Glad to see the newsgroup back in business. I tried to send a congrats to K-TEAM yesterday, but got an email 'undeliverable' message. I am forwarding an email thread from the Chicago email group. They are actively dealing with the issue of obtaining permission to place caches by government organizations. We can learn from their proactive approach. -------- Original Message -------- Subject: [chicago_geocachers] Digest Number 212 Date: 23 Oct 2002 11:25:13 -0000 From: chicago_geocachers@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Reply-To: chicago_geocachers@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx To: chicago_geocachers@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Plan to Sell a Home? http://us.click.yahoo.com/J2SnNA/y.lEAA/jd3IAA/XkiolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: chicago_geocachers-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ------------------------------------------------------------------------ There are 2 messages in this issue. Topics in this digest: 1. Will County Update (LONG) From: "Brian (WO9LF)" <Brian@xxxxxxxxxx> 2. Re: Will County Update (LONG) From: "cachew_nut" <jerry0984@xxxxxxxxx> ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ Message: 1 Date: Tue, 22 Oct 2002 17:41:22 -0500 From: "Brian (WO9LF)" <Brian@xxxxxxxxxx> Subject: Will County Update (LONG) Hi Everyone, Sorry this is such a long E-mail, but I wanted to keep everyone up on all the information I have. Yesterday I tried to call the guy that e-mailed me and kept missing him. I left him a message with my home number on it, and he returned my call while I was out. He left me his home phone number and told me that I could call him after 8 PM last night. I thought it best not to bother him at home, so at 8:30 last night, I was in the middle of writing him an E-mail when he called me again! From what I was able to learn, he is some sort of Conservation guy for the FPD. He was very cool about everything, and we had a nice talk for a good 30 minutes. We discussed several things, not only Geocaching, and some of the information and stories he told me about some of the Preserves were very interesting. As far as Geocaching goes, he said that it is a new thing for Will County, and they are still in the learning stages about it. He said that the thing that caught his attention was that there was 4 caches in particularly fragile areas that concerned him. I told him that I would see what I could do about letting the owners of those caches know, and see if they would archive and remove them. 1 in particular was found by someone by accident, and the Police were called to investigate since they were not sure of it's origin. From what he said, it is an ammo box with no markings on the outside, so that's what alarmed them. I have not been to this particular cache, so I cant confirm that, but, at any rate, I will let the owner know. 1 other cache is located in a place that is scheduled for a controlled burn at the end of the year. They did not want to remove it and have people looking all over for it, and they don't want to burn around it since they don't know what's in it, or what will happen when the ammo box is heated enough. I did mention Isle A La Cache and Kays Garage Sale, both of which he stated, "On the record, I would tell you to remove them, off the record, I will tell you that I really don't care about those 2 caches, as they are not in a fragile spot." I did a lot of apologizing for any inconvenience that the caches may have caused, and told him how much we appreciated letting someone know that they would like them removed, rather then just taking them. I then asked him if he thought it would be possible to get an open line of communication between the FPD and cachers. I told him that we would like to continue to place caches in Will County, but would like to be able to do it with co-operation with the FPD. He said that it is a great possibility that something can be arranged, but the best thing to do is to call the FPD P.R. guy, of which he gave me the name and phone number. (I called him today, but he was not in today, so I will call tomorrow and let you all know what he says) He also stated that the FPD was going to discuss Geocaching at an upcoming meeting. I asked him if it was a public meeting and that I would be happy to attend and answer any questions that they may have, but it is their closed door monthly meeting, so I would not be able to go. Sooo, to sum up a really long E-mail, the discussion was really positive. He said that he personally thinks that Geocaching is great and would be beneficial to the the FPD as long as it is done with within certain bounds. (Yes, I did stress the Cache In, Trash Out philosophy, of which he was not aware of.) What I got out of the conversation was that the FPD is still in the learning stages regarding the hobby, and really has no opinion on it right now. I think that is great, because we are getting in from the beginning, so we have a unique chance here to make a good impression. I will discuss it further with the guy who's name he gave me, and will let you all know what how that goes. In the mean time, I will contact the owners of the caches that he wants removed. (One of them is one of my caches.) I would suggest that everyone refrain from placing any caches on Will County land until we get a chance to talk to them. We have a great opportunity here to make a good impression on them, and every little bit helps! Thanks, Brian Team WO9LF -- As a matter of fact, no, I don't have a life. ____________ Brian Opalka Amateur Radio Station WO9LF <Brian@xxxxxxxxxx> http://Briano.com/ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ Message: 2 Date: Tue, 22 Oct 2002 22:56:10 -0000 From: "cachew_nut" <jerry0984@xxxxxxxxx> Subject: Re: Will County Update (LONG) Good work, it sounds like they are not totally against the idea and talking with the pr guy may have some positive results! ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ **************************************************************************************************** Our WebPage! 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