Metal detectorist Dick Stout does not see it as any kind of a problem that some metal detectorists are pig-ignorant of the law, and when they are made aware of what the law-they-did-not-know says, dismiss it anyway as irrelevant to them (!). What bothers Mr Stout is not that there are problems in the hobby which need sorting out, but that other people see it and say so ("badmouthing our pastime..."). Pineapple-craving archaeologist Lisa McIntyre obviously is not going to explain anything to him. Meanwhile "Janner digs himself deeper and deeper:
The definition of a thief to me is shoplifting, burglary, pickpocket, etc, To be called a thief for taking away something that's been lost maybe hundreds of years ago and I had permission to search and no one knew it was there in the first place is so wrong even if it seems it is in the eyes of the law. [...] No one is squeaky clean, everyone breaks a law now and again. Important laws like murder, assault, theft, (here i mean theft as in breaking and entering), drink driving are examples of important laws and we must have them. But this law of whatever I find in the ground with the reasons above is bound to get flaunted, its human nature. Its nothing like pinching a bit of bacon from Tescos as one site put it. To me its on par with throwing a ciggy butt out your car window, picking a wild flower [...] dropping litter....the list goes on.A real conservationist we have there for all that PAS money.
4 comments:
Finders Keepers, Losers Weepers...!
That may have worked when you were at Primary School, but unfortunately grown ups should know how to behave.
By virtue of the fact that a landowner has granted you access to their land, it means that you have a responsibility to look after it and any finds that you make there. Barring all legal issues, formal agreements or contracts it is simply common courtesy to declare what you find with the person that owns it.
In the past I have been called a "thief" by some mock American self proclaimed ambassador to our hobby simply because I stated that I didn't hand the finds over to the farmer for recording at the end of a dig. My statements allowed the individual involved to scrape together another foul mouthed article for his blog, but unfortunately his response was ill conceived and unhelpful (as per usual).
Detectorists must follow the law and have solid agreements with the landowners as to what happens to the finds that are recovered. By not acting in this manner, it will once again be the actions of the few that will spoil it for the rest of us.
Steve, the foul-mouthed cognitively-impaired "Mock American" has a huge grudge against the rest of the world, intent only on derailing everything and anything related to adopting a responsible attitude to detecting. Yes, he and his Texan sidekick are doing a lot to damage the public image of the hobby.
It is pretty astounding that people like the blogger not only did not KNOW the law (duh) but when it is pointed out to him, say (like a US coin collector) that its a "bad law" and therefore its "unreasonable" to expect people to respect it.
I'm not sure the foul-mouthed cognitively-impaired "Mock American" needs to be worried about. The only support he ever got is from one American archaeo who now wishes it was otherwise and American detectorists who (also) haven't the foggiest about PAS or detecting in Britain (other than what some may have gleaned through paying loads to detect on allegedly seeded fields over here!)
Well, also he and issue-dodging agitator Peter Tompa are now "BFF".
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