Urgent - Carthage, MO proposed law

[Mark S.]

Important call for assistance.

The city of Carthage, MO will be voting on an ordinance to limit metal detecting on city property. This vote is scheduled for Aug. 9. It had a first reading at the July 26 meeting and appears to be headed for an easy pass.

The links below will fill you in on some of the details. I have not seen the actual proposed ordinance. Only know that it will use the “100 year rule”. The bill does not appear on the cities website. However the last link is an important read before you make any contacts. It appears that they do not want to inhibit metal detecting. They are being misled and even bullied by some elitist archaeologists.

Here is the short version. A couple was featured in a front-page newspaper article on metal detecting on city property. They were finding civil war items and also dug a bone with a bullet lodged in it. They contacted a city official and showed the finds to him along with divulging the location. They did the proper thing. Along comes an archaeologists from the state university chastising them and the city in a letter to the editor. Now there is a knee jerk law proposed. The archaeologists want a total ban.

Please make sure you read this to the end before taking any action. Then please act.


Here are the links;

http://www.news-leader.com/article/2...arthage-battle

http://www.news-leader.com/article/20110708/OPINIONS02/107080306/0/NEWS12/?odyssey=nav|head

http://www.carthagepress.com/news/x3...nce-to-council

http://www.news-leader.com/article/20110718/NEWS01/107180336/0/SPORTS/?odyssey=nav|head

http://www.carthagepress.com/news/x6...city-ordinance


Here are the contacts for the mayor and the council members. You will notice that the email addresses are all the same. I would suggest placing each persons name in the subject line and copying your message to each one. You could also call or snail mail them. At the bottom are some items you may wish to bring up. Put them in your own words of course.



Mayor Mike Harris

Phone:
(417) 358-5940
Email:
council@carthage-mo.gov
Address:
603 E. 3rd Street
Carthage, MO 64836


Council Member Claude Newport- 1st Ward
Phone:
(417) 358-1307
Fax:
(417) 358-7528
Email:
council@carthage-mo.gov
Address:
1515 Buena Vista
Carthage, MO 64836





Council Member Jim Swatsenbarg-1st Ward
Phone:
(417) 358-1690
Address:
601 Howard Street
Carthage, MO 64836
E-Mail
council@carthage-mo.gov

Council Member Timothy Teed- 2nd Ward
Phone:
(417) 310-2875
Email:
council@carthage-mo.gov
Address:
701 Olive Street
Carthage, MO 64836

Council Member John Studebaker- 3rd Ward
Phone:
(417) 358-0792
Email:
council@carthage-mo.gov
Address:
1058 S. Garrison
Carthage, MO 64836

Council Member Steve Leibbrand-3rd Ward

Phone:
(417) 358-3918
Address:
1654 Connor Drive
Carthage. MO 64836
Email:
council@carthage-mo.gov

Council Member Dan Rife- 4th Ward
Phone:
(417) 850-7455
Email:
council@carthage-mo.gov
Address:
2203 Grand
Carthage, MO 64836

Council Member John Cooper- 4th Ward
Phone:
(417) 359-6748
Email:
council@carthage-mo.gov
Address:
1333 Hafner Court
Carthage, MO 64836

Council Member Brent Greninger- 5th Ward
Phone:
(417) 358-7858
Email:
council@carthage-mo.gov
Address:
1416 Hazel Street
Carthage, MO 64836

Council Member Ed Hardesty- 5th Ward
Phone:
(417) 358-4708
Email:
council@carthage-mo.gov
Address:
118 Wiggins
Carthage, MO 64836




1. The archaeologist mentions the excavations at the Little Big Horn (Custer) battlefield. He slyly fogets to mention that the archaeological survey was conducted by approximately 150 people swinging metal detectors.

2. This is a knee jerk reaction to some archaeologists personal power agenda. These university arcaheologists do not control the city or have any say so at all in it. He has no more say so in the cities laws than any other citizen. The city should not allow itself to be bullied by someone on a power trip who thinks that archaeologists are the only people who have a right to history.

3. Was there a problem in the past with metal detecting? Suddenly there is a problem. Why? It was created by an archaeologist who has his underwear in a knot because something was found and he did not get credit for it. If these sites are so important then ask them when they are going to excavate them. The reply will be when someone pays them to do it.

4. Metal detectorists are more then happy to show and display their finds. Most will gladly share the information with the city if asked. Provided the finds are not going to be confiscated and they are not made into criminals.

5. A 100 year rule is absurd. This makes a 1910 wheat penny off limits. If something must be enacted then simply protect known but important historical sites without setting any limits on all items in all areas. Most items found are worth little and of no use to the city. It will only cost the city money to administer and police the policy. And make criminals out of decent honest people.

6. Archaeologists routinely call us grave robbers and looters. I do not know of any metal detector users who have ever dug a grave. Archaeologist dig graves! We do not desecrate graves. Archaeologists do! Our items are available for anyone to see. The archaeologists lock them away in some basement or in their own personal collections and no one is allowed to see them.

Remember to be polite but informative. These council members may know very little, if anything at all about the metal detecting hobby and they do appear to be fair minded. They may only know what they are being fed by these archaeologists. You need to educate them.


Thankyou,

Mark Schuessler
FMDAC Legislative Officer

[paratrooper]

1. The archaeologist mentions the excavations at the Little Big Horn (Custer) battlefield. He slyly fogets to mention that the archaeological survey was conducted by approximately 150 people swinging metal detectors.

I remember this project. It was a "one on one" operation. One MD'er and one Park Service person. The MD'er would begin to sweep in their assigned area. When they got a signal they would try their best to pinpoint it. When they determined the location of the signal they STEPPED BACK out of the way and the Park Service person gently dug the signal. There was no deviation from this for the entire hunt.

[kgunn]

so what was the outcome?

kgunn

[mikusek]

A better understanding of the progression of The Battle of The Little Bighorn where Custer received his just deserts. It showed the soldiers had trouble with their weapons not ejecting the shells, the positions they fired from, how some of them moved by the locations of shell casings. If I remember correctly, several unmarked burials resulted from the metal detecting. Here's a link to the National Park Service report: http://www.nps.gov/mwac/libi/methods.html