WOW METAL DETECTING BASHING GOIMG ON!

[goldeagle]

I was just on a site GHOSTOWNS.COM and alot and i mean alot of people are on there bashing us like we are a bunch of thieves?i wrote some replies about we are not crooks tryng to get rich because a couple people did some bad things going into ghost towns and stealing items.alot of these people say leave the stuff for the arcaeologist to find what the hell.i can see an arc. finding a 6 oz gold nugget and turning it rite in.whats wrong with us digging up some old silver dollars or dimes or small things that will never see the light of day? how about if we come up with an agreement if we find anything of historic importance that we would agree to put it on display in that said ghost town?man it raggs me up that people only see what they want to about a kool no a great hobby and just thing we could even help some of these towns out,by finding the artifacts for them.i cant see the county or the gov. spending monies anytime soon because they want to find jesse james handguns.sorry about this but i am pissed.people suck!

 

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[Kentucky Kache]

I don't feel obliged to put anything on display. To me, that's just playing in to the hands of the nuts who want to rule everything. As long as I have permission and I've put in the time, effort and expense, what I find is mine.

 

[johnnycat]

Sticks and stones will hurt my bones but, words will hurt like h*** if we don't stand up for our hobby everytime we get a chance.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

goldeagle, thanx for posting that. I'm gonna check it out. In the meantime, I can understand the archie-mindset making such claims for historic monument type sites. None of us has any trouble with being forbidden to detect Bodie, Shiloh, or other such narrowly defined places that might someday get a few more 4 x 4 archie pits dug in/on them. The trouble I have, is that not only do some archies have a protectionist view on those sacred spots, but perhaps on ALL ghost towns, EVERY park in the USA, or EVERY beach, demolition site, front lawn, whether public or private, etc.... There are some that ..... if it were left to them ..... no one would ever be allowed to detect, no matter how innocuous.

Lest you think this is an extreme that an archie would digress to, here's a true story: A fellow was detecting on a beach on the east coast (I forget if it was city, county, state, federal, or whatever). A lady-archie just happened by, and started griping that he couldn't be doing that. He said "why not?" and she blathered on about cultural heritage, archaeological rules, or some such rhetoric. The md'r replies: but I'm not finding old items/coins. I'm angling for recently lost jewelry and such. He shows her clad, pulltabs, etc... She was taken back by that response, and thinks for a second. Then she retorts: "Well maybe it's less than 50 yrs. old NOW, but it will be historic 100's of yrs. from now, and you're robbing future generations of the ability to study their history!" Doh! True story!

The truth is, even the most aggressive well-funded university archaeology department, is scarcely able to dig a few handfuls of pits per year (each one is done meticulously, with paint brushes, tweezers, and massive paperwork). To completely comb a single park of just a few hundred acres, would take a million years!

The same argument of "leave it to the archies" was put forth in the arguments against Mel Fisher. In trying to claim he shouldn't have been retrieving the goodies (in their arguments to confiscate the gold & silver), they claimed that the job should have been left to state of FL archies. But Mel successfully counter-argued that ..... never in a million years was the state going to finance risky treasure hunts at the tax-payer's expense. So in reality, the site would have lain at the bottom of the ocean forever, if it were not for the private sector. And now of course, we see that this private sector organization has done more to preserve and promote the history, than the state would ever have done. I would say the same applies to on-land md'rs: quite often it's the private relic collector/digger market/niche that knows and preserves things. Look who's writing the button ID books, token collector books, bottle collector guides, etc.... Quite often archies turn to them for help in ID'ing targets

 

[goldeagle]

you are so right!i must agree with you just see;ing these archies bash us without knowing us just struck a nerve,i hope i didnt offend anyone anyhow the way i look at it is if they are saying leave all the land for the archeologists,wouldnt the same be true for the house or the land they live on at one time belonged to all american INDIANS?and for them to dig and build on sacred land? and how about the dinosuares is;nt there bones all over AMERICA?anyway you are correct in saying the majority of MD'ERS do the correct thing and we help,i just wish more people would open their minds.thanks for your input i am cooled off now so good LUCK TO YOU

 

[Cappy Z.]

Truth is govt is out of contol. Its time for pitchforks and shovels.

 

[lostcauses]

Again the few that break the law. And the basic rules of any form of relic hunting make it hard for the rest.

Yet the ones that scream about it and blame the whole community of relic hunters, will not even try to see the truth.

They will not even look past the "Its about the money" for reasons why fools will break the law.
LOL and they be educated.....Yet they do not see the obsession of the fools. Make it right to break the law, NO.

 

[jeff of pa]

I Don't Believe in Putting down Other sites.

if You Read those Sites You will soon
Realize They have No problem Trespassing
To get a look and Take Pictures.


Last I Checked, Metal Detectors & Detecting is Legal

Trespassing is Not.

'Nuff said.

JEFF

 

[thrillathahunt]

Good points, and very well said plehbah!

 

[greydigger]

Re: WOW METAL DETECTING BASHING "GOIMG" ON!

Other than the fact that Mt. Dew was not made in 1958 and is meant as an example, I like the post.

 

[crumbo]

I was just on a site GHOSTOWNS.COM and alot and i mean alot of people are on there bashing us like we are a bunch of thieves?

I have less confidence in the human race. I spend a lot of time up Indian Creek near Deadwood in Siskiyou county, California. Stopped by the Historic site Deadwood. It was sad. Someone had shot up the 5 foot historical plaque. Someone has been using it as an off road racing site. People have been digging throughout the area and dumping trash. I'm for protecting areas of historical importance. In this particular area (Siskiyou county) there are hundreds of legal sites (there are so many legal sites within a half hour), including areas where the calvary frequented at the time of the gold rush, old mine sites, rockhounding sites, and old town sites, that I don't believe anyone can make an arguement that their civil rights are being violated. ... In fact I don't understand the arguement that people need to dig on historic sites at all. With a little research I believe there are in most cases better legal sites within a short distance of the site anyway. If you gave the public the right, they would be bringing backhoes into Valley Forge.