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@Todd300 wrote:
“Chillin’ at Fort Howard” – I did that one before I did Cormier. It’s very possible I was spotted doing that one too.
It’s more likely the parks department just took that one. It was a gallon jar stuck in the middle of a rudbeckia (black eyed susan), placed in September when the plant was still full. Well, rudbeckias die down after frost, and the November 4 log indicates the flowers were deadheaded by the parks folks, so….
On the Left Side of the Road...@cheezehead wrote:
off limts, like railroad tracks?
I’ve seen this one violated more times than I can remember, and no, don’t even think about asking me what caches they were because I’m not gonna tell ya.
On the Left Side of the Road...@Team Northwoods wrote:
It would be nice to try and educate the department on geocaching.
An attempt at this is in the works.
On the Left Side of the Road...For those out there who think that the reaction of some geocachers in this thread has been over the top while the reaction of the police was reasonable, I would encourage you to review the recent logs on this cache, one of which was posted by someone who knows a thing or two about this topic from a first-hand perspective.
On the Left Side of the Road...–>Edit– tkks’ response came in while I was typing
On the Left Side of the Road...@gilldorAFK wrote:
How nice that everyone assumes the local law enforcement doesn’t know anything about geocaching… I actually work for Ashwaubenon Public Safety and just started geocaching in the last year. Of course it was my scheduled day off on the day of the incident, but after I read it in the paper, I did email the Lt and explained how it works. Pretty unfortunate that everyone is archiving their caches in the area (we haven’t had a chance to find them all yet), but sadly I am not surprised that certain neighborhoods call it in as “suspicious activity.” 🙁
gildorAFK,
I hope that you try to understand some of the underlying frustration with this issue that is bubbling under the surface here with this situation, seeing that it is the second one in the GB metro area in as many years, if memory serves. And with that said, people who post here a lot know a lot of the “inside baseball” and can be a little short in their responses, myself included.
I think we would all agree that police are not out to harass geocachers, and many of them are quite familiar with the game, with those numbers growing all the time. We also appreciate the responses of police to citizen calls–after all, if we make a call, we hope someone comes on our behalf.
However, there is also a fair number of folks in law enforcement who are still obviously not and this is causing an unnecessary response that is harmful to our game and the public response to it.
In this particular case, with a geocache in place on public property, with a container clearly labelled “geocache,” and the container in place for a length of time, I’m simply not sure what else the cache owner could have done. They could have had paperwork filled out in triplicate with the parks office but if the response is to blow things up once the bomb squad is called–because again, remember, this cache was clearly labelled–what good would it do?
Therefore, the best answer is to educate law enforcement so that the response to concerns about a small container in an isolated area of a park (as happened in Allouez) or stuck in a remote corner of fencing, far away from buildings or people (as happened in Ashwaubenon), is “Oh, that’s a geocache.”
So, how do we accomplish this education? Is there a willingness on the part of local law enforcement to become more aware of this legal recreational activity?
I guess this is where I would like you to chime in. You mentioned you are in Public Safety. Who can we talk to? Your Lieutenant? How can we start a dialog? What role as a WGA member or friend (not sure which–I don’t see you on the member list) can you play to help advance the game?
On the Left Side of the Road...@bigguy-pmurk wrote:
He mentioned how there was something like this that the police had blown up in a park about a year ago, and how people didn’t learn from that.
Wow. Just wow. That is frightening.
Though I will say bigguy, you do look mighty suspicious… 😆
On the Left Side of the Road...My bad; they did blow it up. ~Poof!~
On the Left Side of the Road...I don’t believe the container was detonated in this instance.
On the Left Side of the Road...WOW Ralph…
I purposefully wasn’t going to give my opinion on this situation after being thoroughly eviscerated in cyberspace the last time this happened. So let me just say “ditto.”
Which reminds me, it’s time to renew my WGA membership.
On the Left Side of the Road...Sorry to hear that tkks but I think you have had an unusual run of bad luck on these. I hope you consider retaining at least some of your more remote hides.
On the Left Side of the Road...If that is the cache in question I feel bad for the CO who was the same one on GC166HZ. That one was hanging on a tree in the middle of a city park.
I know this has the potential to start a whole ‘nuther argument on the matter but I put this out here because it’s news we need to be aware of.
On the Left Side of the Road...@CodeJunkie wrote:
Nice points gotta run, but here’s the challenge as I see it. I can’t control the action of others.
That’s the assumption behind my points CJ. I try to design cemetery hides for the most careless cacher out there because it will happen. I’m thinking of one we looked for recently. There were plenty of opportunities on the perimeter and trees away from graves in the center. But instead the placer chose to hide a bison tube in a HUGE cedar that was planted right next to a headstone. Making matters worse was that another cedar tree, also right next to a headstone, was about 20′ away (well within the “search zone”), and it was clear both areas were heavily searched.
It’s those kind of placements–ones where caching tours are going to have several people with their heads stuck into the shrubbery for some length of time–that are going to draw the concern of the neighbors and the justified ire of the caretakers.
On the Left Side of the Road...This is a good thread and needs to be expanded.
First, we have had great success explaining caches as “visitor logs” to caretakers.
Second, I have seen too many poor cemetery caches–poor placement, poor taste based on people treating cemeteries like your average city park. No wonder caretakers complain! These are the kinds of things that get you into trouble. In my personal opinion these are the 5 cardinal rules of cemetery cache placement.
1. -Cemeteries are NOT playgrounds.
2. -Caches should be placed in a hiding spot that isn’t going to cause searchers to wear a path in the grass circling the gravestones. On the fringes is a good idea as T&B mentions. We have found some SHOCKING container placements.
3. -Caches hid in cemeteries should be easy finds and not D5s to avoid people looking and looking and looking… If in doubt, use an explicit hint: see rule #1.
4. -Caches should highlight something about the cemetery and not simply be a convenient place to grab a number.
5. -Large cemeteries do not need caches spaced every .1 mile!!!!!In case you’re wondering, yes I do think I know it all…
On the Left Side of the Road...@BigJim60 wrote:
So what if I log it as a find today, Nov. 1, before the new list comes out? Will that bump it from the list? I’m going after it right after work, which is in 7 minutes.
My experience from back on the day that I used to be a bit more active in the game is that Team Deejay filters his queries by caches that have not been found by the day the cycle starts so you will be fine.
On the Left Side of the Road... -
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