette
nice media speaking up for Mding

September 15, 2015 5:00 am
Globe Gazette editorial: Metal detector ban seems unnecessary

Great link sw0909. thanx for posting. Good read.

 

[huntsman53]

The Board is likely concerned that a Metal Detectorist will find and dig up a Bow Hunter that fell out of a tree stand, died and was then buried in a Park to prevent the City from suffering any liability!


Frank

 

[Msbeepbeep]

Rally the troops and let them hear from everyone, be respectful.
Hopefully you caught it early enough.
It's amazing the things they pass when your not looking!

 

[against the wind]

I'm a member of The Task Force for Metal Detecting Rights Foundation. Have been for quite some time now.
I can't say enough about how they helped to change people's opinion about the guy or gal with a Metal
Detector. Because of their tireless efforts, we now have a permit in the 5 Counties that make up NYC. It gives
us access to thousands of acres of parkland and beaches.
Please take the time to join them. Membership is free and you might even win a metal detector by joining.
More importantly, although I enjoy reading posts by people who are fired up by others who would ban the use
of metal detectors, it is more important that you send an e-mail to The Mason City Parks and Recreation Board.
Express your displeasure but keep it civil. Let them know that we live by a Code of Ethics that addresses some
of their concerns. Also let them know that there are clubs, forums, organizations, and manufacturers, etc. that
will not let Mr. Sayles fight this battle alone,, if it comes to that. Please be respectful but be firm.
Please get that e-mail out ASAP because the Board meets again on Tuesday, October 13th, to revisit this subject.

 

[jeff of pa]

[FONT=&quot]New Business Metal Detectors – discussion – Flood buyouts are restricted due to Grant Agreements. Board unanimously agreed to have Mr. Easley & Mr. Binnebose work with Bill S. & Bob B. to write up a yearly Permit (rules) that anyone doing metal detecting on City Property will have to apply for. That will give the City acknowledgement of who will be doing so.

http://www.masoncity.net/agendalist.aspx?cid=9257
2015 Park Board October Minutes Minutes
[/FONT]