City Ordinance Question

Criscoula

Full Member
Joined
Jul 27, 2014
Messages
175
Location
Anderson Indiana
I emailed the Mayors office of a local city/town and asked if they had a city ordinance on metal detecting in city parks and city owned land where parks used to be and received the short response " David, there is no ordinance on metal detecting".
So how should I take that? Open game on detecting city owned property or at least parks ?
 
I emailed the Mayors office of a local city/town and asked if they had a city ordinance on metal detecting in city parks and city owned land where parks used to be and received the short response " David, there is no ordinance on metal detecting".
So how should I take that? Open game on detecting city owned property or at least parks ?

Yup detect away, soon tom of ca will lecture you about asking though... haha. keep educating Tom!
 
I emailed the Mayors office of a local city/town and asked if they had a city ordinance on metal detecting in city parks and city owned land where parks used to be and received the short response " David, there is no ordinance on metal detecting".
So how should I take that? Open game on detecting city owned property or at least parks ?

Go hunt and quit asking govt. officials any more questions.
Bureaucratic types are more likely to say no than yes to protect themselves, rarely take the time to actually look for the real rules and more often don't care to.
Even if it isn't true most people think we destroy public sites with big shovels and huge holes and common sense isn't so common anymore.
Many times hunters have gone asking questions innocently, asked they wrong people and brought this subject up on the radar where it never was before.
The result was totally outlawed hunting in towns and public parks where it was perfectly fine for decades before.

Sometimes hunting on some kinds of city owned property is a grey area but you got a yes on parks so you lucked out.
Hunt them, make small neat holes, keep your head down and don't rock the boat.
 
I emailed the Mayors office of a local city/town and asked if they had a city ordinance on metal detecting in city parks and city owned land where parks used to be and received the short response " David, there is no ordinance on metal detecting".
So how should I take that? Open game on detecting city owned property or at least parks ?

I think you should email again and ask why there is not a city ordinance pertaining to metal detecting. Insist, no demand, they put in an ordinance because as a city official - they work for you! :popcorn2:

Or instead of emailing, you could have easily looked up the ordinances for yourself and got the answer rather than bring any attention to it...
 
I will take your sound advice email back and insist SOMETHING be done about these low life hooligan Detectorists that do nothing to add to society and they all should be shipped off to military school with that G#dd*m Finklestein sh#t kid !
(who knows what movie that quotes from?)

I did try looking it up and could not find it got lazy and emailed.
 
I will take your sound advice email back and insist SOMETHING be done about these low life hooligan Detectorists that do nothing to add to society and they all should be shipped off to military school with that G#dd*m Finklestein sh#t kid !
(who knows what movie that quotes from?)

I did try looking it up and could not find it got lazy and emailed.

Dave's not here man :p
 
Criscoula, you've gotten some great answers so far. And I see my name mentioned :laughing: (it's a bee in my bonnet). You've gotten a "yes" (that it is silent on the subject, hence not prohibited) so why is there any further confusion ? As BBsgal said: Go forth. Heck, most people wouldn't even have bothered with your level of scrutiny at this point.

I will take your sound advice email back and insist SOMETHING be done ....

Sure. The problem with the "yes" you received, is that you didn't use the right mental image wording. You should have included the words "dig", "take/remove", "holes", and "Indian bone" in your question. Now hurry: Go back to the fellow and stop mincing words. You want him to have the full mental picture of your question.

But seriously now ....


....I did try looking it up and could not find it got lazy and emailed.

If you're worried that you haven't found a comprehensive list of muni. codes, rules, laws, etc.... and you REALLY feel the need to talk to a live person, then here's how you do it. You say: "Where can John Q. Public avail himself of all the municipal codes/laws regarding the use of the park. Eg.: dogs on leash, no fireworks, etc...". They will direct you to where that exists in written form. Then look there.
 
Post script: If you found stuff (or got told by whomever you were asking about md'ing) stuff about: "dig" or "alter" or "deface" or "remove/take" : I do not construe such catch-all verbiage to apply to us. If you've left no trace, then technically you have not alterED anything. Eh ?

But still: This is not to imply you are guaranteed to have zero busy-bodies. MD'ing in turf has connotations after all (someone can think you're about to leave holes or harm earthworms). So despite "silence on the subject", you still pick low traffic times. To avoid lookie-lous. Kind of like nose-picking: Not illegal, but ... we pick discreet times so as not to offend the squeemish.

Beaches, sand boxes, forests, etc.... no such connotations . But manicured turf can bother some nosy-parkers. So pick low traffic times.
 
When in doubt do what I do. I wear a fluorescent vest like the municipal workers wear. Make sure it's filthy by driving over it repeatedly until the desired effect is there. Be bold like you have complete right to be there but don't make eye contact with people.

It may sound stupid but I call it "hiding in plain sight".

It works.
 
When in doubt do what I do. I wear a fluorescent vest like the municipal workers wear. Make sure it's filthy by driving over it repeatedly until the desired effect is there. Be bold like you have complete right to be there but don't make eye contact with people.

It may sound stupid but I call it "hiding in plain sight".

It works.

I might have to try that and why not show some butt crack while I'm at it :D
 
I might have to try that and why not show some butt crack while I'm at it :D

Just be prepared for the consequences (oh yes, my friend, there can be consequences, great consequences, mooah ha ha ha!) :spiteful:

serveimage
 
... It may sound stupid but I call it "hiding in plain sight"....

If you "act like you own the place", no one pays you any mind. Contrast to if you act evasively, skittish, etc.. And look at every passer-by with an "oh no does he see me ?" persona. Then people are going to subconsciously ask themselves: "Gee what is that guy doing ?" And "gee do we allow that here?".

Obviously this advice if for run-of-mill city land, routine innocuous parks, green belts, vacant lots, etc.. Obviously you're not going to use this advice for obvious protected sensitive monuments during an archie convention.
 
Take a copy of that email reply with you just in case. It shouldn't be needed , but it would be great to have it to show if someone tried to tell you otherwise.
 
Take a copy of that email reply with you just in case. It shouldn't be needed , but it would be great to have it to show if someone tried to tell you otherwise.

Yeah. But someone could still say it falls afoul of some other ancillary language. Heck, there's even been posts of people who not only got the answer that the rules/laws are SILENT on the issue , but also even got permission (as if it were needed). And yes, printed that out. And then proudly whip out the paper to show some nosy parker.

But the cop or gardener or whomever gets on his cell phone. Calls down to city hall and says: "But he's tearing the place up " (which isn't true, of course). Then you're still sent packing. Thus always a good idea to pick low traffic times, since md'ing has ... uh .... connotations. It's gotten to the point where I do most of my turf hunting at night nowadays :)
 
I go to parks when sometimes hundreds are playing/watching baseball. If someone is having a bad day and needs to pick on someone, I won't be their only choice. Also, when I need to empty my pocket of trash, I go to barrels near the spectators. If I only have a screwdriver in my pocket, I do act like I own the place, popping coins even near the entrance/exit of the combo Community Center/Park & Rec HQ Building. Never been questioned.

I'd be more afraid sometimes to be the only person on park or school property, when there would be no witnesses if a crazy person tried to give me trouble. But that's mostly where I'm not a local, small towns where they know everybody but me. I will detect empty parks within a few miles. I'm in a low crime suburb, surrounded by low crime suburbs.


If you "act like you own the place", no one pays you any mind. Contrast to if you act evasively, skittish, etc.. And look at every passer-by with an "oh no does he see me ?" persona. Then people are going to subconsciously ask themselves: "Gee what is that guy doing ?" And "gee do we allow that here?".

Obviously this advice if for run-of-mill city land, routine innocuous parks, green belts, vacant lots, etc.. Obviously you're not going to use this advice for obvious protected sensitive monuments during an archie convention.
 
Take a copy of that email reply with you just in case. It shouldn't be needed , but it would be great to have it to show if someone tried to tell you otherwise.

I did, I shrank it to almost business card size and laminated a few of them to carry with me in just in case.:good:
 
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