An event that spurred me to my stance:



Now to put it in perspective, this was an grassy inner-court quad, in which hundreds of kids per day would sit and eat their lunch for the last 70+ years. And it was spongy crab grass, so ....... anyone over the years who'd tried to md it, would probably get disgusted, only be able to reach clad, etc...



At the time we had a club in my city. So you can bet that at the club meeting, persons had brought in that newspaper article "giddy with joy" about the prospects of metal detecting when the old grass was to be ripped out with tractors. Yum yum. But others in the room mused about whether or not we'd be allowed to do it. Or "what happens if they put up a fence?" (as is so often the case around construction sites nowadays, right?).



So all of us club members schemed and devised the way that our club could get permission to detect this demolition site. We formulated a letter on our club's letterhead, to send to the school district's offices. We detailed how we have our own club's liability insurance for our members when on outings. We detailed how we'd turn in all items of interest or value to the school's history, to the city's museum. We detailed that we'd go after hours on given day that they approve, thus not being in anyone's way, our good deeds for the community, etc..



Then we sat back and waited for the reply. And waited. And waited. And waited. 2 months went by and still nothing in our post office box Finally tractors arrived on scene and started tearing down some perimeter walls. At the club meeting that night, it was suggested that we call the school district offices to see what had become of our request. So the next day, I called. After getting bandied about from office to office, personell to personell, I FINALLY got someone upon who's desk our request had landed. He told me that they were still considering our request, and that it had to go through various legal channels, get approvals, etc...



I let the club members know. All the while the school demolition process is on-going, and I can see, each night on my way home from work, that they're getting closer and closer to the part where they'll be tearing out the inner court. Then one night as I was driving by, I saw a guy out there metal detecting! In the distance an md'r was visible. So I pulled over, scuttled through a wide spot in the fence, and went over to see who it was. It turned out to be a fellow I knew in our city who was not a club member (work schedule conflicted with our meeting times).



So I told him "hey John, what are you doing here? The club has pending permission to get in here and hunt as a group". John looked at me with a "you silly boy" look and said "why did you ask? why don't you just hunt ? This is a public school, right?" And he opened up his apron to show me all the silver he was finding! Turned out he'd been in their all week up to that time, in full view of passing traffic, and had handfuls of silver to show for it. He just waited till after 5pm workers to cut out. Just opened the bailing wire to the fence panels, and went in. No one seemed to care. Example: while he and I were standing their talking, a janitor (from the un-affected portions of the school) came out to see what John's find were from this night. Apparently he'd been going out there each night to see John's haul each night.



Well that was all the torture I could take ! I promptly went back to my truck, got my metal detector, and joined in the fray. A few weeks later, at the next club meeting, our club P.O. box brought the reply to our club's request: "no".



Hence my descent into the "dark side" My descent into "the dark side" came through an eye-opening occurrance in the early 1990s: The newspaper in our city had an article announcing how our city's oldest high school (built 1919) was about to undergo renovations. And amongst the detailed items slated to be done, was all new landscaping and remodeling of an inner-court grass area.Now to put it in perspective, this was an grassy inner-court quad, in which hundreds of kids per day would sit and eat their lunch for the last 70+ years. And it was spongy crab grass, so ....... anyone over the years who'd tried to md it, would probably get disgusted, only be able to reach clad, etc...At the time we had a club in my city. So you can bet that at the club meeting, persons had brought in that newspaper article "giddy with joy" about the prospects of metal detecting when the old grass was to be ripped out with tractors. Yum yum. But others in the room mused about whether or not we'd be allowed to do it. Or "?"(as is so often the case around construction sites nowadays, right?).So all of us club members schemed and devised the way that our club could get permission to detect this demolition site. We formulated a letter on our club's letterhead, to send to the school district's offices. We detailed how we have our own club's liability insurance for our members when on outings. We detailed how we'd turn in all items of interest or value to the school's history, to the city's museum. We detailed that we'd go after hours on given day that they approve, thus not being in anyone's way, our good deeds for the community, etc..Then we sat back and waited for the reply. And waited. And waited. And waited. 2 months went by and still nothing in our post office boxFinally tractors arrived on scene and started tearing down some perimeter walls. At the club meeting that night, it was suggested that we call the school district offices to see what had become of our request. So the next day, I called. After getting bandied about from office to office, personell to personell, I FINALLY got someone upon who's desk our request had landed. He told me that they were still considering our request, and that it had to go through various legal channels, get approvals, etc...I let the club members know. All the while the school demolition process is on-going, and I can see, each night on my way home from work, that they're getting closer and closer to the part where they'll be tearing out the inner court. Then one night as I was driving by, I saw a guy out there metal detecting! In the distance an md'r was visible. So I pulled over, scuttled through a wide spot in the fence, and went over to see who it was. It turned out to be a fellow I knew in our city who was not a club member (work schedule conflicted with our meeting times).So I told him "". John looked at me with a "you silly boy" look and saidAnd he opened up his apron to show me all the silver he was finding! Turned out he'd been in their all week up to that time, in full view of passing traffic, and had handfuls of silver to show for it. He just waited till after 5pm workers to cut out. Just opened the bailing wire to the fence panels, and went in. No one seemed to care. Example: while he and I were standing their talking, a janitor (from the un-affected portions of the school) came out to see what John's find were from this night. Apparently he'd been going out there each night to see John's haul each night.Well that was all the torture I could take ! I promptly went back to my truck, got my metal detector, and joined in the fray. A few weeks later, at the next club meeting, our club P.O. box brought the reply to our club's request: "no".Hence my descent into the "dark side"

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