Hey Tom,
I have another positive story. One time a construction site near downtown uncovered an 1800s dump. I mean bottles were just sitting on top of the ground. About 30-40 of us from our club were either out there detecting or collecting bottles. One day when I wasn't there they were out there doing their thing when a city worker tried to run them off on the basis of liability and if we hurt ourselves the city didn't want to get sued. Well, when my fellow club members showed them what they were doing and what they were finding he quickly became a friend and stayed longer working the machines scraping more layers of dirt to help them find more stuff.
I met him at our next club meeting and they made him a lifetime member. I think he got the bug now and I haven't been as involved in the club since then so I don't know if we still have his inside information for construction work....lol
Sometimes these things work out in our favor if we just play it cool.
GL & HH
Brian
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Good story. Yes that is a tactic to get "in's" ... is to get the person (landowner or whomever) amped about the finds. So that they become equally curious. Heck, I've even loaned them a spare machine from my truck at times, haha
Also notice from your story an interesting possibility: It is very possible that if you guys had gone to city hall seeking permission, that your question would be bandied about from desk to desk, then have to go before city counsel for a vote, then have to go past legal dept. for approval, blah blah blah. And then guess what the answer would most likely have been ? Yet as your story shows, .... it worked out.
This happened in my city, where the high school, blt. in 1919, got all the inner court grass ripped out, for rennovation work. Our club knew the project was upcoming, so we had sent a request letter to the school district to "get permission".
Meanwhile, a local md'r, who didn't happen to be in recent club meetings, had just ... uh ... helped himself. He was getting handfuls of silver ! I spotted him inside the project, and went out to see who it was, and what he was finding. As we were talking, an after school janitor came out of one of the unaffected buildings, and was taking a look at my friend's daily finds. Then wished him luck, and went back in the building. THAT WAS ALL I COULD TAKE !! I went back to my truck, fetched my machine, and joined John in the silver fest.
A few days later, I fetched the mail for our club's P.O. Box, and could see a letter with the return address of the school district offices. Took it to the club meeting, and read it aloud: "We are sorry to inform you that we can't grant permission. Thank you very much, blah blah. ".
I vowed never again to let that happen