Candidates: What do you want to be remembered for?

[The Lil Otter]

I once was in your situation.. (I became the first elected female in the first election of this Board)

It always bothered me about us hiding caches in State parks without permissions.. but it was the “norm” back then.. I spent countless hours and became the first geocacher to have permission from a Wisconsin State Park to place a container…

What are your hopes to be remembered for in this sport/game in and out of this Office?

What I’m trying to get at is.. are you willing to stick your neck out to improve this sport even if it’s not the “norm”?

~The Lil Otter

[labrat_wr]

first I would like to thank you Lorrie for your question, it is great to know you are still out there having an interest in what is going on with the WGA.

to address your question, I would like to preface it with the idea that things have greatly changed from the ‘old days’ as I am sure you are aware. Permission for caches has gone from being rarely seeked as a near requirement for publication due to the increased knowledge of geocaching and the general state of the nation as security and privacy have become high priority.

As the WGA continues promoting geocaching, keep lines of communication open between cachers and Government agencies needs to be nurtured and that takes the effort of the BOD to find ways in which to encourage these agencies to allow placements, educate their personnel about caching, and to educate others about the rules of placements to avoid conflict. the idea of “just because you can, doesn’t mean you should” comes to mind in regards to placing caches.

In order to do this education, it will cause some of us to come out of the safety of our box and put ourselves out there. Too often just sitting back is the “norm” and getting involved is “sticking your neck out”.
I would strive to do that more than I have in the past.

Disclaimer : Always answering to a higher power.

[CommanderUSN]

Lil Otter…how good to hear from you. Hope you get out to an event or to so we can see you again too.

I have already “stuck my neck out” as lab rat puts it with getting the requirements to place a cache in Madison area parks removed. There still are a few places in Madison…that are mentioned in the restrictions portion of this webpage…that ARE off limits but for good reasons. My working with the City Park officials gave me confidence to work with other officials to get onerous restrictions removed or modified.

If I am remembered for getting that done alone I will be pleased. As a member of the BOD and with a bit more time as I plan to fully retire by the end of Summer, I hope to take on Dane, Brown and other counties that have special use fees to place caches in their parks. I have already paid to be using the parks through my real estate taxes and the additional hoops that need to be jumped through should be looked at to be seriously modified and I hope to do that.

Thanks for the question and I hope to see you out on the trails again.

The Commander

[Valarie Butrymowicz]

Hi The Little Otter, It is nice to see you here in the forums and having a interest in Geocaching still.
To answer your question, I would like to show that Geocaching is not just for the physically fit. I am handicapped and most always use a walker but have bad days where I am confined to a wheelchair. Geocaching is just not a sport for the athletic type of people. To me that a cache does not have to be a rating of 5/5 to be a memorable cache. It is all about where a cache brings you and the scenic area and the nature that surrounds you. My favorite type of caches are waterfall caches, fire tower caches and The official Spirit Quest caches/cemetery caches.
I would like to be remembered by showing that handicapped people can enjoy the sport of Geocaching, and and still be able to get out in the community. Did I ever mention that I love Geocaching!

[CommanderUSN]

…and for new cachers out there, there is a website called ‘handicaching.com’ where the terrain difficulty can be posted with handicapped people in mind. Some of my veteran friends don’t cache much but appreciate knowing what they are getting into.

The Commander.

[Author]

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