There have been a number of new members on our board since yesterday. Seems to be a meeting scheduled for April...
"*Scheduled: Geocaching Hampton Roads to present at the Hampton Parks and
Recreation Advisory Board Committee Meeting at their next meeting on April 5th @
6:30pm. Only 3-5 people may attend, they have a small conference room."
Then there is this message. Think I would have been a bit more courteous than he seems. The reply seems fine to me. Interesting that Mr. Mertz did NOT attend at least one of the Geocaching training sessions in NC. Not sure what the person sending an e-mail to the trainer wants to "fix" about her. Am I missing it?
"Ok, this is my last posting on this subject.
I emailed an polite inquiry to Kim Hicks (RangerKim who taught the
Goecaching class to the Rangers). I asked her if she was the source
of the problems we are experiencing here in Virginia. Well, I got an
earfull!
Here is the emails:
Ranger Hicks,
My name is Allen Leibrand amd I live in Chesapeake, Virginia. I
noticed on the web you introduce Geocaching to the public in Goshen,
IN. In January, you taught a class in Salemburg, North Carolina on
GPS/GEOcaching in our Parks during the 2006 North Carolina Park
Ranger Training Institute.
At that class, several rangers from Hampton, Virginia attended. One
of them opened an account at geocaching.com on Jan 4th.
At Sandy Bottom Park in Hampton, the rangers began rounding up the
geocaches and notifing the owners to apply for a $15 permit. In
addition, only 2 caches will be allowed in the park. I cannot help
but feel this action was initiated at the seminar after your class.
I am sure you understand having geocaches in your park is a good
thing. Geocachers come in all sized, from toddlers to the elderly.
They are law-abiding. If a cacher saw something amiss, you would be
notified. It's like having extra eyes in the park. Geocachers have
CETO events that donate labor to help keep your park clean.
According to information gathered, which was second hand, you
presented information that put geocaching in a bad light. Caches
being mistaken for bombs, drugs and porn in caches, and such. GPSr
mistaken for remote detenators. Hords of cachers tearing up the
park. I have been caching for 2 years, 400+ finds and I have never
seen any of this. The other cachers I have met are decent folks that
I am sure you would love to see in your park.
Please write back and tell me this is not so. I find it difficult to
believe Park Rangers don't want caches and cachers in their parks.
Respectfully,
Allen Leibrand
*******Here is her response*******
Mr. Leibrand,
Like you said, you heard it second hand.I am a geocacher as
well as a Park Ranger. I would be very interested in in knowing how
you came about obtaining this information and my e-mail address.
What Hampton City decides to do with their Geocaching program is
their decision. I'm sorry you were mislead about my class. Before
you start passing judgment on me or my class you should attend it.
We as Park Rangers deal with things in our Parks that the everyday
visitor (or geocacher) has no idea about. For example: the issue of
recommending achers use clear containers that are specifically
marked, is because of the bad people using the parks to make their
crystal meth and leaving the chemical reactors in the park for an
unsuspecting visitor, perhaps a geocacher or maintenance man, to
mistake for a cache, open it, inhale the fumes and die. This kind of
container was found in our park. Fortunately the person opening it
did not inhale enough to be lethal. If a container is not
identifiable and the contents can't be seen, it should be treated as
a possible danger. The majority of cachers are very responsible
people, unfortunately, as with anything else, there are those who
are not. We have had cachers place caches in environmentally
sensitive places and ruining delicate vegetation, carving clues on
trees, placing them in a dangerous place and even telling other
cache hunters how to go about illegally entering parks after hours.
These are just a few of the issues we have to deal with. These are
some of the issues that you, as a lay person are not aware of and
should not have to be aware of. That's why we have park rangers and
park police, who take professional classes on how dea professional
problems, so you don't have to be burdened by them. I strongly
promoted, supported, and recommended geocaching to all parks
attending. However, parks have the right to monoter and control the
activities that take place in their parks, for the protection of the
parks and its visitors from a very few. So, we trust you to be the
honest law abiding geocacher that you claim to be, and you trust us
to do what we have to do, to keep your parks a safe place for you to
geocache in. Thats our job.
Like I said, Mr. Leibrand, I would very much appreciate knowing
how or who you obtained my information from. If you would like to
discuss Hampton City's policies, I recommend you contact Art Mertz,
Chief Ranger, Hampton City Parks. Chief Mertz was not in my 2006
class
Thank you,
Rangerkim
*******Here is my reply*******
Dear RangerKim,
It appears have violated your personal space. I will not contact you
again. I am sorry.
Allen
******End of emails******
As you can imagine, I am not happy about this. This is the source of
our problems. We can't fix Kim Hicks. We can fix our local
officials. Hampton folks, please tell us Southsiders how we can help
you with your fight! If you need numbers, we are here for you!"
If we were holding a TB we'd go for the FTF, but we'll hold off until we have one to trade.
Then posted my DNF and see the previous person said don't go looking for this cache. It's on private property! 
Cross that one off the list.
" LOL ya gotta love it! 
LOL! But we still go looking for those caches, don't we!
