On the contrary , Here is what I was commenting on, when oldBill said :
".... and the office staffer repeated this to me at the desk......"
And I might be wrong, but I'll bet that that staff officer would probably never have noticed an md'r, nor given this matter a moment's though, prior to this inquiry.
What are you talking about? He didn't go there for any "inquiry", he went there to pick up the required permit, as per the online regulations/rules, and the permit itself already stated IN WRITING that digging was not allowed. To the best of my knowledge, Oldbill didn't ask to borrow a crayon so he could add that little nugget himself. I mean, in looking at the picture of the permit that he posted, it sure looks like it was already written there.
Oldbill went online to see if metal detecting was permitted, and came across the rules/regulations (just as you suggest people should do) and learned that he needed to go pick up a free permit. Yeah, he had to go to some sort of office to get the permit, and yeah, someone was probably sitting at a desk. What do you suggest that he should have done instead? Waited until they were closed and break in? Guess what, even if he had done that and gotten away with it...the permit STILL would have stated IN WRITING that digging was not allowed. And for the record, I would also like to point out the Oldbill did not say that he asked for clarification. Nope. Instead, all he said was that the guy at the desk repeated to him that the permit stated "NO Digging".
Now, is it ridiculous to allow metal detecting and then add a rule stating that digging is not allowed? Yeah, most definitely. Is it reasonable for someone picking up a permit to metal detect, and noticing that it states, in writing, NO Digging, to maybe ask someone what that actually means, as it relates to metal detecting? Yeah, of course it is. I know that if I would have read that, I would have said to myself: "Wait...what...this must mean something else?", and then doublecheck before walking out. I most certaily would have asked for clarification from someone before metal detecting in the Parks, that's for sure.
I am truly curious how you would have better handled this situation. You do the right thing and research online for the rules/regulations regarding metal detecting in your area. You find out that you need a free permit to detect in the Parks and that you need to pick one up at the County Building. So,Tom, what do you do from here? Do you ignore the rule and forgo getting the permit, and only detect at night when no one is there? Do you pick up the permit and see that it further states that no digging is allowed, but decide to just ignore that an go detecting anyway? What would you have done differently than what Oldbill did?