hombre_de_plata_flaco
Bronze Member
OK, some of you may know I have been hunting some property that used to be a local elementary school and I found two gold rings at this location within a few days.
I attended kindergarten and first grade at this school when it was still running. This location is no longer a school, as it was closed down and converted into a Board of Education office about 10 years ago. There were "NO TRESPASSING" signs posted at this location, but I contacted a former teacher of mine (also a local and lifelong resident) who now serves as the chairman of the BOE and he told me not to worry about the signs, and to go ahead and MD as long as I wasn't making a mess and filling all my holes back in.
Anyway, last night I was out there again. There was a pee wee football practice going on at the same time. I made sure and not get in their way and was MD'ing at the opposite end of the grounds.
Anyway, a cop rolls up and tells me I need to leave and that I don't have permission to be out there. I knew that I DID have permission, but I just complied and packed up and left as I am not a big fan of jail. I am assuming that one of the parents or one of the parks and rec coaches called them to have me removed.
So today I called my former teacher/BOE chairman to ask what the deal was. He again said he had no problem with me being out there, but that I should call the School Superintendent and get some sort of written permission to avoid this type of thing in the future.
I then called the super. This dude is new to his job and is a transplant who is not from around here. I explained to him that MD'ing was a very benign hobby. I asked him what the problem was and he started spouting off a bunch of ridiculous crap like this:
"There could be Civil War belt buckles out there." [this statement almost made me laugh uncontrollably]
"You can't metal detect on National Forest land either." [not true - you actually can and I know this for a fact]
"You were loitering." [LOL]
"The stuff you may find in the ground is public property and you can't have it." [WTF? Seriously?]
I suppressed my urge to cuss him and just politely ended the conversation. I just wanted to run this situation by my fellow T-Net members to get some opinions about what - if any - recourse I have to get back out there.
Anyone else encounter a problem such as this? The property is public so I feel like I have just as much right to be out there digging holes as the pee wee football team has to be using the property for practice.
Should I go to my next county commission meeting and state my case? Even if I get turned down for permission I think it would be good to just vent and have my comments made part of public record.
Thanks in advance for any advice. I know there are plenty of other places to MD, but this dude really has me steamed and I want to at least attempt some sort of action to go over his head or "rock the boat" somehow.
It just pi$$es me off that everywhere I have been trying to detect someone has been giving me a hard time. I didn't buy this thing to use only in my back yard.
I attended kindergarten and first grade at this school when it was still running. This location is no longer a school, as it was closed down and converted into a Board of Education office about 10 years ago. There were "NO TRESPASSING" signs posted at this location, but I contacted a former teacher of mine (also a local and lifelong resident) who now serves as the chairman of the BOE and he told me not to worry about the signs, and to go ahead and MD as long as I wasn't making a mess and filling all my holes back in.
Anyway, last night I was out there again. There was a pee wee football practice going on at the same time. I made sure and not get in their way and was MD'ing at the opposite end of the grounds.
Anyway, a cop rolls up and tells me I need to leave and that I don't have permission to be out there. I knew that I DID have permission, but I just complied and packed up and left as I am not a big fan of jail. I am assuming that one of the parents or one of the parks and rec coaches called them to have me removed.
So today I called my former teacher/BOE chairman to ask what the deal was. He again said he had no problem with me being out there, but that I should call the School Superintendent and get some sort of written permission to avoid this type of thing in the future.
I then called the super. This dude is new to his job and is a transplant who is not from around here. I explained to him that MD'ing was a very benign hobby. I asked him what the problem was and he started spouting off a bunch of ridiculous crap like this:
"There could be Civil War belt buckles out there." [this statement almost made me laugh uncontrollably]
"You can't metal detect on National Forest land either." [not true - you actually can and I know this for a fact]
"You were loitering." [LOL]
"The stuff you may find in the ground is public property and you can't have it." [WTF? Seriously?]
I suppressed my urge to cuss him and just politely ended the conversation. I just wanted to run this situation by my fellow T-Net members to get some opinions about what - if any - recourse I have to get back out there.
Anyone else encounter a problem such as this? The property is public so I feel like I have just as much right to be out there digging holes as the pee wee football team has to be using the property for practice.
Should I go to my next county commission meeting and state my case? Even if I get turned down for permission I think it would be good to just vent and have my comments made part of public record.
Thanks in advance for any advice. I know there are plenty of other places to MD, but this dude really has me steamed and I want to at least attempt some sort of action to go over his head or "rock the boat" somehow.
It just pi$$es me off that everywhere I have been trying to detect someone has been giving me a hard time. I didn't buy this thing to use only in my back yard.