[meteorite-list] Meteorite Hunters Sentenced- new information

From: Darren Garrison <cynapse_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 2009 20:48:51 -0500
Message-ID: <bnob95h143nf27et82k3mbj98a0iudlurs_at_4ax.com>

On Wed, 26 Aug 2009 20:20:47 EDT, you wrote:

>You must be joking! It's not like they were breaking into her house.
>

My "home" includes my land. If you are on my land, you are "in my house."

>I own 700+ acres in Idaho and if I took a shot at someone every time there
>were dirt bikers, snowmobilers, horse riders, hikers or hunters on my
>land, I would run out of ammo. Crossing someone's land that is not fenced and
>posted is not that big of a deal in a civilized culture.
>

There is a difference between "crossing" and "wandering around on." And there
is a difference between having hundreds of acres of open land and having a few
acres that you live in, alone, elderly, and with a history of armed poachers on
your land. Staying the holy hell off of someone else's personal property also
should not be a problem in a civilized culture.

>Don't make them out to be bad people or unprofesional. They were just
>unlucky enough to cross a nut jobs path!

I don't make them out to be bad people-- just wrong. And this woman is NOT a
nut job. She was 100% within her rights. I don't know this woman, but I'm
personally offended at her being characterized as a crackpot-- she was RIGHT,
the collectors were WRONG.

Some people think that their homes and their land are a personal refuge from the
outside world where you can relax, live as you want, and BE SAFE. You have no
way of knowing what the intentions of any trespasser are-- they could be
harmless, and they could be out to rob or kill you-- and at the very least, they
are disturbing your privacy. The burden is NOT on the home owner to prove that
a trespasser is harmless before treating them like they are a danger. If a
total stranger is found wandering on my property, the logical, sane, and
self-preserving thing to do is be on my guard and assume that they are a risk
until THEY prove that they are not.

I used to wish a meteorite would fall on my property-- but after joining this
list, I no longer wish that. People with the attitude of being able to go
wherever they damn well please without permission and people with attitudes like
Steve Arnold's, where he bragged about using hard-sell tactics to try to badger
land owners into letting him search their lands make me hope like hell that a
meteorite never lands anywhere near me.
Received on Wed 26 Aug 2009 09:48:51 PM PDT