This guy is on the bad list

[Woodland Detectors]

*Georgia Treasure Hunter Faces Prison Time


ROME, Ga. -- A 53-year-old Bartow County man has told a federal court he was looking for treasure when he dug 15 holes in a Civil War battlefield. Eric George Blaasch pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Rome Wednesday to charges related to digging the holes and taking three Minie balls, Civil War-war era bullets. Blaasch is not expected to have to pay restitution, but he could face up to two years in prison and 94 days public service when he's sentenced on Oct. 8. Authorities say he was covered in mud and carrying tools and a flashlight when he was spotted by park rangers in Feb. 2005 in the Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park in northwest Georgia. He initially said he had gotten lost while hiking.

 

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[Frankn]

He ought to be, 15 holes and only 3 balls! LOL

Frank

 

[Digger54]

That reminds of me of my daughter when she was caught with chocolate frosting all around her mouth and she was denying she took a cupcake.

Judge she nail him for being a big fat liar. Those kind of individuals give our hobby a bad rep.

 

[xasp61]

Rookie i always wear a full ghillie suit and night vision goggles everthing else in flat black.



What was that guy thinking

 

[liftloop]

sounds like he had an ace 250.

 

[crazyjarhead]

sounds like he had an ace 250.

 

[liftloop]

sounds like he had an ace 250.

that detector likes to false that's why theirs more hole in the ground than targets in his pockets

 

[Woodland Detectors]

sounds like he had an ace 250.

I'd say he has more holes in his head than anything. His marbles fell out

that detector likes to false that's why theirs more hole in the ground than targets in his pockets

 

[dimetime]

this man just had the guts to do what we all wanted to but went about it in the wrong way,i hope he getsoff!

 

[lostcauses]

When caught you got to claim you doing research like the Archy did so you can get off, man! I would bet it won't hold if you ain't an Archy type: Any one willing to try it to see if I am right

 

[djm of PA]

all that history and our country is willing to let it sit in the ground and rot? Kudos to him for trying, but obviously he didn't plan very well considering he got caught....

 

[daroofa]

"Assistant U.S. Attorney Mary Roemer, said the park had to bring in an archaeologist to assess the damages, which totaled more than $9,400."

$9400 to fix 15 holes? Where do I sign up for that job?




http://www.romenews-tribune.com/vie...-Chickamauga-battlefield--?instance=home_news

 

[djm of PA]

"The defendant was charged with knowingly excavating, removing, damaging and otherwise altering and defacing archaeological resources located on public lands without having a permit to do so."

so if I just ask for a permit, they'll give me one?! They make it sound like this man just skipped a simple step. No mention of what it takes to actually get a permit. Sometimes I really think negatively about our country, I'm sorry to say. History deserves to be on display for all to see, not rotting in the earth.

 

[Bum Luck]

"Assistant U.S. Attorney Mary Roemer, said the park had to bring in an archaeologist to assess the damages, which totaled more than $9,400."

$9400 to fix 15 holes? Where do I sign up for that job?

This is incredible. There is no appreciable context for 3 minie balls found on a battle site. Think about it.

They are shot all over the place and there must be thousands of them. Just what can you learn from there exact placement, assuming the Archy can even run a GPS? There's no timeline; virtually all of them were shot in a short period of time.

My sympathies are not with the guy who was hunting a National Military Park, but not with the archaeological assessment either. I'll also bet that's the last dig out there.

$9400. Sheesh!

 

[umrgolf]

"The defendant was charged with knowingly excavating, removing, damaging and otherwise altering and defacing archaeological resources located on public lands without having a permit to do so."

so if I just ask for a permit, they'll give me one?! They make it sound like this man just skipped a simple step. No mention of what it takes to actually get a permit. Sometimes I really think negatively about our country, I'm sorry to say. History deserves to be on display for all to see, not rotting in the earth.

Amen

 

[lostcauses]

all that history and our country is willing to let it sit in the ground and rot? Kudos to him for trying, but obviously he didn't plan very well considering he got caught....

You mean that item you found and dug up with that feeling of holding history in your hand, Or the larger setting of history that that item was found in that of course once removed usually can not be a part of the larger any more??

"History deserves to be on display for all to see, not rotting in the earth. "
How long was it there before you found it This one really works well with the artifact hunters. A paleo point has been there over 9,000 years or more,

Yet even relics of the historical period, they will out last most folks on this board were it is.

Lose the excuses folks and see them for what they are: EXCUSES.
They do spread through out the relic/ artifact hunting community very well.
If you start believing these excuses, it gets easy to ignore the ethics and law. That temptation to cross that fence into that un permission area. Its just a part of the addiction.

The reality is you are not saving history, but only recovering an object from it. Yes it is fun, and an enjoyment. It is fun to think of when and how it was used. Yet what else is there that is also a part of that same history you are ignoring: especialy with just MD'ing:
Not a problem if you stay to the ethical and legal side of the game.
Yet even in the permission areas: in most cases are doing more damage to the historical setting by removing them objects than not.

 

[djm of PA]

The historical societies around me who receive historic items I dig would tend to disagree with your entire post

 

[lostcauses]

The historical societies around me who receive historic items I dig would tend to disagree with your entire post

Lack of knowledge is not my problem,
and of course excuses for hunting is not real either is it

 

[LM]

If you start believing these excuses, it gets easy to ignore the ethics and law.

Don't intermix those two things freely. What's ethical isn't always a synonym for what's legal.
This issue has been completely hijacked by a narrow interest group (archaeologists) who cite all manner of high-minded reasons why they're the only ones who should be permitted to dig, but when you scratch the surface of their arguments, they don't always hold water. Sometimes, they do, other times, they do not.

Much respect for what they do, but zero respect for the few amongst them who significantly overrate their abilities and relevance.

That temptation to cross that fence into that un permission area. Its just a part of the addiction.

I'm definitely not making excuses for illegally excavating. It makes sense that certain places should be off limits, however, if you want to see to what lengths the archies will go and how openly absurd their positions can be, I present their advancing the case that 3 unarguably irrelevant bullets and 15 holes is over $9000 worth of "damage".

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Sure I believe that archaegologically & culturally significant heritage items, from public land, should be for ALL to enjoy. Not just we hobbyists that work our b*tts off to find them. Therefore, I invite anyone and everyone to come over and "enjoy" them, by viewing them on MY mantle place

Seriously now: the problem is this: we (even those of us who aren't timid) would agree that there are *some* places where it makes sense to be off-limits. Ie.: Shiloh, Bodie, ghettysburg, etc... Right? The problem is, that when it came time to make rules 40 or 50 yrs. ago, (or .... "interpret" and "clarify" existing rules, since md'ing wasn't an issue prior to the 1960s or 70s), here's what happened: While it's true that probably no one, back then, cared less about the non-historically themed parks (ie.: detecting in sand boxes, at beaches at the lakes, turf in the ball diamonds, etc...) yet you can imagine the headache it would have caused, to try to make rules spell out which fed or state-level parks were NOT ok (ie.: shiloh, ghettysburg, etc...), verses which ones were. So guess what became the easy answer? "no to all". In that way, there's never a need to deal with oodles of what ifs, dickering over which end of the park was ok (the innocuous beach), verses which end wasn't (the historic cabin at the other end of the park), etc....

Therefore, "no" becomes the easy answer. The reality is, as we all realize, is that the stuff (mercs, barbers, seateds, etc...) will rot there till eternity. Even the most well-funded university archaeology depts. will never have the funding to do more than a few 4x4 pits, every other year or so, in very isolated spots. Compare that to the acreage of even a single state or fed campground, and it would take a thousand years just to do a few dozen acres of 4x4 pits!