Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.
First, detectorist needed in Ft. Lauderdale area to find lost ring on beach. UPDATE 5/25: The ring has been recovered.
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I've updated this post a couple of times today. Important developments were added about 4 PM on 5/24.
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I wanted to follow up on yesterday's post today. Sometimes people think of detectorists as being the type of people they make fun of on TV. People don't realize that detectorists are very different from that caricature. There are many highly educated and very successful people involved in detecting as well as amateur historians and archaeologists that have made contributions to their field. I am often impressed by the quality of people that I hear from.
The readers of this blog include engineers, attrorney's, teachers and experts from many different fields. I have a Ph. D. and have worked in universities and provided consulting to fortune 500 companies, the US Navy, and schools and universities and have published in a variety of fields. I just give that as one example.
As a result of yesterday's post, I heard from an attorney who read yesterday's post (Stephan S.), who looked up the city ordinances for us.
Here is the link to the ordinances that he provided.
https://library.municode.com/index.aspx?clientId=13414
Thanks Stephen!
I also heard from one reader that goes by the moniker Joe Dirt. Joe called Mr. Keen, the Assistant Director of PSL Parks and Recreation. Joe said that Mr. Keen was very courteous while I asked questions and explained my position on this new rule! He quoted Chapter 96.20 AND 96.21 of city code. He said it was news to him about excluding detectorists...
Thanks Joe!
At this point there seemed to be some confusion, however our friend Stephan took a closer look and found the following
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LATEST UPDATE: 3:55 PM 5/24/2014.
Here is what Stephan had to say after looking into it a little deeper.
Here are the two sections referred to by Mr. Keen. I've highlighted the pertinent subsections:
Sec. 96.20. Buildings and other property.
(a) No person shall willfully mark, deface, disfigure, injure,
tamper with, displace or remove, any building, bridges, tables, benches,
fireplaces, railings, paving or paving material, water lines or other public
utilities or parts or appurtenances thereof, signs, notices, or placards,
whether temporary or permanent, monuments, stakes, posts, or other boundary
markers, or other structures, or equipment, park or recreation center property,
or appurtenances whatsoever, either real or personal.
(b) No person shall fail to cooperate in maintaining restrooms
and washrooms in a neat and sanitary condition. No person over the age of five
years shall use the restrooms and washrooms designated for the opposite sex.
(c) No person shall dig or remove any
sand, whether submerged or not, or any soil, rock, stones, trees, shrubs, or
plants, down timber or other wood or materials, or make any excavation by tool,
equipment, blasting, or other means or agency.
(d) No person shall construct or erect any building or
structure of whatever kind, whether permanent or temporary in character, or run
or string any public service utility into, upon, or across such lands, except on
special written permit issued hereunder.
(e) Except for the city recreation center, no person shall
expose or offer for sale any article or thing, nor shall he station or place any
stand, cart, or vehicle for the transportation, sale, or display of any such
article or thing. Exception is made as to any regularly licensed concessionaire,
nonprofit organization, or recognized city league or organization when acting by
and under the authority and regulation of the director with the approval of the
city manager.
(f) No person shall paste, glue, tack, or otherwise post any
sign, placard, advertisement, or inscription whatsoever, nor shall any person
erect or cause to be erected any sign whatsoever on any public lands, highways,
or roads adjacent to a park or recreation center without proper authorization by
the director or chief of police.
(g) No person shall use any city park trash receptacle for the
deposit of garbage or other refuse from their place of residence or business.
Sec. 96.21. Trees, shrubbery, and lawns.
(a) No person shall damage, cut, carve,
transplant, or remove any tree or plant or injure the bark, or pick the flowers
or seeds of any tree or plant; nor shall any person attach any rope, wire, or
other contrivance to any tree or plant. No person shall dig in or
otherwise disturb grass areas, nor in any way injure or impair the natural
beauty or usefulness of any area.
(b) No person shall climb any tree or walk, stand, or sit upon
monuments, vases, fountains, railings, fences, or gun carriages or upon any
other property not designated or customarily used for such purposes.
(c) No person shall tie or hitch a horse or other animal to
any tree or plant.
You might get a group together to do a petition to exclude metal detecting from these two provisions.
Thanks again Stephan. So we cleared up the confusion. There is no regulation against detecting, but there is a regulation against digging.
Stephan also provides a suggestion regarding a course of action for us. We can take that up in the very near future.
I would be surprised if we can not make this work out well for both detectorists and the City Parks Department.
I'll be pleased to receive any communications from the Parks Department that they might want passed along. They can also contact me to find detectorists to search for reported lost items.
In the past I've been able to find keys for a concessionaire that was totally out of business until the keys were found.
Robocop wrote, This occurred last week in Melbourne Beach...
A FIT college exchange student from China lost her ring playing Frisbee in the water with friends.
She asked me for help, I tried but I had my dry sand detector with me, no luck. I told her I would try again the next day with my Detector Pro Head Hunter PI detector and larger scoop. I was able to recover it the next day at 6AM low tide. She took me to dinner to repay me and she told me her mother back in China couldn't believe how caring and generous an American could be.
How's that for improving international relations.
Thanks Robotcop! Excellent work!
That is the kind of thing detectorists do all of the time. People need to know it.
On the Treasure Coast the surf is only one to two feet. The beaches and shallow water conditions are generally poor, however there are a good number of targets.
It seems the beaches have been pretty busy lately and also the holiday weekend got off to a quick start. There was a lot of recreational boating traffic already this morning, and I saw some recreational divers and fishermen.
I saw good numbers of shiny new clad coins in the dry sand, and at one of those seldom detected hidden areas, also some green crusty clad and other things.
On the dry beach, I hit a gold ear ring less than a minute after turning my machine on at what I have previously described as a stop spot.
Where I was, the shallow water was pretty sandy. The recent drops are the easiest right now.
Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net
