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Hi, Tom!
He told me first that he was a fellow MD'er... then he said they have county ordinances that prohibit digging in their ground and also removing anything from the property. He said anything that is county property is off limits. He then told me if it's city property it is fine to be there - he then proceeded to give me the names of some beaches that were off limits.
I did a search earlier and found this
Beach Ordinances
if you go to the first link and down to page 3 it talks about it.
I spoke with another MD'er who said they have never had a problem and have been all over the beaches. The only reason I asked is because I have heard stories online of others getting their gear taken away and have been taken in.... I would be devastated if that happened, especially in front of my three year old.
With that said.... it did take him several days to get back to me, so who knows if he was talking out of his butt, but he did say he metal detects as well so I just took his word for it.
Thanks for your help, Tom
coin-collector, bear with me here.
This fellow has cited nothing that says "no metal detecting", right?
Instead, he found other things he says applies to your question. The dreaded "alter", "deface", "disfigure", "tamper" "vandalize" type wording, right? Ok, Think about it coin-collector: What do all those terms (taken straight from your link), all implicitly infer?: The
end result. Do they not? In other words, if you leave an area exactly as you found it (cover your holes and leave no trace), then *technically*, you have not defac
ED, disfigur
ED, tamper
ED, or vandaliz
ED anything, now have you?
Verbage like that exists in EVERY park & beach. If you think such terms automatically apply, then hang it up now. Because no place "allows" vandalism, etc.... You can not make the automatic equivalence that "md'ing = destruction". To do so is to have lost the battle already. So unless you're being a nuisance, leaving a mess, etc... those things are rarely invoked.
Same for the verbage about "removing". Well .... sure: Stuff like that has to be there, so that no one thinks he can help himself to the swing-sets, or harvest all the flowers, or take all the wood-chips home for his own garden, etc.. Now really: was that ever meant to apply to singular mercs and barbers and pulltabs? No. Of course not. Those laws predate metal detecting. But sure: if you ask enough people, someone could say it applies to coins. So too would this be the obligatory answer of some bureaucrats if I asked if I can "harvest features off the beach". They would be obliged to say no. But if my daughter picks up pretty sea-shell to take home,
did anyone really care? No. Of course not. Could it *technically* have violated the "no harvesting/removing" clauses? Sure, I suppose, if you asked long enough and hard enough of enough rangers and county people.
As for him being an md'r, well I suppose a lot of people got one while watching a late night info-mercial, or have one in their closet they used one time 10 yrs. ago, etc.... But ... that doesn't make his answer any more, or any less, correct.
Am I saying that everyone will love you, and you'll never hear anyone say so much as "boo" ? No. Of course not. There will always be someone who *might* get their panties in a wad (because let's face it, detecting has connotations that you might be about to leave a hole). So sure, you need to use "due discretion" and don't be an eye-sore waltzing over beach blankets, etc....
You say yourself:
"I spoke with another MD'er who said they have never had a problem and have been all over the beaches.". Well, gee, if they've "never had a problem", then are we to infer they "haven't been arrested"? (the fear you said that caused you to ask)?
The problem now is going to be, that the county person you asked, who found these things he says applies, well guess what's going to happen the next time that county person sees those other md'rs you say are detecting county spots? The county person will recall the communication exchanged with you, and think "
aha! there's one of *them*, and start booting others. So in essence, you merely get rules created (or "policy" or "interpretation") by your bringing it "front and center", where no one ever had a problem before.
Sorry, but I think you're the latest victim of "no one cared, till you asked".
