[meteorite-list] Lorton Meteorite

From: cdtucson at cox.net <cdtucson_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sat, 6 Feb 2010 0:57:53 -0500
Message-ID: <20100206005753.N96TT.139041.imail_at_fed1rmwml46>

Jeff,
As always you say the right thing but I would like to see this litigated in this case due to the fact that these Doctors were in legal possession of the real estate and this is a Fall and not a find. These laws only mention finds and our hobby thinks there is a difference. As I asked before. This landed inside not on the dirt so it is not part of the soil which is very specifically stated in the law. It says the meteorite becomes part of the soil it was found in. Well this did not end up in soil. It ended up sitting on legally rented property. What if it hit a car and landed in the trunk of the car? Falls need laws if for no other reason than to help buyers such as the Smithsonian make an informed buying decision.

Here is an interesting article.

http://brightcoast.wordpress.com/2010/02/05/meteorite-law-are-tenants-lost-in-space/

And yet another link here shows the actual law as written in an abstract;

http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?bibcode=2002M%26PSB..37....5S&db_key=AST&page_ind=3&data_type=GIF&type=SCREEN_VIEW&classic=YES

--
Carl or Debbie Esparza
Meteoritemax
---- Jeff Grossman <jgrossman at usgs.gov> wrote: 
> I'm puzzled by why so many of you seem to think the Smithsonian is 
> playing such an active role in this. First of all, the meteorite was 
> brought to them for identification; the SI did not make some kind of 
> power play to get it.  And there is no indication that they are making a 
> power play to keep it.  From talking to their people right after the 
> fall and when I visited this week, it's clear that they would be pleased 
> if the meteorite ended up in the National Meteorite Collection.  But I 
> have not seen or read any evidence that they are in any way fighting to 
> prevent others from getting it back, legally or politically.   People 
> should just relax and wait to see how this plays out before jumping to 
> conclusions.
> 
> Jeff
> 
> On 2010-02-05 9:39 PM, Phil Whitmer wrote:
> > Hiya Carl, gun lovers and haters:
> >
> > I was merely stating the law as it now stands. If a meteorite falls on 
> > your property, you own it.  An open and shut case.  If the Smithsonian 
> > wants to appeal to the Supreme Court, the Court could possibly rule 
> > that current meteorite laws are unconstitutional. It's extremely 
> > unlikely they would hear the case. It's highly unlikely even a Circuit 
> > judge would strike down current meteorite laws as unconstitutional. Or 
> > any judge for that matter. The Smithsonian has the lawyers and the 
> > funding of the federal gov't backing them, they could try to argue the 
> > laws are unconstitutional, highly unlikely as there is practically no 
> > chance they would win.
> >
> > What they could do is go straight to the President and get either a 
> > presidential decree or have the Justice Dep't  write some memos like 
> > they did legalizing torture. Again not a chance.
> >
> > More likely they could get a Congressman to introduce a bill changing 
> > the meteorite laws, but it would never make it out of the first round 
> > of sub-committes.
> >
> > Possession  might be nine tenths of the law, but I'll be dollars to 
> > donuts the Smithsonian gives it back.
> >
> >
> > Phil Whitmer
> > ______________________________________________
> > Visit the Archives at 
> > http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html
> > Meteorite-list mailing list
> > Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
> > http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
> >
> 
> 
> -- 
> Dr. Jeffrey N. Grossman       phone: (703) 648-6184
> US Geological Survey          fax:   (703) 648-6383
> 954 National Center
> Reston, VA 20192, USA
> 
> 
> ______________________________________________
> Visit the Archives at http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html
> Meteorite-list mailing list
> Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list

Received on Sat 06 Feb 2010 12:57:53 AM PST