My dear wife has had some medical problems lately, as a result I didn't ask her to edit this month's newsletter. She was at her job as a trauma nurse at Bronson Hospital, when she started having an uncontrollable shaking of her arm. The trauma docs sent her right down to the E.R. for tests. It turns out that the meds.. that she was recently put on for migraine headaches listed this as a side effect. It was great to find out the cause for her problem. But the testing also found a spot on her lung so we are looking for some more testing. Because she has never smoked, and there is no family history of cancer, the doctors tell us that there is only a 5% chance this will be the 'C' word. In the mean time, I am not going to bother her with editing this letter. She has done a great job for the last 13 ½ years. With me writing this newsletter, this job would have driven most editors nuts! Deb's editing work has been amazing! So, please overlook poor sentence structure, bad spelling, and a newsletter that stinks.
We had a great time at the last meeting! The May meeting fell just a few days after our Spring Seeded Hunt. As a result, much of our meeting time was spent sharing with one another the details about the great time we had at the hunt. Once again, Tom and Jackie Latterner so graciously opened up their nice country home site for us to use.
They have the perfect setup for the club hunts. Tom has finished off the inside of his pole barn with a bathroom and lots of outlets and space to set up our potluck. Another large area is used to arrange all of the hunt prizes.
Right after breakfast and our Sunday church service, Tom had a contest ready that really changed a lot of minds about what we should be digging, and what not to dig. Tom placed items inside plastic Folger's coffee can lids and taped them shut. They looked like oversized hockey pucks. Each one was numbered. You scanned each item then wrote down what you thought each one was.
After everyone had a chance to scan the targets, it was time to take score. I think there were about twelve items total and only a couple guys scored four. Our winner was John Assenmacher.
What shook most people to the core was to see the targets that they would not have dug! For example: gold coin, silver three cent piece, gold class ring! It is easy to understand this when you realize these targets fell into the range of the most common junk including this class ring.
When I say including 'this' class ring. Most large men's class rings will ring up good and be ID'ed in the pull tab range or above. We were briefed before the contest that each item was good enough to enter in a Find of the Month contest, so that ruled out pull tabs. But this ring didn't ring up much higher than foil-- and it sounded like junk!
This ring had a broken band, and for some reason this severely changes the target's signature. I ran into this years ago. If I recall correctly, it was the late, great, water hunter, Wally Chandler who tipped me off to this. I don't know what jewelers use to rejoin a ring's band after it has been resized, but apparently it is not gold. I say this because salt water eats it away.
Wally told me that if you are salt water hunting you simply must scoop up all those nasty sounding nail-like sounds or 'clicks.' Another salt water hunter taught me another lesson when it comes to judging, 'One man's junk from another man's treasure.'
I don't remember his name, but he was a retired Grand Rapids police officer turned horse trader. I usually had a dozen or so older, used, metal detectors on hand. I am talking about detectors that nobody would have wanted. That is unless the buyer knew absolutely nothing about detectors, and if they found someone willing to take advantage of that fact.
He traveled the flea market circuit selling these old tired-out detectors. If it would work at all, he would buy it. This was how he supported himself, here in Michigan in the summer, and in south Florida in the winter.
Back in the mid 70's he was detecting a beach just north of Naples, Florida and he kept finding some annoying, jagged, metal targets that had a crusted coating. Instead of sticking closely to our 'treasure hunting code of ethics' he was pitching these items into the surf, instead of taking his trash out with him.
After finding a couple more, he decided to drop one into his treasure apron and see if anyone could identify this scrap metal. To make a long story short, he showed one to the town barber who recognized his find right away. What he was pitching into the surf were Spanish pieces-of-eight dating back to the 16 or 1700s! Also known as ' 8 Reales,' they are generally not that rare, but at that time, they were worth around $100 each. Needless to say he went back and recovered as many as he could.
When I saw him in the spring, I had a truckload of retired detectors, if I recall, he paid me with eight of these coins. At that time the detector business was a part of my father's R.V. business so those coins went into my dad's safe--- I have not seen them again to this day.
I do get carried away, don't I?
Back to Tom's contest, folks really learned a great eye-popping jaw-dropping lesson! I think for the time being they will be digging more junk in their search for treasure. Remember, for decades people remembered Babe Ruth for his record number of home runs, he hit more than anyone. But I was told that he also struck out more times than most players as well.
The Saturday fellowship hunt was held just down the street from the Latterner's at a 100 year old church. I wasn't there but we were told that they had a great time and some nice silver and copper coins were found.
We had a great turnout for church on Sunday! That really made me feel good! Thank you for your support of this little ministry.
After a super pot luck dinner, we spent some time visiting while the kids hunt was going full guns! We had a lot of nice prize donations but we were a little short on good kid's prizes. President Mike Walker passed-the-hat and collected some money for prizes. Then super shoppers, Jackie Latterner and Kathy LaRoy headed for Wall Mart to shop for toys. They came back with some awesome toys! Some of which I would have picked for myself had I found a token. For whatever reason, I don't find prize tokens! Needless to say, the kids had a great time!
Speaking of prize tokens, the Holy Grail of prize tokens was found by Tracy Osborn but he passed up on the $500.00 fishing trip. The second token number that was pulled was found by John Wise and he grabbed 'Billy Bass' which represented the fishing trip. Of course I was glad for John and I was sure he would share the prize with Rick and Steve.
After thinking through the fishing trip, with our three deaf fishermen, I started to wonder if this would present a problem for Captain Gary. Concerned, finally I needed to put my mind at ease so I picked up my cell phone and hit the speed dial number for Gary. I told Gary that our deaf friends had won the fishing trip and I was wondering how he would respond.
"That's great! They went out before and we had a great time!" Gary told me.
I forgot the guys went out on the 'Miss Vicky' before! Gary said that they had an interpreter with them. As it turns out, that interpreter was Mike Walker. I don't know who John will be taking out on his trip, but maybe Kathleen should give Gary some basic signing lessons. Just some basic things, like: 'Get this fish hook out of my ear!' Or here's a good one, 'Captain overboard!'
One thing for sure, the fellows should have a great time and they will once again have the greatest Captain! When I phoned Gary he was out on the big lake with a charter. We cannot thank you enough for your generous donations year after year, Gary and Vicky, you are our most treasured friends!
At every Christmas meeting we have a Buy, Swap, Sell night. The club board, based on the club survey, found that many in the club would like to see more of that. So, if I understand this right, we are going to do this twice a year. So this month you can bring in items that you want to unload on some unsuspecting buyer.
This is not for dealers to set up at, and we are looking for hobby related items and collectables. Also, if you have a collection that you would like to simply display, here is your big chance.
I know this goes without saying, but here I go anyway, all items must be rated 'G' for general audiences. Sell your Playboy collection on e-Bay.
We want to thank the many members who have brought in snacks for the meetings! The board wanted me to encourage more of you to help out in this area so that we aren't over taxing the same few members each month.
The club board has been discussing the possibility of creating a flyer that can be used to explain our hobby. It seems like little hot spots flare up all the time that we need to deal with. I have been involved with fighting these anti-detecting flare-ups for over three decades. One thing that we always seem to battle against, in almost every case, is ignorance!
My good friend, John Chirco, who is the president of the Wolverine Research & Recovery Club that meets in Hudsonville, sent me the following letters:
This Wednesday at 4 pm at the Fillmore St Complex suite D, the Ottawa County Parks and Rec. Dept. will be making a presentation to the commission regarding the use of metal detectors in the Ottawa County Parks. The secretary that I spoke with said that they would be taking action to adopt the plan that they already have had in place for a long time. She faxed me a copy of that plan.
It seems that it limits the use of detectors, or prohibits, in many places. It also requires written prior approval in the unnamed parks which are those not along Lake Michigan. It also states hunting on the beach only but does not mention hunting in the water. It does not require turning in items. It limits hunting to hours of operation only. The secretary said that they wanted to get in line with the State of Mich. because their boundaries run together.
I will attend that meeting. If you can be there it may not be a bad idea. You must sign in order to address the commission. I plan to do that as a representative of our club and an Ottawa County resident.
Come if you can.
John Chirco"
"Hi folks,
I just got back from the meeting. I had a chance to speak to the Parks and Rec commission. They asked several good questions and were interested and somewhat surprised about what we do as a group and hobby. The bottom line seems to be that they will limit hunting to the main parks along Lake Michigan. They only address the beach because they have no authority over the water. No hunting in grassy or historical areas. They did not indicate that they want things returned but mentioned it as what the State of Mich expects.
I told them that it was senseless to return a 75 yr old coin of no value. I also reminded them that the burying of holes is alright, but also remember that people dig holes in the beach for fun and they won't always be from a detectorist.
I told them of how we help others and take out trash. I think that although they say written permission is necessary for all other parks, they likely will not give permission. I told them that GR P&R dropped their requirement for a permit. I asked that they consider giving a seasonal permit. I do not think that they will give any permits. So, stay tuned. Eighth Ave and Maple View may be off limits. Hughes etc will also likely be off limits. I reminded them that if they ever loose an item we will help.
That is it for now.
jc"
When some university hands someone a diploma, and gives him a title like 'archaeologist' or 'environmentalist', this person takes on a cloak of power with lawmakers. These people may not know enough to come out of the rain-- it doesn't matter! The lawmakers treat them like the only ones who can save us.
One of the first places that I really enjoyed hunting 40 years ago was the old C.C.C. camp on the western edge of Lake Allegan. I knew about this location before metal detectors had gained much popularity, because our Boy Scout troop used this location for camp outs and jamborees. During WW II this site was used as a P.O.W. camp so there had been many uses over the years.
Some of the most memorable finds from that site were, a 1922 French 20-Franc coin which was probably the deepest item at right around 6" deep. I always felt as if this was a coin lost during the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) days.
I also found a beautiful 1944 Walking Liberty Half that I figured was from the P.O.W. days. It was found in the middle of what we called the 'parade grounds' near the flag pole. That coin was down about 6 inches.
Behind one of the barracks I detected the center that had been chiseled out of a large silver coin which was likely part of a coin-ring project.
The deepest
digging that I
ever witnessed on that property
was during my Boy Scout Days.
Our Scout leaders would dig a
hole perhaps a foot or two
deep and we would cook our food
wrapped in foil buried in the hole
with hot coals from a campfire. Man-oh-man that was
some tender slow-cooked food
that tasted great! There is a name for underground cooking like this
but I have
forgotten it.
So now we come to today. Our state archaeologist gets some notion that our digging is disturbing some items of great historical value, so the local area D.N.R. is asked to stop anyone from detecting or digging on that land. With the growing popularity of metal detecting, more and more people are drawn to sites like this and the D.N.R. is finding it to be a big job to police this area.
So, how do you protect these shallow treasures from all those evil treasure hunters? Well, they came up with a real brilliant plan. They had a dozen old-growth, giant, oak trees along the road that they want to take down anyway-- (for only God knows why.) Then they go to the trouble of digging out the giant stumps with roots intact. The roots are like tree limbs and laying on their side they are about 10 to 15 feet tall.
Now, to protect the ground from us careless diggers, they used bulldozers to drag the stumps onto the camp cutting furrows 3 feet deep! They are trying to protect this tax payer owned land from an enemy they do not know, or even understand. Let me tell you, this kind of foolishness is going to kill the American economy and lifestyle big time! Especially if the global warming hoax gains traction.
We would like to come up with a brochure that tells our story in a quick easy to read, illustrated brochure that shows the good things we do everyday, both for the public and the environment.
As I was writing this, Rick Allen came in the store and showed me a leather-handled hunting knife that he found on a beach. It was just under the surface laying down with the sharpened blade-side-up. When he saw it, and how it was laying, it sent chills up his spine. My gosh it could have been horrible had it sliced into some child's foot!
