Posted on 02/23/2009 4:38:30 PM PST by Joiseydude
WASHINGTON – A land management bill that swept through the U.S. Senate last month and is headed for a House vote this week punishes rock collectors and paleontologists with arrest and expropriation of their cars and other equipment for even unknowingly disturbing fossils on public land, say critics.
In the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009, a "forfeiture" provision would let the government confiscate "all vehicles and equipment of any person" who digs up or removes a rock or a bone from federal land that meets the bill's broad definition of "paleontological resource," says a report by Jon Berlau of the Competitive Enterprise Institute.
(Excerpt) Read more at wnd.com ...
Sheesh... I hate that. S/b "... and it would be more accurate."
Well then, I am totally screwed then ... way too many times than I care to imagine have my skis and associated footwear (boots, bindings, etc) picked up little pieces of 'whatever' from *government* ski areas Belleayre, Gore, and Whiteface mountains ... GEEZ, one of thems little pieces of 'whatever' might have been some fossilized remains which hold the clue to the Universe as a whole, and here I am riding around with them for years on the floor of my SUV .... Totally SCREWED!
/sarc off
If these rocks are so valuable, can I just go ahead and pay my taxes using rocks that I have on my own land? That’s fair, right? Then the govt can replenish its collection that it appears to be so worried about.
Gardeners beware. Only the rich will be able to afford the permits, but the rich will be eating out anyway. Those spring tulips? Proof that you are an evil... digger.
What’s the penalty for hunting the Kings deer
You can pretty much drop all but the first two.
Sounds reasonable.
“What’s the penalty for hunting the Kings deer”
Exactly.
You will be informed of the penalty when you get caught.
SEC. 6306. PROHIBITED ACTS; CRIMINAL PENALTIES.
(a) In General- A person may not--
(1) excavate, remove, damage, or otherwise alter or deface or attempt to excavate, remove, damage, or otherwise alter or deface any paleontological resources located on Federal land unless such activity is conducted in accordance with this subtitle;
(2) exchange, transport, export, receive, or offer to exchange, transport, export, or receive any paleontological resource if the person knew or should have known such resource to have been excavated or removed from Federal land in violation of any provisions, rule, regulation, law, ordinance, or permit in effect under Federal law, including this subtitle; or
(3) sell or purchase or offer to sell or purchase any paleontological resource if the person knew or should have known such resource to have been excavated, removed, sold, purchased, exchanged, transported, or received from Federal land.
:
SEC. 6308. REWARDS AND FORFEITURE.
(a) Rewards- The Secretary may pay from penalties collected under section 6306 or 6307 or from appropriated funds...
Anyone who has an arrowhead or fossil collection at home had better carefully document the dates they collected or purchased whatever they have.
Anyone who has an arrowhead or fossil collection had better not ever show it to their liberal friends or anyone else who may turn them in for the reward.
Pick up a rock and they confiscate your car.
Pick up a hooker and they confiscate your car.
Drive to fast and they confiscate your car.
Get caught with a joint in your car and they confiscate your car.
I believe that we have a trend starting here.
I’m gonna enjoy the next revolution. (gonna was deliberately mispelt.)
Coming soon to a backyard near you.
For a good review of the problem, read Tony Hilerman’s Thief of Time. It is a great murder mystery in which Lt Joe Leaphorn and his sidekick Jim Chee of the Navajo Tribal Police chase pot thieves and archeologists from Chaco Canyon to Bluff Utah and the Smithsonian.
I wonder if the politicans are gonna start raising our taxes even more to afford putting little tiny tags on the rocks..kinda like those on pillows and mattresses.
I figured this was coming. Have they repealed the 1872 mining laws yet?
As an old miner, I’ve clashed with the Feds more than once over “guvmint rocks”.
The Forest Service even set their chief drug enforcement agent on my tail for nearly a year. I guess ‘government rocks’ (off of legally staked mining claims) are more important than the marijuana plantations and illegal aliens with AK47s guarding them in the national forests.
After the Feds lost their case, my lawyer said I’d better give up the claims anyway, for my own safety, because the guy was literally hoping for the opportunity to shoot me.
And this was during the G.H.W.Bush years. I can only imagine an 0bama minion in charge of guarding those irreplaceable government rocks.
During my navy days we stopped ship and took our workboats in to Fort Jefferson for a day on the beach. Excellent place!
I remember pulling a this huge starfish about 14 inches round and 5 or 6 inches thick from the moat around the fort. It was a doosy. I got jumped on pretty bad for disturbing it.
This law will double cover reservations. We all be guilty then just for living among ancient ruins and picking up rocks for slingshots.
Not to mention the nasty sting from the Starfish!
You’ll be breaking the law every time your drive on federal property now and get a piece of gravel embedded between your tire treads.
Um, starfish do not sting, jellyfish do.
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