FreeLists / tn-bird / [TN-Bird] New TVA signs post notice of personal / vehicle searches

["Wallace Coffey" <jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx>]

This sign is on a public road over which residents drive to their homes and 
school bus routes travel.

It also leads to a top Northeast Tennessee birding location below South Holston 
Dam at the Weir Dam in Sullivan County, TN

Do not be surprised if carrying a pair of binoculars, using a digital camera to 
take photos, looking with a spotting scope, writing notes in a notebook, 
checking birds on a field card and or doing those things in any Tennessee 
Valley Authority (TVA) area not on a regularly-used, designated walkway 
subjects you to an unwanted personal search without a search warrant.   Until 
we are told otherwise, you are subject to having TVA  search you and all your 
personal items and your car and trunk and in whatever manner TVA Police 
determine.  

Birders everwhere  have become suspects, according to a recent Washington Post 
article.  

Any birders experiencing any such search should report the details on TN-Birds 
so other birders will know what to expect and be prepared to face such 
situation.  Always be polite, cooperative, kind and understanding when dealing 
with TVA police..  

If TVA police asks you what you are doing or simply looks at your equipment 
from outside the doorway of your car or at arms length distance or more, that 
has been standard and expected TVA police activities.   We do not need birders 
reporting on TN-Birds that they have been surveyed or approached by TVA police 
or asked about what they are doing.  

Let's go birding....

Wallace Coffey
Bristol, TN