Metal Detector Hobbyists Restricted Must Turn Over Finds

[River Rat]

O'Fallon Metal Detector Hobbyists Restricted; Must Turn Over Finds - O'Fallon, MO Patch

If you're into metal detecting as a hobby, keep in mind that anything you find in an O'Fallon city park belongs to the city.
State law requires found objects to be turned over the entity that owns the land where they were found, and O'Fallon city code now reflects that.
The O'Fallon City Council passed a new ordinance last week with new regulations about the use of recreational metal detectors in the city's parks. Six areas are listed as restricted, and metal detecting is not permitted:

• Athletic fields
• Historical areas
• Irrigated lawns
• Archaeological sites
• Landscaped areas
• Any area with a sign prohibiting metal detecting.

Further, in the places that recreational metal detecting is permitted, the only tool permitted is a probe "not greater than 1/4" in diameter and 12" in length." Any ground that is disturbed must be returned to its original condition.

 

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[MagSlider]

Do you have a reference/link to this?

State law requires found objects to be turned over the entity that owns the land where they were found

 

[River Rat]

Click the link (in red). It was posted on FB, where I got it from.

 

[Mark S.]

Some of the council members are working to amend this. They very much disagree with it and the manner in which it was done. Stay tuned.

Mark Schuessler
FMDAC president

 

[Bum Luck]

They're after my 37 cents in clad, pop tabs, and can slaw ......................

 

[MagSlider]

I was hoping to see a reference to the Missouri statute/law that says lost property must be handed over to the property/land owner. I can't say that I'm well verse in Missouri law, but I'm not aware of any idea of surrender of finds to property (as in land) owner. I am aware that the finder assumes responsibility of locating the rightful owner (note, I haven't read all of it yet).
Missouri Laws > Title XXIX > Chapter 447 - Lost and Unclaimed Property :: Lawserver

So, unless O'Fallen is claiming to have lost the items that have been found, I don't see how they are claiming to be "code-a-fying" a state law. They might claim to be acting as a proxy for the court and/or state treasurer... to whom the finder is suppose to notify (and/or surrender find), but that thought seems "sketchy" at best.

 

[jeff of pa]

They're after my 37 cents in clad, pop tabs, and can slaw ......................

ain't I know since all I ever find is Nails , foil, Cantabs and Rotted Zinclons,
they would cringe seeing me coming

 

[Holly_squirrel]

They're after my 37 cents in clad, pop tabs, and can slaw ......................

I hope they have tetanus shots.. With all the rusty nails and screws coming their way

 

[MagSlider]

A little more Missouri property laws, with court cases illustrating implementation of law:

http://slu.edu/Documents/law/Law Journal/Archives/Simeone_Article.pdf

Look at the "Hoagland v. Forest Park Highland Amusement Co" case. The case centered around a found object being confiscated by operators of a amusement park company. Since the object was found on public property, the "finder was entitled to the objects possession against all other persons except the true owner."

It would follow that O'Fallen couldn't lay claim to any objects found on public land. It gets fuzzy when objects are identified as of historical significance, etc... that would go back to the Missouri statutes and how it is interpreted. I haven't ran across anything yet to a good interpretation of the laws in this particular area (historical items). Also, the right to a municipality's right to pass its own codes... that might strengthen state laws/statutes; I'm just not well verse'd in law to know.

Thanks River Rat for the original post. This was a topic that I was hoping to eventually dig into deeper... your post cause me to start looking. I have typically looked into municipalities laws/codes before searching public land, but the statutes at the state level have proved to be very interesting.

 

[MagSlider]

Scratch my previous post... reading further into the pdf, there is a distinction for items "embedded in soil". In this case, rights go to the land owner.

Sorry for the extra posts... I'll fade into the background until I'm done reading!

 

[River Rat]

http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/metal-detecting/349369-more-o-fallon-missouri-situation.html

 

[foiler]

Do you remember the scene in the movie "Miracle on 34th Street" where the attorney for 'Santa Claus' dumps thousands of letters on the judges desk addressed to Santa Claus?. Well, since they demand the return of all items found to the city next city council meeting I would dump thousands of pull tabs, bottle caps and foil on their desk.

 

[Gregmid40]

Go for it! That would look absolutely comical. LOL!

 

[Armorer73]

They're after my 37 cents in clad, pop tabs, and can slaw ......................

Continously drop off bags of slaw on their doorstep! Change to the verbiage will be swift!