Police called on me for curb strip hunting

I think It would be a good idea for every teenager to get Cuffed and Stuffed, spend the weekend in the Graybar Hotel..Like some sort of educational afterschool program? A modified version of 'Scared Straight?' Completely random and according to available accommodations of course...

This could work in a little town easily...on your Senior year, every weekend, a few of the kids would be rounded up and hauled off..right out of class, for no apparent reason, and taken through the whole process? Stuffed in a cell, not with their buddies, all alone? Having to experience the sights and smells and listen to the goings on all weekend before being 'bailed out' on Monday?

Yeah...time to think about the ramifications of certain life choices!...Like sassing off to the Man and hunting Curbstrips! :laughing:
 
That is NOT a way to determine who owns something. The law in Utah is that it is a PUBLIC RIGHT OF WAY. ....

Scuba, your posts are always a breath of fresh air ! But ... like usual, I gotta put my nosey-nose in there and clarify, haha :

Yes: there could "right of way" designation. Lest HOW ELSE can the public walk down the sidewalk ? HOW ELSE can the utility Co. do work on the water-main-lines ? HOW ELSE can someone step out of the passenger side door of their car ? Etc....

Then the legal issues progresses to : What is allowed in the "right of way" ? Ie: merely stepping ? Versus testing atomic bombs ? Etc..... Which boils down to a definition of what innocuous versus what's harmful ("alter", "deface", "mayhem", etc...). Which boils down to a debate of whether or not md'ing is outside that pale or not.

Personally: I think that md'ing is : Safe, harmless, innocuous, educational, nutritious , etc.... If someone cares to define md'ing as: "dangerous, damaging, harmful" etc... then .... sure: Don't do it. In fact, DON'T DO IT ANYWHERE. So you see: It all depends on your starting definitions.
 
I think It would be a good idea for every teenager to get Cuffed and Stuffed, spend the weekend in the Graybar Hotel..Like some sort of educational afterschool program? A modified version of 'Scared Straight?' Completely random and according to available accommodations of course...

This could work in a little town easily...on your Senior year, every weekend, a few of the kids would be rounded up and hauled off..right out of class, for no apparent reason, and taken through the whole process? Stuffed in a cell, not with their buddies, all alone? Having to experience the sights and smells and listen to the goings on all weekend before being 'bailed out' on Monday?

Yeah...time to think about the ramifications of certain life choices!...Like sassing off to the Man and hunting Curbstrips! :laughing:

Mud, the bars at the jail in Utah were pink! Studies showed supposedly that pink was soothing and there would be less contention among prisoners. Now who in their right mind would sass off to the man? :lol:

Scuba, your posts are always a breath of fresh air ! But ... like usual, I gotta put my nosey-nose in there and clarify, haha :

Yes: there could "right of way" designation. Lest HOW ELSE can the public walk down the sidewalk ? HOW ELSE can the utility Co. do work on the water-main-lines ? HOW ELSE can someone step out of the passenger side door of their car ? Etc....

Then the legal issues progresses to : What is allowed in the "right of way" ? Ie: merely stepping ? Versus testing atomic bombs ? Etc..... Which boils down to a definition of what innocuous versus what's harmful ("alter", "deface", "mayhem", etc...). Which boils down to a debate of whether or not md'ing is outside that pale or not.

Personally: I think that md'ing is : Safe, harmless, innocuous, educational, nutritious , etc.... If someone cares to define md'ing as: "dangerous, damaging, harmful" etc... then .... sure: Don't do it. In fact, DON'T DO IT ANYWHERE. So you see: It all depends on your starting definitions.

Very good question Tom. I don't think the public has the right to take a backhoe to a curb strip like the utilities can, any time they want. I know you can't be arrested or ticketed for trespassing on a curb strip like I think the lawyer in Texas might believe. I won't comment on the laws of his state though.

As a detectorist, are you destroying public property when digging for a coin? Are you harming anything? The answer is absolutely not. Even if the grass dies, it will grow back within a few months. Same when a dog pees on a lawn. sometimes it dies. Can the homeowner have you arrested for your dog peeing on his curb strip in Texas, or you walking on it? I highly doubt it.

You are detecting public property just like you are detecting a park. The ONLY difference is the laws require the homeowner to maintain it.

The city even owns the trees on curb strips here in Michigan. It is illegal for you to cut them down without the cities permission. The city can cut them down or trim them any time they want. We tried to save an oak they said was over 300 years old. City said nope, it had to go because they were widening the sidewalk and had to cut some roots. It went.
 
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That's exactly why if I am hunting curb strips in a residential area that I ask for permission. I know a lot of people will tell you to just go for it but I know if I had a nice house and yard and was responsible for the upkeep of the curb strip, I wouldn't want to look out my window and see someone digging it up. You can be right and still have to face the hassle of the land owner and to me it's just not worth it.

That is why I like to hunt curb strips of houses they have torn down..no owner to complain.
 
May i ask what part of WV you are from? I am from Summersville originally. I guess i have been lucky, people always look but have never given me a hard time. If they do say something they usually ask if i have found anything good:)
 
Hi WV'78. I've had pleasant experiences with people as well which made it all the harder to have some one yelling at me from across the street and then his son coming up and accusing me of trespassing... and it wasn't even their residence. It angered me to be criticized real loud and in public and I picked a wrong time and place to stand my ground. I had no ground to stand on because obviously I didn't know the correct law about curbstrip ownership in this particular town, Ripley WV.

There is now a sign in the homeowner's yard warning people to keep their dogs out of his yard.
 
Hi Penny, I have a few friends from Ripley and Ravenswood area. I actually drove through their last week on my way to Columbus. Sorry that happened to ya. Hopefully that's the only time you meet someone like that:)
 
Always better to ask for permission (even if it is not needed). This can sometimes avoid uncomfortable situations.
 
I just tell em' I'm from the city and we're installing new fiber optic lines and I'm out there to test soil conductivity. :lol:
 
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