Arrested for vandalism !!!

[trussin]

Hey this story gives me the creeps. Its making me think twice about an old spot Ive been digging at. The neighbor complains but we have been digging off and on for ten years. Would you beleive there doesnt seem to be an end to the pontil bottles? I live near a three hundred year old town and this dump is acres long. Weve already pulled hundreds and hundreds and beleive there might be thousands left. If anyone comes to central new jersey and wants in...partnerships arent out of the question. Payment in bottles or cash. Really!

 

[diggermeister]

Hey All, It seems to me that vandalism is not the right charge but, I am not a lawyer.
As to the broader question of "premission"; If there's a sign (no tresspass etc.) I ask. If no sign, it's fair game as far as I'm concerned. I live in a rather rural area and if the land is open I will dig first and ask questions later. There are many sites here of early 1800s plantations, now days owned by real estate/development companies. I locate them through research and then I survey the spot with maps and aerial photos. Upon physical inspection, if there are no fences/signs, I DIG!!! [sm=rolleyes.gif]

 

[Tony14]

I 100% agree with you diggermeister, I do the same. No complaints yet[sm=rolleyes.gif]

 

[diginit]

Hey Cal, If you were digging in a ditch dug for a footing or foundation. It just cost the contractor another yard of concrete or much more if he has to fill and compact the soil. An engineer could have to do a compaction test with an inspector in some cases,and really confuses the guys installing the forms for the pour. From a builders point of view ($) this is vandalism. I've found that most people will warn you once. It's best to head these warnings. I understand your friends feelings. I recently Had a run in with a ranger. Digging at the bottom of a hill,I heard "how's it going?" I replied, as I looked up at the badge, "It could be better". His reply was "I thought I told you not to come back here" I said "Just couldn't resist" He was still nice and wrote a ticket for destroying endangered plantlife. Pretty funny since there was nothing but scrub, ivy and poison oak for miles. And the none of the 13 endangered species in Cal. live in this type terrain. Could have been trespassing. only $180.oo instead of a booking.[]Wish you and your bud good luck!

 

[whiskeyman]

well...I've only been "run off" a site once....but had some other interesting things happen:
dateline 1974..in SW Virginia.
Was visiting my wife's grandmother and noticed a small rundown house across the field and beyond a fence row. I asked the grandmother about it and was told it belonged to her Son's father in Law and he lived across the highway from the house.
I figured it was okay to go over and snoop, so headed out, taking my 11 year old nephew with me....
We climbed the fence and looked around a bit...I looked under the house and in a small shed out back. Didn't see much of interest. Was standing to one side of the house when I heard a gun shot and the bullet ricocheted off the stone wall behind my nephew. If I had been standing where he was I would have been shot. Another shot rang out...and we ducked. I saw the source: the owner across the highway was shooting.
I walked striaght down the hill, up his driveway, and chewed his a** out. I was too mad to be scared....the idiot could have killed somebody.
To beat all...he saw us walking from Granny's house over to his abandoned place !!
And, he was 1/2 blind and deaf...in his 70's I later found out. Seems people had broken into the house in the past at night and stolen a lot of furniture,etc...he thought we were more of the same...

 

[whiskeyman]

2nd event: NE Tenn...1976.
Had been told about a possible site for old bottles out in the boonies. I drove down there, parked my truck and went up an abandoned roadbed to a fallen down wood frame house. I was scratching around in a ditchline and was finding screwcaps... Fletcher's Castorias, Raleighs, etc...nothing really significant...when I heard a noise.
I looked up and a guy was standing in the cedar trees witha shotgun trained upon me...
He asked me what was I doing there...I told him hunting old bottles, but not having much luck.
His reply: I knowed those old bottles was buried there and was saving them for my grandkids...Take what you have already dug and don't come back.

I told him, he could keep them all...and I left.

I never did see where he came from...like I said, it was in the boonies.... and no other houses were anywhere around...[&:]


neither site I just posted about had any signs...No Trespassing/keep out,etc...nada.

 

[whiskeyman]

The site I/we got ran out of:
Johnson City Tenn...1994...Harold Carlton & I had permission to dig in a city owned park where they were replacing a creek drainage line that ran under the park...seems the old creek ravine had once been a dump...circa 1905.
We invited several club members to join us...and a few "rogue diggers' heard about it and came up.
The only stipulation by the Contractor was: we could dig along the ditch all we wanted, but to NOT dig anywhere else.
Most of us were content to dig the ditchline..it was about a block long diagonally and we weren't restrained about how wide we could go....

Harold & I hit into a " truckload" of amber Coke bottles...a couple of guys ( the rogues),got all fired up and went out into the park in front of us and began digging holes...(trying to get in on our bounty)...needless to say: the next day when Harold & I returned we were forbidden from any more digging...[]

 

[classicmonsters]

Hi again gang,...

I'm new here and certainly wouldn't want to offend anyone, but it seems to me that many of you are looking at this all wrong. Just because a property isn't posted, doesn't mean it's okay to start digging. Thats like saying that just because my car is unlocked, you have the right to take my cd's. There's no difference than if somebody walked into my garage and helped themselves just because I didn't post a "No Trespassing" sign. It should be understood that if the garage (or land in this particular case) doesn't belong to you, then you have no business there. There is no such thing as land that "nobody" owns,....and permission (in my honest opinion) should always be sought prior to digging. In a similar (yet strange) story a little closer to home, my better half (much better, as a matter of fact) recently brought home a dog that she "found" wandering. As much of an animal lover that she is, she thought this dog was neglected or dumped. She didn't realise that what she did was exactly like somebody grabbing up our dog during one of the frequent times she jumps the fence. Needless to say, after I explained this, she returned the dog to the area and even found the owner. A happy ending.

 

[trussin]

Hey Classic,
I find your argument interesting. Many of us here find there are higher and lower laws. There was a time when the law required that run away slaves be returned to their rightful owners. Folks that simply and blindly follow the law no matter what would be doing the legally correct thing by doing the morally wrong. Now its a far jump but try to understand. Some of us beleive that we are saving these artifacts and preserving history. Even when we sell we are passing something from someone who didnt care enough about the object to protect it. To some one who may cherish it. Consider this....Joe B

 

[Gunsmoke47]

Hey guys and gals, I have been following this thread with interest. It is obvious that we as a collective, (Digger/Collector) all have a love for bottles and the history behind them. It is amazing however, at the different lengths we will go to just to obtain them. I for one have 2 different spots that are guaranteed to give up some great bottles but the land owners are adament about not letting me on. I don't understand their reasons but I do understand it is their right as hard as it is for me to swallow. My views are this: If you came to me and asked to dig for bottles on my land, I would be happy to give you my permission as long as you filled in your holes and did no long term damage. If I came home and caught you on my land digging holes without ever asking me, I would fill your arse with buckshot and then call the law. So really it all boils down to how gutsy you are, how important the bottles are, and, most importantly, how well you know the disposition of the land owner that you are trespassing on![] Happy Diggin, (however you go about it) Kelley