For the felony charge of theft of a cultural resource: not guilty.
For the lesser, included misdemeanor charge for theft of a cultural resource: not guilty.
For the charge of second-degree theft of property: not guilty.
For the lesser, included charge of third-degree theft of property: guilty.
Yet Mr Jackson comments ....?This will let others know not to come to Selma and try and rip off our important cultural items,? he said
.........hmmm. the jury just found him innocent of any cultural theft
Below is an excerpt from an interview Mr Phillips had with Charles Harriss
http://www.wwats.org/modules.php?op...&POSTNUKESID=61535f291c84059bb2c8614ca7f25412
: Steve, what actually happened down there at Selma on Oct. 20th?
Steve: Perry and I along with our wives and Perry?s 8-year old daughter went to Selma with the intent of diving for two days. When we launched my boat at the Selma marina some guy who works for the Water Works in Selma approached us. He said that we could not dive the river anymore. I just figured that he was a nut and would go away and told him that I had been diving there for 30 years and that hundreds of divers dive here. He said that there was a new law. He said that ?two women? from Montgomery told him that no diving was allowed anymore. I told him that divers in Alabama can dive where they please except certain shipwrecks where diving is forbidden.
We went diving. We anchored near the bridge and made two dives. I found a pre-Civil War musket and a semi-automatic pistol that had been thrown in the river. Perry, who had never dived in Alabama before found nothing but new trash. The chief piece of trash was a Prince Albert Tobacco tin which was found by me. Tom Maher of the AHC identified it as a Confederate Ammunition Pouch! We were looking for old trash. Oh, the AHC also identified several Minie Balls that we had recovered. Interestingly, the Minie Balls were nothing but lead fishing weights. Tom Maher and his assistant were able to identify the musket that we found along with my boat, both of which they confiscated.
When we arrived back at the marina we were accosted by about ten+ people --- two Alabama Game Wardens, four Selma Police Officers, one District Attorney and about four people from the AHC including the ?two women?. I knew the Game Warden and he had been on my boat about a dozen times over the years. He said that he didn?t know why he was called to arrest divers and said that the whole thing was stupid. He had better things to do with his time. The DA told me that the AHC faxed him a new law and told him to have us arrested and said that we had to have a permit to dive in the river now. The state archaeologist, Tom Mayer, was the one really having us arrested. They told the DA and game wardens to arrest us for stealing cultural resources of Alabama.
Everything was confiscated. The Selma police checked out the semi-automatic and from the serial number found that it had been stolen in 1993. The newspapers reported that I was caught with a stolen semi-automatic pistol. Over the years I have recovered from the rivers many stolen weapons that could not be found by others.
Charlie: I?m dumbfounded. How could this actually happen? What was their basis for the arrest?
Steve: Simple. The AHC somehow managed to slip this new law concerning divers through the Legislature in 1999. The reason that I say slipped is because no-one knew about it till after it was passed. Even then it sounded innocuous. The law was to protect and control the diving on and salvage of shipwrecks in Mobile Bay only. It was to affect shipwrecks only and permits were required to dive on shipwrecks. That is what the Legislators voted on. Then the regulations to support the law were written, written by the Alabama Historical Commission. This new law then lay in hiding till Oct. 20, 2003, when it was applied to us with all of the unbeknownst regulations. The key part of the definition of cultural resources is that: ?It has to be a shipwreck or listed on the National Register of Historic Places or the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage.? Where we dived in the river at Selma does not qualify as a Cultural Resource.
Also, as bad and vague as the regulations are Perry and I did not violate them. The definition of a cultural resource in Alabama is over 100 words long and states: ?Cultural Resources are all abandoned shipwrecks or remains of those ships and all underwater archaeological treasures, artifacts, treasure troves, or other cultural artifacts and materials, whether or not associated with any shipwrecks that are contained in or on lands belonging to the state of Alabama and the sea within the jurisdiction of the state, and that they have remained unclaimed for more that 50 years, excluding there from sunken logs, cants, timber resources of any type not associated as part of a shipping vessel, and are eligible for, or listed in the National Register of Historic Places or the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage.?
Charlie: OK, I now think that I understand what you are fighting --- an out-of-control, independent AHC that is supported by the state of Alabama, that slipped this law through the Legislature and now has you and Perry with your hands tied behind your backs.
