March 3, 2005
Update on Alabama Diving
I wanted to keep you up to date on the struggle in Alabama between the Public and the power grabbing bureaucrats of the Alabama Historical Commission (AHC)
John Trott and I have been going to Montgomery each week to help keep our proposed laws on track. The House subcommittee appointed 4 people to represent the AHC, the Department of Conservation, the Department of Archives and History and the Public. I represent the public. This group has been instructed to work out wording that will be acceptable to the involved parties about diving and finding relics and artifacts in Alabama waters.
The Department of Conservation and the Department of Archives and History and the Public are pretty much in agreement on fixing Alabama's bad diving law. The AHC is not in agreement with the other parties. The AHC has submitted new wording that is worse for the public than our existing law. I don't think the AHC will work with the Public. They are power grabbers and only want the insiders to be able to find and keep isolated finds. I want our history that is lost in rivers to be saved by anyone who can.
Last year I told you about some retired men from Mobile who were arrested for looking on International Paper Company land about 2 miles from Blakeley park near Mobile. They were not violating any law but were arrested and harrassed anyway. There was some park ranger from Blakeley Park that told the Conservation officer to arrest them. The prosecutors tried to get these 2 men to plead guilty to a misdemeanor. They refused to plead guilty and hired a lawyer instead. On February 17th their case came up before judge Pitman in Bay Minette. He threw the case out immediately and said they had done nothing wrong. George Davis and Jimmy Alonzo are the names of the two men who were harassed and unfairly charged with a crime. I hope the Department of Conservation and other law enforcement officers will read the laws that they are wrongly enforcing and will stop allowing themselves to be used by the socialist bureaucrats who work for these government agencies like Blakeley Park and the AHC. The state employees of the AHC never plan to save any relics from the waters of our state. The only people who are given permission to find anything over 50 years old are insiders. There is currently no Oversight Committee to oversee the employees of the AHC as far as permitting goes. Our proposed law will have a good Oversight Committee that will control any salvage of historic shipwrecks. No permits will be necessary to find isolated finds or to do recreational diving. Please keep calling and contacting the legislators so we can get these freedoms back.
Sincerely,
Steve Phillips
Save Our Lost History
4515 5th Avenue South
Birmingham, AL. 35222
205-595-3052
http://www.ssdsupply.com/
Update on Alabama Diving
I wanted to keep you up to date on the struggle in Alabama between the Public and the power grabbing bureaucrats of the Alabama Historical Commission (AHC)
John Trott and I have been going to Montgomery each week to help keep our proposed laws on track. The House subcommittee appointed 4 people to represent the AHC, the Department of Conservation, the Department of Archives and History and the Public. I represent the public. This group has been instructed to work out wording that will be acceptable to the involved parties about diving and finding relics and artifacts in Alabama waters.
The Department of Conservation and the Department of Archives and History and the Public are pretty much in agreement on fixing Alabama's bad diving law. The AHC is not in agreement with the other parties. The AHC has submitted new wording that is worse for the public than our existing law. I don't think the AHC will work with the Public. They are power grabbers and only want the insiders to be able to find and keep isolated finds. I want our history that is lost in rivers to be saved by anyone who can.
Last year I told you about some retired men from Mobile who were arrested for looking on International Paper Company land about 2 miles from Blakeley park near Mobile. They were not violating any law but were arrested and harrassed anyway. There was some park ranger from Blakeley Park that told the Conservation officer to arrest them. The prosecutors tried to get these 2 men to plead guilty to a misdemeanor. They refused to plead guilty and hired a lawyer instead. On February 17th their case came up before judge Pitman in Bay Minette. He threw the case out immediately and said they had done nothing wrong. George Davis and Jimmy Alonzo are the names of the two men who were harassed and unfairly charged with a crime. I hope the Department of Conservation and other law enforcement officers will read the laws that they are wrongly enforcing and will stop allowing themselves to be used by the socialist bureaucrats who work for these government agencies like Blakeley Park and the AHC. The state employees of the AHC never plan to save any relics from the waters of our state. The only people who are given permission to find anything over 50 years old are insiders. There is currently no Oversight Committee to oversee the employees of the AHC as far as permitting goes. Our proposed law will have a good Oversight Committee that will control any salvage of historic shipwrecks. No permits will be necessary to find isolated finds or to do recreational diving. Please keep calling and contacting the legislators so we can get these freedoms back.
Sincerely,
Steve Phillips
Save Our Lost History
4515 5th Avenue South
Birmingham, AL. 35222
205-595-3052
http://www.ssdsupply.com/
