Scully
Jr. Member
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) last fall closed off ALL lake and river bottoms to metal detecting, and all state land without any public meetings or input. They just decided to shut it all down.
I am Gene Scullion, president of the Four Lakes Metal Detector Club in Madison, WI, and our club decided to actively work to change this prohibition. We are also active members in the FMDAC and they are supporting our actions as well. We have worked very hard to raise money from our members and have been paying for a top-notch lobbyist. We now have legislation almost ready to be introduced (probably the beginning of November). If successful, it will allow us to regain water and land sites on Department of Natural Resources land and Stewardship land, with restrictions to protect sites of archeological or historical significance. We now need a lot of phone calls, emails and letters to state Representatives and Legislators to get the majority on our side. Right now we also need the committee leaders on our side as co-sponsors. If you are from Wisconsin, WE REALLY NEED YOUR HELP NOW!
How can you help if you live out of state? Tourism is big here in Wisconsin, so if you ever travel here on vacation and want to metal detect, or if you own vacation property here, contact the rep for that area and let him know your tourist dollars are due to your metal detecting hobby and you would like them to support Senator Kreitlow’s recreational metal detecting rights bill. If you have friends/relatives here, contact them and ask them to help. If you are not sure which representative to call, there are instructions below (you only need to know the zip code of the area in question.) Out-of- state detectorists are more than welcome to respond to this.
When communicating with legislators and their staff on this issue, please make it clear that you are a responsible metal detector and do not go out to loot Indian sites, historical sites etc and that the hobby is a responsible one that enjoys the great outdoors this way. The state archeologists are trying to make an argument the we all are in this for the money and are looting and selling Wisconsin’s heritage and history; we know that is not true, but we need to convince legislators of that .
Following is information from our Lobbyist, as to how to proceed, as well as a list of the committee leaders we need to reach. We need your help in getting their attention in a supportive way. If you want to help and would like further instruction, let me know. We could also use money to help pay our legal fees, donations gladly accepted.
“Scully”
Gene Scullion
608-213-6622
[email protected]
If you do not already know who your own legislator is, you can go to the Capitol Strategies website at
www.capitol-strategies.net , go to “Get Involved”, and click on “Who Are My Legislators.” Please make these
contacts, it is very important that we start to get a strong groundswell on the issue and we need numbers,
numbers, numbers!! Please do not think that everyone else will do it, we need your involvement!
Phone Calls: Please call your legislators and the legislators on the attached committee lists to ask for their
Support. If you don’t have the comfort level of talking to the legislator or their staff, you can also call after hours
and leave a message on voice mail.
All you have to do is say “Hi, this is ______________, and I am calling to ask Representative/Senator _________ to sign onto Senator Kreitlow’s Recreational Metal Detecting Bill.” They will probably ask for your name, address and phone number, which you should provide to them, you can then thank them and say you look forward to hearing from them. If you are leaving a voice mail, make sure to give your name, address and phone number along with the request to support Senator Kreitlow’s Recreational Metal Detecting Bill. If you talk to staff in one of the committee members offices listed below, and they say that you should contact your own legislator, tell them you have/are but you are contacting them as a member of the Assembly Committee on Tourism, Recreation and State Properties or the Senate Committee on Transportation, Tourism, Forestry, and Natural Resource (of course this will not apply if they are your legislator!)
Emails: You can also send emails; put Recreational Metal Detecting Bill on the Reference line and in the body
of the email say something to the effect of: Dear Representative/Senator _________ , please sign onto Senator Kreitlow’s Recreational Metal Detecting Rights Bill. Make sure you include your name address and phone number. (if you make contact by email, please bcc me on the email and make sure it is a bcc and not a cc; my email address
is [email protected]).
Also, if you would like to provide additional information on the issue, please keep it positive, such as “it is a way for you to get exercise and enjoy Wisconsin’s great outdoors”, “this would be a restoration of the ability to metal detect in state parks which was taken away by the DNR last fall with no public input.” Please stay calm and professional in your communications, we definitely do not want to be perceived as an emotional reactionary group, but rather an articulate, responsible and mature recreational group. Never threaten to not vote for your legislator, say you won’t come to the state to travel anymore, etc.
We will be working on talking points for everyone to use, but at this point we would just like you to ask the
legislators to sign on to the bill and make sure it is hitting their radar. We will be doing another round of
communications after the bill is introduced and we have the bill number (Right now it is only referenced by a
Legislative Reference Bureau draft number LRB 2682/4, which you can tell legislators if they ask for it).
When the bill is introduced it will have both a Senate Bill number and an Assembly Bill number, it will then be
referred to a standing committee in each house of the legislature. These committees will then schedule and hold
public hearings on the bill, we will need a lot of bodies at those hearings and several who are willing to
speak/testify. If you are willing to testify, please let us know and we will start to prepare you for that.
Please do not hesitate to contact Jim Klein the FLMDC legislative liaison at [email protected] if you have any questions and he or I will get back to you right away.
Thanks in advance for your attention to this and for your active involvement in getting this through the
legislative process!
Assembly Committee on Tourism, Recreation and State Properties (Wisconsin)
Representative Terry Van Akkeren (Chair)
Telephone (608) 266-0656 Or (888) 529-0026
Email [email protected]
Representative Fred Clark (Vice-Chair)
Telephone (608) 266-7746 Or (888) 534-0042
Email [email protected]
Representative Marlin Schneider
Telephone (608) 266-0215 Or (888) 529-0072
Email [email protected]
Representative Ann Hraychuck
Telephone (608) 267-2365 Or (888) 529-0028
Email [email protected]
Representative Steve Hilgenberg
Telephone (608) 266-7502 Or (888) 534-0051
Email [email protected]
Representative Dean Kaufert
Telephone (608) 266-5719 Or (888) 534-0055
Email [email protected]
Representative Garey Bies
Telephone (608) 266-5350
Email [email protected]
Representative Karl Van Roy
Telephone (608) 266-0616 Or (888) 534-0090
Email [email protected]
Representative Mary Williams
Telephone (608) 266-7506
Email [email protected]
Senate Committee on Transportation, Tourism, Forestry, and Natural Resources
Senator Jim Holperin (Chair)
Telephone (608) 266-2509
Email [email protected]
Senator Jim Sullivan
Telephone (608) 266-2512 Or (866) 817-6061
Email [email protected]
Senator Jeffrey Plale
Telephone (608) 266-7505
Email [email protected]
Senator David Hansen
Telephone (608) 266-¬5670 Or (866) 221-¬9395
Email [email protected]
Senator Joseph Leibham
Telephone (608) 266-¬2056 Or (888) 295-¬8750
Email [email protected]
Senator Neal Kedzie
Telephone (608) 266-¬2635
Email [email protected]
Senator Glenn Grothman
Telephone (608) 266-¬7513 Or (800) 662-¬1227
Email [email protected]
I am Gene Scullion, president of the Four Lakes Metal Detector Club in Madison, WI, and our club decided to actively work to change this prohibition. We are also active members in the FMDAC and they are supporting our actions as well. We have worked very hard to raise money from our members and have been paying for a top-notch lobbyist. We now have legislation almost ready to be introduced (probably the beginning of November). If successful, it will allow us to regain water and land sites on Department of Natural Resources land and Stewardship land, with restrictions to protect sites of archeological or historical significance. We now need a lot of phone calls, emails and letters to state Representatives and Legislators to get the majority on our side. Right now we also need the committee leaders on our side as co-sponsors. If you are from Wisconsin, WE REALLY NEED YOUR HELP NOW!
How can you help if you live out of state? Tourism is big here in Wisconsin, so if you ever travel here on vacation and want to metal detect, or if you own vacation property here, contact the rep for that area and let him know your tourist dollars are due to your metal detecting hobby and you would like them to support Senator Kreitlow’s recreational metal detecting rights bill. If you have friends/relatives here, contact them and ask them to help. If you are not sure which representative to call, there are instructions below (you only need to know the zip code of the area in question.) Out-of- state detectorists are more than welcome to respond to this.
When communicating with legislators and their staff on this issue, please make it clear that you are a responsible metal detector and do not go out to loot Indian sites, historical sites etc and that the hobby is a responsible one that enjoys the great outdoors this way. The state archeologists are trying to make an argument the we all are in this for the money and are looting and selling Wisconsin’s heritage and history; we know that is not true, but we need to convince legislators of that .
Following is information from our Lobbyist, as to how to proceed, as well as a list of the committee leaders we need to reach. We need your help in getting their attention in a supportive way. If you want to help and would like further instruction, let me know. We could also use money to help pay our legal fees, donations gladly accepted.
“Scully”
Gene Scullion
608-213-6622
[email protected]
If you do not already know who your own legislator is, you can go to the Capitol Strategies website at
www.capitol-strategies.net , go to “Get Involved”, and click on “Who Are My Legislators.” Please make these
contacts, it is very important that we start to get a strong groundswell on the issue and we need numbers,
numbers, numbers!! Please do not think that everyone else will do it, we need your involvement!
Phone Calls: Please call your legislators and the legislators on the attached committee lists to ask for their
Support. If you don’t have the comfort level of talking to the legislator or their staff, you can also call after hours
and leave a message on voice mail.
All you have to do is say “Hi, this is ______________, and I am calling to ask Representative/Senator _________ to sign onto Senator Kreitlow’s Recreational Metal Detecting Bill.” They will probably ask for your name, address and phone number, which you should provide to them, you can then thank them and say you look forward to hearing from them. If you are leaving a voice mail, make sure to give your name, address and phone number along with the request to support Senator Kreitlow’s Recreational Metal Detecting Bill. If you talk to staff in one of the committee members offices listed below, and they say that you should contact your own legislator, tell them you have/are but you are contacting them as a member of the Assembly Committee on Tourism, Recreation and State Properties or the Senate Committee on Transportation, Tourism, Forestry, and Natural Resource (of course this will not apply if they are your legislator!)
Emails: You can also send emails; put Recreational Metal Detecting Bill on the Reference line and in the body
of the email say something to the effect of: Dear Representative/Senator _________ , please sign onto Senator Kreitlow’s Recreational Metal Detecting Rights Bill. Make sure you include your name address and phone number. (if you make contact by email, please bcc me on the email and make sure it is a bcc and not a cc; my email address
is [email protected]).
Also, if you would like to provide additional information on the issue, please keep it positive, such as “it is a way for you to get exercise and enjoy Wisconsin’s great outdoors”, “this would be a restoration of the ability to metal detect in state parks which was taken away by the DNR last fall with no public input.” Please stay calm and professional in your communications, we definitely do not want to be perceived as an emotional reactionary group, but rather an articulate, responsible and mature recreational group. Never threaten to not vote for your legislator, say you won’t come to the state to travel anymore, etc.
We will be working on talking points for everyone to use, but at this point we would just like you to ask the
legislators to sign on to the bill and make sure it is hitting their radar. We will be doing another round of
communications after the bill is introduced and we have the bill number (Right now it is only referenced by a
Legislative Reference Bureau draft number LRB 2682/4, which you can tell legislators if they ask for it).
When the bill is introduced it will have both a Senate Bill number and an Assembly Bill number, it will then be
referred to a standing committee in each house of the legislature. These committees will then schedule and hold
public hearings on the bill, we will need a lot of bodies at those hearings and several who are willing to
speak/testify. If you are willing to testify, please let us know and we will start to prepare you for that.
Please do not hesitate to contact Jim Klein the FLMDC legislative liaison at [email protected] if you have any questions and he or I will get back to you right away.
Thanks in advance for your attention to this and for your active involvement in getting this through the
legislative process!
Assembly Committee on Tourism, Recreation and State Properties (Wisconsin)
Representative Terry Van Akkeren (Chair)
Telephone (608) 266-0656 Or (888) 529-0026
Email [email protected]
Representative Fred Clark (Vice-Chair)
Telephone (608) 266-7746 Or (888) 534-0042
Email [email protected]
Representative Marlin Schneider
Telephone (608) 266-0215 Or (888) 529-0072
Email [email protected]
Representative Ann Hraychuck
Telephone (608) 267-2365 Or (888) 529-0028
Email [email protected]
Representative Steve Hilgenberg
Telephone (608) 266-7502 Or (888) 534-0051
Email [email protected]
Representative Dean Kaufert
Telephone (608) 266-5719 Or (888) 534-0055
Email [email protected]
Representative Garey Bies
Telephone (608) 266-5350
Email [email protected]
Representative Karl Van Roy
Telephone (608) 266-0616 Or (888) 534-0090
Email [email protected]
Representative Mary Williams
Telephone (608) 266-7506
Email [email protected]
Senate Committee on Transportation, Tourism, Forestry, and Natural Resources
Senator Jim Holperin (Chair)
Telephone (608) 266-2509
Email [email protected]
Senator Jim Sullivan
Telephone (608) 266-2512 Or (866) 817-6061
Email [email protected]
Senator Jeffrey Plale
Telephone (608) 266-7505
Email [email protected]
Senator David Hansen
Telephone (608) 266-¬5670 Or (866) 221-¬9395
Email [email protected]
Senator Joseph Leibham
Telephone (608) 266-¬2056 Or (888) 295-¬8750
Email [email protected]
Senator Neal Kedzie
Telephone (608) 266-¬2635
Email [email protected]
Senator Glenn Grothman
Telephone (608) 266-¬7513 Or (800) 662-¬1227
Email [email protected]
