Posted on 03/30/2012 9:29:55 AM PDT by thecodont
They weren't seeking sunken treasure, but that's what some sixth-graders from St. Paul's Episcopal School found Thursday submerged in a few feet of water in Oakland's Lake Merritt.
A student was scooping up trash with a long net from the shore near Grand and Harrison streets when she spotted two bags about the size of reusable grocery totes sitting in about 2 feet of water, said Richard Bailey, executive director of the Lake Merritt Institute.
The bags were heavy and she couldn't scoop them up, Bailey said, so he waded out in hip boots and pulled them to shore.
The canvas bags weighed about 15 pounds each and made a lot of clinking as they moved, Bailey said. The students, excited to see what sort of booty was inside, crowded around their find.
When they opened the bags, the group erupted in thrilled shrieks.
It was a real treasure: rings, necklaces, brooches, bracelets, candlesticks, coins, medallions and silverware filled each bag.
It was by far the most memorable discovery the group has made at the lake while helping to clean it as part of a weekly service learning and science project, school officials said. The school's sixth-grade students have worked at Lake Merritt once a week for about 15 years.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/03/29/BANQ1NSA1S.DTL#ixzz1qcONqTgK
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Ping.
Not ancient history but still interesting.
I jog around the lake frequently and often see kids with long nets removing trash from the water. I always thank them for helping to keep the lake clean.
It’s not treasure. It’s Oakland and dat tuff id tolen goots!
Sheesh.
He's lucky they didn't find pieces of a dismembered body.
I’d be willing to bet they found crime evidence.
Doh!!!
Ding, ding, ding!!!
Winuh!!!
LOL
Still can’t believe how stoopit them guys were/are.
Piedmont homes often have very good security systems. This may have been an inside job.
I can’t think of any group more deserving than a bunch of SF ‘enviro-nazi’ indoctrinated youth. /sarc
The kids doing this certainly deserve our thanks.
However I question this push for “service learning”. My son has a “service learning requirement” (an oxymoron) at his school. It is said to be essential for college application.
Why are kids being conditioned to provide free labor for the state?
Why is the work almost always menial (garbage collection)?
Why does the work typically involve some eco-component?
Why at the same time is paid employment at useful work so regulated and discouraged, such that a small business man would never want to employ teen workers?
Or am I just being an old coot, and should get along with the program?
I jog around the lake frequently and often see kids with long nets removing trash from the water. I always thank them for helping to keep the lake clean.
^^^
It would be great if we could give them permission to hang out by the lake and bonk the litterers over the head with their nets.
I have been astounded my whole life by littering. I just cannot understand how a person can drop stuff on the ground and not care what it befouls or who his inconvenienced or what animals could be harmed by it.
I used to thinkg to myself, “One of these days, I am probably going to get socked” as I would put on my innocent face and say, “Excuse me. You dropped something.” I have not been in such a situation in a long time because I am now living the country.
Another gripe of mine is people who unload their groceries and then just leave the cart in a parking space, especially when 5 steps would take them to the cart corral. I mentally give them a pass when I see that it’s an old person, who may have walking problems. But I have just as frequently seen young people do the same.
Still no Jimmy Hoffa.
Not sure, but there are probably a lot of youth groups that help clean the lake, some of which are entirely voluntary.
You'd think that they would have graduated by now. How many twenty-six-year-old sixth-graders do they have? They must really do poorly on tests and stuff. =/
The story came out of the SF Chronicle? Weird. It doesn’t seem to promote homosexuality at all. Unless the jewelry turns out to belong to some queen. Then they can follow up with a story about gays’ good taste in fashion accessories.
What are you talking about?
You can see my house from here.
Community labor is either voluntary or unionized government workers. Take your pick.
Why is the work almost always menial (garbage collection)?
Please list the alternative skills that these kids can perform.
Why does the work typically involve some eco-component?
If you are a Christian, how about Genesis 1:28? If not, I think teaching kids to care for land beats the hell out of teaching them to leave it alone. Then there's teaching them to despise the people who litter.
Why at the same time is paid employment at useful work so regulated and discouraged, such that a small business man would never want to employ teen workers?
To force small business (usually Republicans) out of business. That makes big business very happy. It's the Democrat way.
Or am I just being an old coot, and should get along with the program?
Neither. You're a bit paranoid in that you can't see the good along with what might be problematic.
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