Caching policies and legislation

Discussion of geocaching land use

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Isotelus
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Caching policies and legislation

Post by Isotelus »

I recieved this and felt that there would be some interest on this topic by fellow cachers in this area. Date: Mon, 21 Mar 2005 23:51:08 -0500
From: "huggy_d1" <huggy_d1@geocachingadmin.com>
Subject: friends to the south - geo-political problem

Our friends to the south are currently facing new legislation in the SC
state house (visit this link
http://www.scstatehouse.net/sess116_200 ... 050315.htm
) that would ban geocaching and letterboxing in every single cemetery
and registered national historic site state wide in South Carolina. If
this proposed legislation is passed and signed by their governor, a
fine, jail time, or community service could be imposed for placing or
seeking a geocache in any of those places.

There is no exception or exclusion or provision for explicit permission
from land owners nor caretakers at this time.

I point this out to help people understand that we as a geocaching
community need to exercise appropriate restraint when placing geocaches in
places deemed sensitive by those with more political clout than us
geocachers. As far as I know there is no national or regional lobby like
the NRA, NAACP, AARP, IMBA (could go on for a long time) for geocachers.

I do not propose a solution to the issues faced in South Carolina. I
merely post it as an awareness grabber. *WE* are being legislated
against. My best guess is there are a few too many cemetery caches in SC,
and a few too many placed at historically sensitive sites. And..
because we have at least in some small part annoyed folks with more political
clout.

While I do not disagree with the reasoning behind the proposed
legislation, I think it should be altered to allow for exceptions based on
specific permission granted by the appropriate granting authority
(caretaker or land owner / manager). If any of you have friends with political
clout in SC, it wouldn't hurt to let them know you would prefer the
house spend their valuable time on something much more important, like
dealing with the homeless.

My political $0.02 worth.
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mongooz
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Re: Caching policies and legislation

Post by mongooz »

i agree with saxondog...we need to be aware of legislation that effects our hobby. and although this legislation is way down in south carolina, keep in mind that many state laws (including in ohio) are created by listing another state's law as a precedent (all the smoking bans came from calif. laws), and that always makes a new law easier to pass. and new laws are almost always more restrictive than the ones they were based on.

we may actually need to be talking about (and i really hate to say this...but..) an ohio geocache lobby in columbus. maybe we should start with marcy kaptur (etc.)...we may need to start a "letter" lobby with our local rep's, to at least get our existence in their minds.
just my thoughts
mongooz
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fishboy
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Re: Caching policies and legislation

Post by fishboy »

There is a site in Montpelier Oh that is on private property owned by the Village of Montpelier. How can the word get out so that people don't trespass on this property?
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yogi57
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Re: Caching policies and legislation

Post by yogi57 »

fishboy wrote:There is a site in Montpelier Oh that is on private property owned by the Village of Montpelier. How can the word get out so that people don't trespass on this property?
Is there a cache on the property?
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Isotelus
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Re: Caching policies and legislation

Post by Isotelus »

fishboy wrote:There is a site in Montpelier Oh that is on private property owned by the Village of Montpelier. How can the word get out so that people don't trespass on this property?
Is there a cache on the property? Is there any information about this property that would help to identify this location and the cache. If we have a lil bit of info we can help to do something about this situation. Can we have a physical address to this location?
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BlackBrownDog
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Re: Caching policies and legislation

Post by BlackBrownDog »

I think the majority of people in NWO use good judgement when placing "SQ's." We have however ran into cemetary caches in other parts of Ohio that I felt were not placed with sensitivity, and would run the risk of making someone angry.

Mrs. BBD
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HvilleAl
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Re: Caching policies and legislation

Post by HvilleAl »

Don't forget that geocachers spend money elsewhere too. If SC is going to become that unfriendly towards cachers, I can quite easily find somewhere else to vacation that is more friendly toward what I like to do in my freetime.
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bobbi
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Re: Caching policies and legislation

Post by bobbi »

At some point geocaching may have to go underground because of Power crazy Petty Bureaucrats who hate freedom. A rogue internet site will pop up and list coded coords for pirate caches... Cachers will be hunted down and shot at by black helicopters.
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mongooz
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Re: Caching policies and legislation

Post by mongooz »

bobbi wrote: "At some point geocaching may have to go underground because of Power crazy Petty Bureaucrats who hate freedom. A rogue internet site will pop up and list coded coords for pirate caches... Cachers will be hunted down and shot at by black helicopters."

i thought they only used those things in waco tx. and someplace up in idaho 8O
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