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FIGHTING THE GOOD FIGHT (Re: Monahans)

Dear Steve and list,

I want to publicly congratulate Steve for taking such a stalwart stand on
the Monahans issue. If this does go to trial it could prove to be an
important test case.

When it comes to ownership of meteorites, the U.S. currently has more
liberal laws than some countries (I'm refering to those countries where ALL
meteorites belong to the state), but the way in which the "Monahans Seven"
have been treated implies that there are still grey areas that need to be
addressed, and that certain parties are willing to lie and cheat in order
to get what they want (I would like to see a hard copy of the alleged
report by NASA which claimed that the Monahans meteorite was neither
unusual nor valuable). Is this how we want to reward seven young men who
have done the right thing by reporting this remarkable find?

It is my hope that you, Steve, will win your case both because I believe
that the finders of rare objects -- be they meteorites, gold,
archaeological artifacts, or similar valuable items -- deserve to be
compensated in some way for their good fortune (or hard work) in locating
these items, and also because the heavy-handed manner in which the Monhans
boys have been treated sends a very clear message to future finders. That
message reads, "If you want to keep something rare or valuable that you've
found, don't tell anyone in authority about it." That is not the message
that should be sent. How many meteorites, native artifacts, rare fossils
and so on have been "lost" to science because the finder was afraid to go
public with her/his discovery? The answer is that we'll never know.

Like most -- or possibly all -- list members I believe it is vital that new
meteorite finds be made available for scientific study. I also believe that
the private (or "amateur") meteorite community has made, and will continue
to make, extremely valuable contributions to the scientific world (see my
article "The Great Gold Basin Rush," in the current issue of "Meteorite!"
magazine for a perfect example of how this optimistic notion has recently
been implemented). If you, Steve, are successful in your legal case, I feel
safe in predicting that portions of the Monahans meteorite will become
available to both the scientific community and the collectors' market. If
you lose, and the city of Monahans uses brute force to keep these two
stones for themselves then not only do we -- as a loose-knit community of
enthusiasts and scientists -- lose the chance to study the Monahans
meteorite, but we also lose all those unexpected witnessed falls, and
chance finds that are yet to come.

So . . . good luck, for all of us.

Geoff Notkin