Tom_in_CA
Gold Member
- Mar 23, 2007
- 13,837
- 10,360
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- 2
- Detector(s) used
- Explorer II, Compass 77b, Tesoro shadow X2
Re: I'm Pissed!!!
oldcoon brings up a good point, when he says "That would be a chance I would risk." Because:
1) Think of it: if all of us md'rs refused to go out to any place that someone "might take exception to", then you might as well stay home, and choose a different hobby. Because there is no gaurantee that you will ever find a public place, where the risk of some kill-joy coming out to gripe (or worse) won't happen. Just like driving a car: someone "might" flip you off, or you "might" get roughed up by an overzealous cop for a tail light out. So what? If it bothers you that much, don't drive, don't detect, etc.... There comes a point where you have to ask yourself, like oldcoon did: "so what?"
2) I can think of two situations where something like this did happen, and it turned out to be a good thing for the md'r. Here they are:
a)One time I was detecting in the back-country of an old army base, where some PT fields used to be. An MP came up and read me the riot act, was yelling at me, etc... (something to do with the fact that I'd parked my truck off on the dirt shoulder, when the rules require vehicles to stay on the pavement, or some bologna like that). He even pulled a gun on me, and ordered my wife and I to go to our truck, and remain there with hands on the dashboard, etc.... (while he ran my plates, called for backup, etc....). Eventually, he just let us go, but not before escorting us the entire distance the exit, etc.. I went and complained about the treatment, told his superior how he'd pointed his gun at us, etc.. The long and short of it is, that that officer was relegated to an office position for the rest of his career! Turned out, he'd had a few other "gun waiving" incidents in his folder, and this one was "one too many". So while it wasn't "fun" at the time of the encounter, it did give me a good feeling to know that justice had been served
b) There was a fellow I heard of who got a ticket for md'ing in a turfed park, in San Francisco. The md'r decided to fight the ticket. He signed up for his "day in court". It was a cattle-call kind of assembly line process (like traffic tickets, etc...). When the md'rs turn came up, the judge looked at the charge, and turned to the md'r to see what he had to say. The md'r just said something on the order of "I was detecting for loose change, and I don't know what the officer's problem was. I left no trace of my presense, etc... blah blah". He hadn't spoken longer than 30 seconds, before the judge interupted him, saying "Dismissed", and calls for the next person in line. Later, when the md'r got the paperwork with the "dismissed" stamp on it, he proudly carried it anywhere in SF he went, from then on, in case some other busy-body cop thought they could do the same thing
So you see, it was a case where, in retrospect, the md'r was happy it had happened
oldcoon brings up a good point, when he says "That would be a chance I would risk." Because:
1) Think of it: if all of us md'rs refused to go out to any place that someone "might take exception to", then you might as well stay home, and choose a different hobby. Because there is no gaurantee that you will ever find a public place, where the risk of some kill-joy coming out to gripe (or worse) won't happen. Just like driving a car: someone "might" flip you off, or you "might" get roughed up by an overzealous cop for a tail light out. So what? If it bothers you that much, don't drive, don't detect, etc.... There comes a point where you have to ask yourself, like oldcoon did: "so what?"
2) I can think of two situations where something like this did happen, and it turned out to be a good thing for the md'r. Here they are:
a)One time I was detecting in the back-country of an old army base, where some PT fields used to be. An MP came up and read me the riot act, was yelling at me, etc... (something to do with the fact that I'd parked my truck off on the dirt shoulder, when the rules require vehicles to stay on the pavement, or some bologna like that). He even pulled a gun on me, and ordered my wife and I to go to our truck, and remain there with hands on the dashboard, etc.... (while he ran my plates, called for backup, etc....). Eventually, he just let us go, but not before escorting us the entire distance the exit, etc.. I went and complained about the treatment, told his superior how he'd pointed his gun at us, etc.. The long and short of it is, that that officer was relegated to an office position for the rest of his career! Turned out, he'd had a few other "gun waiving" incidents in his folder, and this one was "one too many". So while it wasn't "fun" at the time of the encounter, it did give me a good feeling to know that justice had been served
b) There was a fellow I heard of who got a ticket for md'ing in a turfed park, in San Francisco. The md'r decided to fight the ticket. He signed up for his "day in court". It was a cattle-call kind of assembly line process (like traffic tickets, etc...). When the md'rs turn came up, the judge looked at the charge, and turned to the md'r to see what he had to say. The md'r just said something on the order of "I was detecting for loose change, and I don't know what the officer's problem was. I left no trace of my presense, etc... blah blah". He hadn't spoken longer than 30 seconds, before the judge interupted him, saying "Dismissed", and calls for the next person in line. Later, when the md'r got the paperwork with the "dismissed" stamp on it, he proudly carried it anywhere in SF he went, from then on, in case some other busy-body cop thought they could do the same thing
So you see, it was a case where, in retrospect, the md'r was happy it had happened 
Rob
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