Florida Law Urgent Action Now

[tomclark]

This affects and concerns Metal Detecting, bottles and fossils as much as artifacts in your state as well as FLorida. Please post and email these links and documents on any forum or to any interested person you can and want to.
Tom


Here's the latest from Tom Pertierra regarding this issue:

FYI,
Latest from Tom Pertierra, AAPC. Couldn't come at a better time. You can see the mailing lists STILL haven't been combined. "Declaration" PDF attached. Information still being disseminated on Dowdy's ArtifactsGuide.Com, forums.
-Tom

----- Original Message -----
From: Avocational Archaeology & Paleontology Council
To: Tom Clark
Sent: Wednesday, December 20, 2006 8:57 PM
Subject: AAPC Isolated Finds Action Message - Urgent!


AAPC LEGISLATIVE ACTION MESSAGE

Urgent - The Time Is Now !

It's time to begin our legislative action to reinstate the Isolated Finds Policy and to stop the Division of Historical Resources and the Florida Historical Commission from forcing their institutional bias on the general public. The timing now is perfect; we have a new incoming Governor, Secretary of State, Speaker of the House and Senate President.

The AAPC is now incorporated and we are officially representing the citizens of Florida advocating fair and balanced preservation laws. We have prepared a Declaration Letter that is intended to inform your Legislative Representatives and Governor Elect Crist of the deplorable situation that has come to exist between the public and the state as a result of the institutional bias of a handful of self-absorbed professionals serving on the Florida Historical Commission and sadly within the Division of Historical Resources. We ask you to carefully read and familiarize yourself with the Declaration; then as soon as possible prepare a cover letter and mail it along with a copy of the Declaration to your Legislative Representative and Governor-Elect Crist. Every interested party needs to do this . . . including supporters from other states whose letters need to be mailed directly to Governor-Elect Crist.

Complete details on the action you need to take may be viewed on the new AACP web site at http://www.isolatedfindspolicy.org Links are available to download the AAPC Declaration Letter and to help you locate the name and contact information of your Legislative Representative and Governor-Elect Crist.

It is extremely important that you let your Representative and our new Governor know how upset you are with the prospect of facing criminal charges for choosing to preserve an at-risk isolated artifact encountered while recreating in Florida Rivers; artifacts that until recently were considered non-essential by the Bureau of Archaeological Research and were able to be reported to the state via the Isolated Finds Policy. Ask them if it is their wish to have the state arrest and prosecute citizens and tourists for recovering isolated broken pieces of pottery or an arrowhead encountered while recreational diving in Florida Rivers? Advise them that you fully support the position and mission of the AAPC and encourage them to read the Declaration Letter.

Incoming Governor Charlie Crist, Speaker of the House Marco Rubio, Senate President Ken Pruitt and Secretary of State Kurt Browning will all be taking office and making political appointments in the upcoming weeks. Complaints should be forwarded to each. It is important that they know how the Florida Historical Commission, DHR leadership and State Archaeologist Ryan Wheeler willfully misrepresented the compliance data and ignored the overwhelming public support for codification of the Isolated Finds Policy to satisfy the extreme institutional beliefs of FHC Chairman Judy Bense. They need to know that you have lost respect for the Department of State for allowing an advisory commission to take control of an entire Division of state government.

Friends, we need to make ourselves heard. Please pass this email along to every person and organization that you feel will help us. Our call for fair and balanced public preservation laws needs to be heard from every corner of the state. Letters need to come from every person who has an interest, so please get the word out. We need to bombard them beginning now and throughout the months ahead. We need to generate thousands of letters supporting our position. Please be sure to include the right amount of postage. The Declaration Letter is 5 pages; we recommend using (2) 39 cent stamps.

The AAPC has spent the past year investigating the Florida Historical Commission and the Division Of Historical Resources. After reviewing our preliminary findings, we've been invited to present that entire report to the Governor's Office of Chief Inspector General in January. Let's make the next few weeks really count, get those letters written and recruit as many people as you can to do the same.

Sincerely,

Tom Pertierra
Avocational Archaeology & Paleontology Council
712 Turkey Roost Drive, Greenville, FL 32331
850-997-8667 -850-997-1795 Fax
aapc@archaeologynet.org
www.isolatedfinds.org


============================

Sample Text for Your Cover Letter.

Dear Representative __________________________,

Dear Governor Crist,

I ask that you carefully read the attached Declaration Letter written by the Avocational Archaeology and Paleontology Council. I fully support their position on reinstating the Isolated Finds Policy until such time that a permitted program can be established. I also support their mission as advocates of fair and balanced preservation laws. The citizens of Florida and visiting Tourists should not be subject to arrest and prosecution for recovering an isolated artifact while recreating in and along Florida Rivers.

The Florida Historical Commission and the Division of Historical Resources should be investigated for conflicts of interest and abuse of public trust as outlined in the AAPC Declaration. Please let me know if it is your desire to have Florida Citizens arrested and prosecuted for recovering a broken piece of pottery or arrowhead, which until recently were considered by the state to be non-essential artifacts that could be reported and the data shared with the state via the Isolated Finds Policy.

Stop the abuse by urging Governor Elect Crist to instruct the Division of Historical Resources to reinstate the Isolated Finds Policy. It is poor public policy to not have a means for citizens and tourists to recover and report Isolated Finds.


Here's the URL to the Declaration
http://www.isolatedfindspolicy.org/declaration.pdf , which you can direct
everyone to so that they can download it. They need to do that anyway, in
order to include a printed copy with their cover letter.

The body text of the email I sent last night and the links to the
declaration and the AAPC web site should be posted on every board and
refreshed once a week for the next two months.

Next, our Internet server is experiencing load problems and will
occasionally shut down for short periods of time, then come back
up. Please let folks know that the links below are good ones and to keep
trying if they return an error message. We're getting new hardware next week.


http://www.isolatedfindspolicy.org/declaration.pdf (AAPC Declaration)

http://www.isolatedfindspolicy.org (AAPC Web Site)


Please thank everyone for their help . . . .and thank you Sir!

tp

[wreckdiver1715]

You have my support on this!

[diggummup]

Consider it done.Can I recommend something? For those out here that may not have a printer to copy this information,could they send you a self addressed double stamped envelope for a copy of the declaration to the address you have provided in Greenville,Fl.? Or should they call the number provided, for more information regarding this matter? Thanks for the information,I will pass this along.

[Treasure_Hunter]

I will do the same, I will keep trying to download the cover letter till I can get it. At the moment it keeps failing.

This isn't just for indian artifacts. They can and will restrict the finding of any and all artifacts if given half the chance.

I emailed and asked to get permission from the state to detect the swimming areas of the lakes and springs inside of Ocala National Forest and was told a flat no, yet in some other states it is legal to detect in National forests.

[Real de Tayopa Tropical Tramp]

HI BETH:YOU HAVEN'T?? HMMMM ( $$$ REWARD??)

TROPICAL TRAMP

[montepollock]

As a child I picked up artifacts without the regard for context and location so was Guilty of obscuring history.
We need to Educate Children and Adults as to the importance of preserving the Provenance of These Items.That is the difference between paperweight on a desk and say, a c1860 pound shot fired at the battle of shiloh.
In the last 30 years I have learned and tried to teach others how to recover and Protect Our History.It is critical to make Your voices heard in this matter.However,I wonder If after 6+years Of bush in Fla.And washington There is enough sense to see that We have done more too preseve history than the few TRAINED Archeologist the Government can Afford to pay after ther own Lost Treasure Search (The Fabled Weapons of Massed Destruction)

[DR]

Thanks for taking the lead on this!
I never knew about this underhanded travesty of justice till yesterday and I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take this lying down. Sign me up and let me know what I can do to help beyond just sending the declaration and writing the Governor and my reps.
You name it and I'm there for the cause!

[montepollock]

I am computer illiterate,I don not even know how to Copy URLS,Or sometimes even how to Follow Them.
But If My Vote,Voice or Letter can Change the travesty that Is Happening in Florida and Elsewhere,I will Do what I can.
Thanks,And Happy Hunting,Mont

[EANXDiver]

I am going to be speaking to probably 75 to 100 divers at a local dive club at the end of April about underwater metal detectors. I was wondering if I should do something like a petition signing and send it to our local representative. Would this be a good tactic for helping out. Please advise. Thanks, John

[montepollock]

Hello,John
I am somewhat of a soapbox Orator,And am very vehement in protecting Our civilrights.
Especially the publics Responsible right to access Our Public Lands.
However the Proverbial few Who do act irresponsibility threaten our Hobby.The term TREASURE HUNTER evokes some of the non-detectorists worst expectations IE Indiana Jones/Lara Kroft/Amateurs digging up baseball fields with shovels.
The most important thing is educating the public of the historical nature of Our work.
We are uncovering and preserving history that would otherwise be lost to the ravages of time,or the enevitable encroachment of Mankind on nature.
Always obey the Code of Ethics.
volunteer your services to local law enforcement,some dangerous Criminals have been apprehended thru the assistance of Detectorists.
Keeping accurate records of finds and location of finds is Our responsibility to The future,History has been rewritten with the assistance of Detectors(Little Bighorn).
I warned You I am Quite Verbious at times in protecting those things I most love,The good outdoors,My Family,My Country,My Civil Rights,My 36 EL,My Dogs,My Guitar,my Stereo,My Adoring Fans/Loyal Constituents,Et Al I would Really appreciate Your Vote,Thank You Very Much.

Petition is an Excellant Idea,How can We Sign?
Happy Hunting,Mont