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I received this from "Water Baron" in SC and he asked for our support with
getting the bill derailed. A legislator wants a blanket law passed stating
that caching is a criminal offense in cemeteries, historic and
archaeological areas. I'm sure, like here, some of the areas should be off
limits and we respect that, but to declare all these areas "prohibited"
seems a little extreme. It seems like most of the state would come under
these three areas.
Rich
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Rich -
A legislator in SC has introduced a bill that would criminalize Geocaching in "cemeteries, historic and archaeological areas." When the bill was first introduced, she had 38 of 122 representatives as co-sponsors!
History:
After some African-American constituents complained in 2003 about a series of caches that brought white folks to their cemeteries, she spent a year studying Geocaching and working on the bill and introduced the legislation with lots of uninformed sponsors. Never once during that time did she make any attempt to contact any local Geocacher.
I attended two subcommittee hearings and was stunned at the misinformation she had compiled. We had a half-dozen or so Geocachers at each meeting, but she kept us on the defensive with a poster presentation of the worst logs and photos she could find. (That they were about par for the contents of your average tourist camera is irrelevant; the indignant, but dignified black preachers who spoke of grave robbing and disrespect for African-American culture stole the show. She also brought in the SC State archaeologist who also thought we dug holes in cemeteries!)
In respect to the cacher who hid the cemetery caches, before he started, he went to the Beaufort County Public Works Dept. to determine if the cemeteries were public property and thought he had permission. When we found out that these caches were in question, we pulled them all well before the first subcommittee meeting and after the first meeting, we pulled all cemetery related caches in the state.
The archaeologist came around to understanding who and what we are and I personally apologized to the black ministers, but the legislator is still pushing her bill, despite the fact that we've convinced several of the original co-sponsors to bail.
The bill passed the subcommittee and the Judiciary committee and is now before the full House for debate tomorrow.
Could you contact the SC Dept. of Tourism and explain that folks from around the world Geocache as a tourist activity and that if SC Geocaches suddenly dwindle, you're less likely to visit? If a significant number of Geocachers in KS and MO could send messages of that nature, we can derail this idiocy.
BTW, since I started fighting this bill, I haven't done a cache in SC. Fortunately, Maryland is not insane so I did a few when I was working there last week.
I hope we can kill this before it spreads. Lawmakers love to make laws, regardless of the consequences and if this one passes, ignorant legislators around the country will craft their own versions.
Chuck
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