TO THOSE COMMUNITIES THAT PROHIBIT METAL DETECTING IN THEIR PARKS

Once upon a time, detector users could go into just about any park and look for coins and artifacts without any hassles from the authorities, so long as it wasn't designated a national monument or national park or an archeological site. Now, unfortuneately, all this has changed. Because of a few greedy unscrupulous people, laws are being passed that restrict or in some cases, totally closed down places that were once wide open for hunting. Even areas that are not archeologically sensitive are off limits to any detecting at all.

I Believe that a permit system would be the more practical way of handling the few bad apples that make even the most responsible hunters look bad. With this system, you could charge like $5 A year for it and assign each user a number. That way, when you see a person detecting in the park, you would simply go to them and ask to see their permit and check to see that they are not leaving open holes or leaving their junk lying around. If indeed they are breaking the rules, you could then ban them from hunting there. That way, those of us who are considerate hunters wouldn't have to suffer along with the careless hunters and our hobby would survive. POLL: If you were or are a member of city council or a township trustee, and I proposed this to you , how many of you would repond positively and if you already have such a system in place in your area, how is it working out? I await your response.