Why not kick it down a notch and try to get permission to take 10-20, 2" cores instead of trying to get permission to tear things up with a back hoe. You can confirm if there is anything there and the state bureaucrats aren't left staring at a big empty hole that they gave permission to dig. The cores would let them make a consession without the risk of embarassment.
What would he be taking core samples for? There's nothing there.
Have you read this whole thread? This guy's been jerking everyone's chain from the get go. I posted early on that he was making grandiose claims, without having any credibility or credible evidence to back it up...yet some of you guys just kept getting sucked in. The thought of treasure has a way of making smart people look like babbling fools at times.
This whole yarn was spun based on trips taken over the course of several years with a dowser who never physically showed BDD anything he'd ever found. They rode around the country targeting the exact location of many cases of immense hidden wealth, then drove away. A spot was "confirmed" with a mysterious box made out of scrapped microwave ovens, radios, EZ bake ovens, and any other kind of handy scrap that could be cobbled and duct taped together. Of course, every time it comes to proof, something always happens. A boat sinks. A beaver dam floods one spot. The two developers of the magic box split up, and the main guy is so rich he doesn't care to build another box. A septic system gets dug up.
See a trend here?
Now, in this spot, the location of a former pirate camp, BDD truly believed there were, in his own words, possibly "tons" of silver buried under limestone. The police were watching it, security cameras everywhere, friends watching it...and someone not only supposedly takes a bulldozer out there, but then walks in, detects the site, and digs up a coil of copper and a beer can.
And BDD wants to call it a "crime scene".
The whole time, this is all about building himself up...a website, a book, pay for view film rights, blah, blah, blah....and you guys fell for it hook, line, and sinker.
It's no wonder the state turned him down...he had nothing to go on, and showed up at a meeting with pictures of his race car, his dogs, and the fire blowing guitars his "band" play. Stop massaging his ego with the attention, it's pretty clear that's all he wants.
I imagine we'll be treated to more tall tales, because BDD said he knows the locations of the following...again, not based on proof, just the musings of a lonely old guy...
The treasure from the German U-boat U-853. The "exact" two spots where the diamonds are.
A cave full of long lead covered bars north of Atlanta near Ringgold.
The so-called "Beale Treasure".
Pots of gold buried along a railroad track in North Carolina.
1000 pounds of gold buried in the Everglades.
A wagon load of gold buried outside of Dalonega Georgia.
12 saddlebags full of gold coins next to a creek southeast of Atlanta.
Pirate chests in Englewood Florida.
Sunken gold off the west coast of Florida.
Gold along the Peace River in Ft. Meade Florida.
Diamonds buried at a house in New Jersey.
There's probably more he claims he knows about...those are the ones I found in a quick search.