[AZ-Observing] Re: Bullhead City police have issues with Amateur Astronomy.
- From: Klaus Brasch <krbrasch@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 3 Jan 2014 10:57:04 -0700 (GMT-07:00)
body{font-family: Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:9pt;ba=
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I totally agree with Dan and others about attitude and how you handle th=
ings. In 1991 a group of amateurs and I travelled to La Paz, Baja Cali=
fornia for the solar eclipse. We chartered a bus and brought along a ton of=
telescopes, cameras, etc. as we had also planned several dark site star pa=
rties along the way. Our bus driver knew the area well and pulled off the r=
oad frequently for us to set up scopes and observe. One night,&nb= sp;3
Federales cruisers pulled up with guns drawn and spot lights all over = us.
If you think our cops are intimidating, think again. The Federales =
;canbe as authoritarian and intimidating (not to mention, corrupt) as any =
police state forces you can imagine.
Problems? None. We said "hola" told them were astronomos and invited the= m
to look. An our later they left enthralled by Saturn, thanked us and wish=
edus a good rest of the trip.
Klaus
-----Original Message-----
From: Dan Heim
Sen= t: Jan 3, 2014 10:17 AM
To: az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [AZ= -Observing] Re: Bullhead City police have issues with Amateur
Astronomy.
Yeah, it's all about attitude. The cops were just doing their job. Ba= ck
in the 80s when I was teaching I had assembled maybe 20 students in = a
wash in north PHX for that "grand planetary alignment." It was in the=
pre-dawn hours. Washes are "public space" here, so no trespassing was =
involved. Probably didn't help that I was driving a VW bus and had
= parked it in the wash for easier scope deployment. When the squad car
s= topped to investigate, the first thing they did was hit us with the
spo= tlight. I started to walk toward to the squad car, reaching into my
poc= ket for my school ID. They both got out of the vehicle with hands on
th= eir sidearms and told me to halt. I explained from maybe 50 feet away
w= hat was going on, and that I was reaching for my ID. They told me to
ta= ke it out slowly (which you better believe I complied with). At that
po= int, they approached in a somewhat more relaxed manner. Ended up
showin= g them Saturn, which they thought was pretty cool. -Dan Heim
On 1/3/= 2014 2:53 AM, Darren Johnson wrote:
>"Well that was a first for me. = My telescope session tonight was ended by
>police. Apparently astron= omy has become a suspicious activity here. I set
>up my desk, laptop= and telescope in a nearby empty lot with no lights.
>After driving = past twice and destroying my night vision with a spotlight
2
>police= cars came flying into the lot. I could see the dust in the
>headlig= hts flowing into my optics. They got out with hands on their side
>a= rms and asked me what I was doing out here at 2am. I said what does it
&= gt; look like? I was told they ask the questions and I answer unless I
want= to
>go to jail. I was searched, handcuffed and detained for 20 minu= tes while
>they attempted to intimidate me into admitting some non-e= xistent crime.
>They told telescope didn't look like a telescope it = looked like a mortar
>tube. Asked me why I needed a computer to star= gaze. They then made me
pack
>up my equipment and go home. My one at= tempt to proclaim I have rights
>almost got me arrested.
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