A well-organized gang of thieves moves in to loot her house.
Posted on 04/02/2014 8:38:44 PM PDT by digger48
RUSH COUNTY, Ind. - The FBI says a 91-year-old Indiana man who collected thousands of archeological artifacts over his lifetime may have acquired some of them improperly.
At a news conference Wednesday, the FBI could not say if Donald Miller would face charges for his collection in Waldron. Dozens of agents were at Miller's farm to collect and process the artifacts.
It happened in Waldron, a classic, quiet, one-stoplight Indiana town
(snip)
Several people in Waldron said the house was like a museum, that school groups and Scout troops would go on regular tours.
The FBI has around 100 agents at the farm and they say it could take them up to a week to figure out what all the artifacts are. They've brought in a team of outside experts of archeologists and anthropologists to help.
(snip)
"Over the last several months a FBI investigation has determined Mr. Miller may have knowingly or unknowingly collected artifacts relics and objects which may have been a violation of several treaties, federal, and state statues," said FBI Special Agent in Charge Robert Jones.
(Excerpt) Read more at wthr.com ...
100 agents to go after a 91 year old guy for collecting artifacts.
And some think they can go after gun owners there’s not enough of them for that.
That was the very first thing that came to my mind.
Dayum, I better stop my granddaughter picking up anasazi pottery shards off of my 2 acre property. She has a real knack for spotting them when they surface after a good rain runoff and has found some real humdingers.
I did not say I agreed with it. Someone asked what the rules are.
Jeez....
And the gubmint can PROVE where these artifacts came from?
I have a collection of arrowheads (I couldn’t use the term “Indian Arrowheads” as that would be racist), and I would challenge any FBI agent to tell me exactly where these artifacts came from and when.
Does our gubmint have so many “surplus workers” they can send them on a chase such as this? Mind boggling!
“He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.”
From the US Bureau of Land Management;
Many people ask “If I find an eagle or hawk feather, can I keep it?” The answer is "No." All raptors are protected by state and federal regulations. It is illegal to capture or kill a raptor; possess a raptor (living or dead), or any pieces or parts of raptors, including feathers, without proper permits from state and federal government agencies.
I’m glad to see the FBI has 100 agents on this important case to look at a bunch of indian arrowheads or whatever and they’re not wasting their time with trivial stuff like preventing a second Boston Bombing.
Yes, but you have to know the law inside an out. It is enforced very strictly and has been for a long time. The law dates back to 1906 and has been expanded on several times since then. The last big expansion was around 1990. This is an area where ignorance of the law can send you to prison for a long time and cost you everything you own.
You can't collect from federal land without express permission and you have to follow rules of collection. Most states have similar laws.
No grave robbing. No human remains, no "kill holes" in pots. No funerary items. No excuses, period unless they have a provable pre-1906 provenance.
It generally doesn't matter whether you know what you are buying or not - the burden is on the buyer to know what is legal and illegal. There are fines and prison waiting for those who break the laws, and the items will be seized with no recompense unless you can prove that it has been in private possession since prior to 1906. No provable provenance, there goes your artefact.
I have watched appraisers on Antiques Road Show mention something about personal artefacts vs. communal artefacts. Apparently, owning personal artefacts - something a person would own - is okay. Owning communal artefacts - something a tribe would own - is not.
If you have arrowheads, blankets, regular cooking pots, beads or shards, you probably aren't going to be bothered. If you have funerary stuff or communal things, you will have to be able to prove that it has been in a collection/private hands since before 1906. "I bought it at a yard sale" won't be good enough. "It's been in the family" won't be good enough. You'd have to be able to prove it somehow. It is really important to know what you are buying and to buy from trustworthy sources.
Maybe he had a Indian friend he bought it from not knowing it was from there...
At the very least, he'd lose it. There are some things that Native Americans can't sell -funerary stuff, for example. If they can't legally sell it, he can't legally own it.
If I have a friend from the rez and they give me some old artifact am I breaking the law or are they?
Possibly both. Your friend can sell things like pots that follow certain rules, and of course contemporary items are fine. But he can never sell certain things, including things like Eagle feathers. It is really important to know and follow the law in this area.
Do they find stifling FREEDOM more rewarding?
Guess I had better quit picking up those on the lake.
100 agents all concentrated in one space picking on a 91 year old man.....not a good tactical strategy for the agents. Just saying....a good target of opportunity for any cognizant Jihadist.
A well-organized gang of thieves moves in to loot her house.
I hope the FBI doesn’t find out about those arrowheads I found in a corn field.
I grew up in a county where spring plowing unearthed “artifacts” routinely. After the first decent rain they’d be just laying there on the ground, on all the bottomlands of even minor creeks. Motherlode alongside larger tributaries and the river. Arrowheads, spearheads, pottery shards, whole pottery, pipes. We picked them up, cleaned them up and kept them. A lot of people did and still do. My mom has several of those lamps with clear glass curio bases filled with them. There is no way that this is illegal. The land is privately held, the artifacts were gathered with permission. They would have been destroyed by the plows had they been left there. Stupidity abounds, if the Cherokee or Catawba were to want to collect these themselves no one would refuse them, most of us have at least some native ancestry ourselves. But to bring the force of the federal government down is just wrong. I suspect it isn’t the tribes doing this, it’s too anti-private property. It’s the usual suspects who want control.
I’d say he’s probably great-grandfathered in from any wrongdoing.
Take a look at the pix. There are two 35 foot trailers there. They have fully functional bathrooms.
Oh, OK. Didn’t know how the trailers are outfitted. I’ve never been in one.
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