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 ...
Most of Oakland is a garbage dump, just not as bad as Detroit yet.
Absolutely! But the guys who got to go were thrilled about it. I wouldn’t have allowed my sons to go, even if I could have afforded it. But the kids who were accepted to that program were thrilled about it. Conditions were primitive.
But, my point is that there were lots of things to do besides picking up garbage, not that there is anything wrong with that. My kids did that in Boy Scouts.
But, the Jesuit seniors helped at summer camps, sports teams, school testing, and I don’t remember what all else. That was in addition to their own part time jobs (for pay), athletic teams, home chores, etc. It was a good program.
About 31 or 32 years ago I worked 5
or 6 kids my sons age in the summer. this went on for 5 or 6
years. You could pick the ones that would do well business
wise very shortly. Regs & insurance made it to bothersome to
continue.
After the flood of 2008, I found a duffel bag hung up in our fence row. Felt like three musk melon in it. No blood running out, but when I opened it I found three very muddy Women’s heads.
Turned out to be beauticians practice dummies. They now are trophies on my mantle. A Blonde, a Brunette, and a Wild haired Redhead.
I’ve come to the conclusion that, out here in the boonies, a considerable fraction of the litter is stuff (beer cartons, feed bags, etc.) that blows out of the beds of pickup trucks...
Of course, that’s no excuse. Folks with pickups should secure their trash.
Wal-Mart used to use distinctive blue-green plastic bags. When it became obvious — just driving down the roads — that a lot of the litter was theirs, the switched to generic white. The problem didn’t improve — but they were no longer an obvious contributor...
Been a while since I’ve seen that many pocket watches in one place...
I’ll bet you had an “ULP!” moment when you first opened the bag, though. Cool trophies!
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