Still reeling

[BillF]

Where I live we have a new freeway being built. Its been a long process and will be happening for some time yet. Its running through a part of town not far from my house. The state buys up homes in its path and within a couple months has them bulldozed and the ground is leveled.
I've been lucky enough to get into the yards of a few of these before the dozers come. This past week I noticed several more have been purchased and vacated. One is a 1906 house I've had my eye on for quite a while.Nice large home that was obviously money in its day. Last night I grabbed the detector and pulled up in front, right out in the open. I just started sweeping when an old woman pulled up and asked what i was doing and who authorized me to be there. I said that the state owned it and I was going to detect the yard before it was bulldozed. She said she would call crime check and see how they liked that idea. I asked why she would care and she said that there has been thievery in the neighborhood. I know what the cops would do, what they always do, tell me to leave. So I left. But it ate at me all night.
Luckily her house is also in the path so when she's gone maybe I can get in there but by then it will be a vacant lot with most of the top soil torn up and hauled away.
What a bummer.

 

[Walknstik]

Some people...like you are out there pillaging the neighborhood Sounds like a good opportunity to find some goodies and I would try to go back when she was not aware. This sounds like one of those times when a orange city workers vest would come in handy then you can say I'm searching for underground lines before construction! Hopefully you can get out there before the window is shut

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Bill, that totally bites. You had all your bases covered. And were seeooo honest as to research that it was eminent domain public, hence not hurting anyone, etc.... But sure as heck, some busy-body has to come up and hassle you. But to her defense: Have you noticed the following trend in the past 10 to 20 yrs.: Recycle metal value (copper, brass, and sometimes even iron) has gotten good enough that people are, in fact, going to abandoned buildings and stripping out copper and brass. And technically speaking , the demolition company often has factored into their bid, that there will be some residual value in things like brick, wood, metal, etc....

Hence construction sites, abandoned homes, etc.... have become the targets of theft. Causing busy-bodies to lump md'rs into the same boat I suppose.

All I can say is, you gotta have a tough skin in this hobby. And sometimes pays to simply not be seen by such busy-bodies (although impossible to predict exactly when one would come out of nowhere). Also: to the opposite degree, there's plenty of nice folk that come out and are genuinely interested. Ask "what's the best thing you ever found?", etc....

 

[BillF]

I called the demo company, they don't salvage anything, just doze it in.
It is owned by the state. They don't want you on the property, its a liability thing I'm sure, but I just can't stand the idea that all this will be under asphalt and concrete before long. Nothing is fenced, its all wide open and I see nothing wrong in detecting it.
Maybe I'm wrong.
I do see the logic in watching out for strangers, possible looters and general lowlifes but by the same token just a few seconds of watching would have told this lady that I wasn't breaking into the building to steal stuff.

 

[Dave J.]

Many years ago in Oakland Calif. me and a friend were doing some recycling of usable materials from houses about to be bulldozed for right-of-way. As someone posted, the demolition company does not salvage anything, they simply smash it and it goes into a dump truck headed to the landfill. We were performing this good citizen action at night (as others also were), trying to keep the flashlights low so the cops wouldn't have to come and check to make sure we weren't arsonists. We figured that the cops on that beat knew what was going on and either didn't care, or occasionally did a bit of recycling themselves.

Bad miscalculation. We got careless with the flashlights, and the cops that night were from a different beat and were completely clueless what the deal was. Busted for burglary. On a Friday night. Judges don't work on weekends. And Mondays are really busy. We weren't outa there until Monday night. At least the judge reduced the charge to trespass and released us on own recog.

We didn't like the deal our lawyer made with the DA, so we said to heck with that, our taxes pay for a lawyer, and it's the DA. So we went straight to the DA and told him we didn't like the deal the lawyer made and wanted to deal with him directly. We worked out a deal that we thought was fair and the DA said he figured the judge would buy. Come trial date the judge had a ball ridiculing the defense lawyer, made a big deal of swearing us in as repping ourselves, took our guilty pleas, and then gave us both 10 days suspended on court probation. Terms of court probation: "For the next 12 months, I don't wanna see you guys showing up in my courtroom on similar charges."

Nobody cared that we'd been recycling stuff from condemned houses. The issue was that by getting caught, we'd cost the City of Oakland probably a couple thousand dollars in useless prosecution.

 

[togg77]

Favorite bumper sticker: PLEASE help STAMP out PEOPLE.

 

[jim tn]

I always knew you were an outlaw, Dave. Just kiddin! HH jim tn

 

[dirt doctor]

makes me sick and angry .I was going to tell you to go for it anyway and let her call the cops as they would probably laugh and let you continue ,Then I read Dave J.'s post and pictured that scenario in living color .I can't believe the rate at we are loosing our personal freedoms .

 

[bootyhoundpa]

Might just have to pick off hours to hunt it and dont stay too long....if she shows back up tell her you work for the state now and she is treaspassing...i mean hey if you are not allowed there then niether is she, right? ya i would just be cautious and selective as to when i would go back... out of sight out of mind...

 

[BillF]

You'll find more often than not that if a cop shows up on a citizen call that to make the citizen happy, you will be asked to take the higher ground and leave. I did not want this woman smirking at me when the cops did that, although I'm sure she went to bed last night feeling victorious that she vanquished that evil md'er.
I wish that I would have taken a couple of minutes to talk with her. Normally when someone asks what I'm doing I kindly tell them I'm md'ing. The way she asked, put me on the defensive. Not that I was rude or anything but I was on edge, then when she asked who gave me the authority to be there, well.....
I could have shown her what I like to search for and she would have seen me as harmless, but I blew that one chance. I really am not used to being challenged when I go out.
If I have to I'll wait her out or even go in after the house is gone. I've been hitting the empty lots for a couple of years now and even though the iron and junk is horrendous it isn't a total failure. It just is so nice to hit clean virgin ground like the house I did last week.

 

[nja82]

That's too bad bill. I've been eying a home that looks like it's being flipped. Looks like an old one. It's right in downtown Shelton over here on the west side. Not sure if it's early 1900's, but most likely 30's-50's. Next time I see the guys out working I'm going to stop and ask if it's ok to MD. I would love to get on that property before it's too late. It's small so I think I could work it in 2-4 trips depending on how much trash is there. Good luck on that site. I hope you get a chance to hunt it.

 

[HaroldILL.]

Always some busy body out there to ruin it for a Detectorist. Sometime's I think people are just plane jealous that you might find something of value. It seems when I started detecting about 16 years ago people were more friendly giving a wave and a smile. But the last few years you get dirty looks and calls to the police? I just don't get it anymore as they look at us as looters?

 

[OregonMike]

I'm sure sorry that happened.
I generally am not bothered when I detect. A while back I bought one of the best accessories ever--an orange vest.
People presume I'm somebody official!
It cost less than $5 at Harbor Freight.

The only time I've ever been asked was when a neighbor thought I was in the nearby field because we were beginning to "start construction."
I had to admit I wasn't there "officially." However, he invited me to his lawn and I found a silver dime, so in the end, it was an even better day!

Mike

 

[Tom_in_CA]

I called the demo company, they don't salvage anything, just doze it in.
It is owned by the state. They don't want you on the property, its a liability thing I'm sure.......

You will most likely always get a "no" when it comes to old town demolition sites. Heck, I bet you could get a "no" for sidewalk tearouts too (that have nothing but yellow ribbons and cones there) if you asked enough city or sidewalk workers. Heck, I bet I could get a "no" if I asked to detect my cities sandboxes! You can ALWAYS find a "no" if you ask long enough and hard enough, of enough people.

So for old-town urban demolition sites, ...... after 6pm is a magical time. Just sayin' .......

 

[Tom_in_CA]

that totally bites. And I'm sure that there are , likewise, stories of motorists getting roughed up by over-zealous cops, for nothing but a tail light out. Ie.: Sh#t happens. Perhaps stripping recyclables is seen more like "steeling" than md'ing ? For whatever reason, I'm as brazen as they come, and have been told "scram" by cops MANY MANY times, at MANY MANY places. Yet have never had something like this happen to me. And quite often, they just look at me, shrug their shoulders, and say "I got bigger fish to fry". So perhaps metal salvage recycle is just more of an eye-sore than md'ing ?

 

[BillF]

I quit asking permission. The answer is always the same. When I went to this house it was after 6. I almost went back a couple of days later in my city work truck to tell her that if I offended her I was sorry, I just was very surprised that she confronted me like that, thinking that I could smooth things over and get her blessing. But, I thought better of it and decided at this point it isn't worth either the hassle or the possibility that she might call my work and pitch a you know what. Some people are just crabby and miserable.

I called the demo company, they don't salvage anything, just doze it in.
It is owned by the state. They don't want you on the property, its a liability thing I'm sure.......

You will most likely always get a "no" when it comes to old town demolition sites. Heck, I bet you could get a "no" for sidewalk tearouts too (that have nothing but yellow ribbons and cones there) if you asked enough city or sidewalk workers. Heck, I bet I could get a "no" if I asked to detect my cities sandboxes! You can ALWAYS find a "no" if you ask long enough and hard enough, of enough people.

So for old-town urban demolition sites, ...... after 6pm is a magical time. Just sayin' .......