[meteorite-list] Park Forest Question - Just the facts, Ma'am!
From: Sharkkb8_at_aol.com <Sharkkb8_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:10:05 2004 Message-ID: <1e0.6484081.2bc3ee5e_at_aol.com> --part1_1e0.6484081.2bc3ee5e_boundary Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Walter: > It's just that > we all know that the owner of a meteorite find is the owner of the > property on which it fell, be it public or private, therefore it seems to > me that permission or some sort of arrangement would have to be > made with the property owners before a meteorite could be recovered. > I'm unsure what land to which you refer when you say "the owner of the property on which it fell, be it PUBLIC or.....". The public land is neither privately owned nor Federal land (a la "Old Woman" saga), I don't think. I spent a bit of time in the Park Forest Police Station, privy to some of the craziness surrounding the "Garza Stone," which had been in Police possession since the night of the fall. (A fun photo of stone fragments, including the "big one", and the "Evidence Bag" with its mildly amusing description of the bag's contents, is URL'd below!). We asked a few of the Officers that very question, i.e. the collecting restrictions, and made sure we volunteered to the Officers present that we (and most collectors/dealers, to my knowledge) wished to be scrupulously legal about collecting, and what was their recommendation, re the land-issue? They replied that as long as collectors stayed away from obviously private property (or obtained expressed permission from the owners), the Police had no problem with collectors finding specimens and keeping them. While there were valid reports of police intimidating some collectors early on, I suspect it came from uncertainty of a situation with which they had had no previous experience, and were thus unsure what to do. As the situation played out, it appeared (to me anyway) that substantial collecting went on with little or no interference from authorities. (As a matter of fact, a few of the Officers themselves collected some specimens of their own, and I think they were quite willing to entertain offers, although I didn't personally witness any sales!) What a weekend! check out the "evidence": http://members.aol.com/sharkkb8/Garzaevidencebag.jpg Gregory --part1_1e0.6484081.2bc3ee5e_boundary Content-Type: text/html; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable <HTML><FONT FACE=3Darial,helvetica><FONT SIZE=3D2 FAMILY=3D"SANSSERIF" FACE= =3D"Arial" LANG=3D"0"> <BR> Walter:<BR> <BR> <BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=3DCITE style=3D"BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT= : 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">It's just that<BR> we all know that the owner of a meteorite find is the owner of the<BR> property on which it fell, be it public or private, therefore it seems to<BR= > me that permission or some sort of arrangement would have to be<BR> made with the property owners before a meteorite could be recovered.<BR> </BLOCKQUOTE><BR> <BR> I'm unsure what land to which you refer when you say "the owner of the prope= rty on which it fell, be it PUBLIC or.....". The public land is neithe= r privately owned nor Federal land (a la "Old Woman" saga), I don't think.&n= bsp; I spent a bit of time in the <B>Park Forest Police Station</B>, privy t= o some of the craziness surrounding the "Garza Stone," which had been in Pol= ice possession since the night of the fall. (A fun photo of stone frag= ments, including the "big one", and the "Evidence Bag" with its mildly amusi= ng description of the bag's contents, is URL'd below!). We asked a few= of the Officers that very question, i.e. the collecting restrictions, and m= ade sure we volunteered to the Officers present that we (and most collectors= /dealers, to my knowledge) wished to be scrupulously legal about collecting,= and what was their recommendation, re the land-issue? They replied th= at as long as collectors stayed away from obviously private property (or obt= ained expressed permission from the owners), the Police had no problem with=20= collectors finding specimens and keeping them. While there were valid=20= reports of police intimidating some collectors early on, I suspect it came f= rom uncertainty of a situation with which they had had no previous experienc= e, and were thus unsure what to do. As the situation played out, it ap= peared (to me anyway) that substantial collecting went on with little or no=20= interference from authorities. (As a matter of fact, a few of the Offi= cers themselves collected some specimens of their own, and I think they were= quite willing to entertain offers, although I didn't personally witness any= sales!) <BR> <BR> What a weekend!<BR> <BR> check out the "evidence": http://members.aol.com/sharkkb8/= Garzaevidencebag.jpg <BR> <BR> Gregory<BR> <BR> </FONT></HTML> --part1_1e0.6484081.2bc3ee5e_boundary-- Received on Tue 08 Apr 2003 05:20:30 AM PDT |
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