[GeoStL] Re: Cache Scare Redoux
- From: Edwin Biesemeyer <singer1ed@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: geocaching@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 30 Oct 2004 09:07:16 -0700 (PDT)
-
Also another reason to shy away from metal containers and ammo boxes.
Pam Ekey <pekey@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:-
The folks in Indiana aren't geocaching friendly, especially in Delaware County.
More on yesterday's "bomb scare" incident:
Game not all fun after bomb scare
By: Kevin O'Connor
Staff Reporter
Published: 10/27/2004, 22:46:45
DELAWARE COUNTY, Ind. (NLI) - An explosive incident Tuesday in Hartford City
has raised questions about the safety of a popular electronic-age treasure
hunting game with fans from coast to coast.
"It is a family friendly game," Layne Cameron, author of "The Geocaching
Handbook," said. "But when somebody sees an empty container sometimes their
first reaction, they jump to conclusions and think it's more than just a game."
Cameron said over one million people visit the Geocaching website every month.
But Tuesday's bomb scare was the first incident he'd heard of where a prize in
the game had been mistaken for a dangerous object.
Delaware County's bomb squad responded to Hartford City on Tuesday on a call
about a suspicious looking object placed under a replica train near State Roads
3 and 18. The object was blown up as a precaution before authorities realized
it was a part of the Geocaching game craze.
Workers at the Tin Lizzy restaurant noticed a man with kids milling around and
eventually taking a package from underneath the replica train behind the
restaurant. The man took something from the package, then replaced it under the
train, and left.
It turns out the package was part of a Geocaching game. To play the game,
Geocachers log on to a Web site to find coordinates and clues that lead to
hidden treasures. The treasures are left by other players and put in hidden
containers near landmarks.
Treasures can be hard to find even with the help of a Global Positioning System
(GPS) tracking device.
This leads to a pretty suspicious looking treasure hunter. After yesterday's
bomb scare, Geocachers have to wonder, could seaching in public places for
these little treasures, get them in big trouble?
Delaware County Sheriff George Sheridan responded to Tuesday's bomb scare and
said he would respond to any similar situation in the same way. When NewsLink
presented him with a Geocaching container we found on Wednesday, he looked at
it and said he thought it looked like trouble.
"Oh yeah, this definitely looks suspicious; if you would come up on this as a
bomb expert, this would look like an explosive device." Sheridan said of the
object NewsLink found.
"Ten or 15 year ago, this wouldn't have been an issue, but nowadays, it's very
serious," Sheridan said. "Somebody's gonna be talking about this game and it's
gonna turn out, and it's gonna be the real thing; somebody's gonna get hurt."
On the topic of terrorism Sheridan said Tuesday's scare was somewhat reassuring
because, "People are being diligent and watching for this sort of thing."
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-Edwin
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