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Thread: Conway Bomb Squad makes another find

  1. #31
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Location
    Little Rock
    Posts
    156
    I have been reading about the problems in Conway but just haven’t had time to post my thoughts on the situation. I have worried for awhile about potential conflicts between geo caching and police and fire officials. Let’s face it. When we are out looking for geo caches especially in an urban setting we just look suspicious. The police are trained to look for suspicious people. The same thing goes for bomb squads. They are trained to look for suspicious packages and we’re out there putting them out. After General Lee and the Sherwood fiasco a couple of years back I really became paranoid every time I saw a policeman while I was out geo caching. Summer before last my wife kids and I were on our way back from Colorado and we stopped for the night in Annie Oakley Kansas. The next morning while the kids were still asleep my wife and I got up early to do a little geo caching before we headed out for the day. There was a cache located by an old filling station that had been turned into a community center. As I pulled around the building I noticed a police car about a block down the street and since I knew he would be able to see me as I looked for the cache I decided to skip it and come back later. After picking up a cache at the local high school we came back and there were no police cars in sight so I got out and started hunting for the cache container. After a couple of minutes here comes the police car. I walked over to the officer and said “I hope you know what geo caching is”. He smiled at me and said, “Well I didn’t until about a year ago when I drove by this place about 3 in the morning and found somebody snooping around the building”. “I had him spread eagle up against the police car with his hands on top of his head as he tried to tell me all about geo caching.” Now that I know about it when I see someone walking around this building I know exactly why they are there. I am glad to see the Conway officials willing to work to keep geo caching alive and going in Conway. I think that each of us need to make a visit to the local fire house and police station to make sure they are aware of geo caching also. The nature of the game has you sneaking around trying to look inconspicuous for fear of muggles. When it comes to our local authorities I think education is the key and they need to know all they can about how we play the game so what we do doesn’t interfere with their duties and responsibilities.

  2. #32
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Location
    Fort Smith, AR
    Posts
    846
    I wonder if any of the people in charge of the bomb squad are using iPhones and if they are if we could donate the Geocaching App to them. I would be willing to donate a few to the local Supervisors so when they get to a location the can pull the app up and see if it really is a cache. The Geocaching app is UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!!
    If your not living life on the edge your taking up too much space!!!!!!


  3. #33
    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Location
    Russellville
    Posts
    1,117
    Did the meeting of the Conway cachers take place last night? Or was it cancelled due to weather? I had hoped to attend, but I decided against it because of the poor weather. It would be helpful if a summary of the information presented at the meeting could be posted here.
    "Wildness is a necessity." -- John Muir

    "I would rather wake up in the middle of nowhere than in any city on earth." -- Steve McQueen


  4. #34
    Guest
    The meeting did take place, but much more informal than we had hoped. Due to the weather, we told the Fire chief and bomb squad guys that we would schedule another meeting soon and not to worry about coming last night. We did have 6 cachers turn out to attend, and some had their families with them.

    BSA534 had a good presentation about what we have talked about with the agencies involved. There was also some very good discussions about Conway area geocachers watching the area for caches we feel are questionable or might cause a problem.

    I think that we plan on another event/meeting to talk about it more in depth and have the various agencies involved with that meeting. We will keep it posted and let everyone know.

    This is a very short listing about what happened, so if anyone else was there and wants to add to this or correct me on something please do so.

  5. #35
    theCLB Guest
    blowing up stuff = job security for bomb squad


  6. #36
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Location
    Jacksonville, Ar.
    Posts
    911
    After the Board meeting Friday night, I had the opportunity to do a little caching in Conway with topkitty98. She had not found the caches at Walmart and wanted to get those off her list. We found the first one quickly and headed to the second. As she was signing the log, one of Conway's finest pulled in beside of us. He asked if everything was okay and we told him that we were geocaching. He acknowledged that he was familiar with it, but had not tried it himself. He showed us the computer in his unit and the GPS software he had loaded. He was very friendly and seemed genuinely interested in geocaching. He finally wished us well and left us to our task.

    This encounter speaks volumes for the great job that the local cachers have done in taking a bad situation and turning it around for a positive outcome. It is great to see that caching is still alive and well in Conway and my hat is off to all the local cachers for a job well done.

  7. #37
    astrodav Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by Dentful1
    This all sounds like a bunch of Iraqi War vets that formed a Bomb Squad. They realized that they need to blow up stuff to satisfy their urges and decided to pick on cache containers. I recommend they go back to Iraq where the real danger is, cause I know it ain't in Arkansas.
    Don't think that was entirely necessary or appropriate. Some of us ARE vets & our "urges" are the same as any other persons, & do not include the "need to blow up stuff".

  8. #38
    Dentful1 Guest
    Astrodav.....I hope you read all of this forum thread. It seems that you are new to this sport or at least this website. If you knew the trouble that some of the cachers were going through on placement of caches, included in this thread, you would understand why some of us would say such things. I happen to have a friend (former, no longer) who is an Iraqi Vet. He told some of us back here at home that we all owe him more than a handshake, a hug and a pat on the back for what he has done in the war. He signed up for the Army even though we had a war 8 years in the making and not leaving anytime soon. I told him with that attitude I don't owe him jack chit and that he volunteered for it. That conversation took place the same time this thread was going on and many of us cachers were hot under the collar about what was going on in Conway. I guess the timing of the "vet" coming home and saying what he did and the timing of this thread was not good timing thus what I said was a bit of venting. I suppose I should have not have pinpointed any group of individuals and just said "a bunch of guys needing work."

    On a bit of a side note/suggestion......you might want to consider meeting some of us and find out who we really are and see how we love to cache and have fun and that we are a big ole family before you bust somebodies chops like you just did. Perhaps a private message would have been sufficient.

  9. #39
    LuckyoneinAR Guest
    Astrodav,

    Thank you for your service to our country. I feel we are living in a blessed country where there are some who are willing to step up and serve our country in such a courageous manner and defend the rights of all - regardless of who they are or what they think. It is because of those efforts that we enjoy the freedoms that we now have.

    LuckyoneinAR

  10. #40
    chadbishop Guest
    what freedoms? liberty has been eroded to such a point that i can only buy half a box of sudafed at a time, or let my son lay his head in my wifes lap while driving down the road, or smoke a cigarette. ill give you defending our freedoms in ww1 and 2, but iraq and afghanistan? even if whats going on over there is making us safer, life is not the same as freedom. many people live while enslaved, and most men who fight for freedom die. google freedom and death and youll see what i mean. try not to confuse liberty and life. i have to agree with dentful1, theres people in the service who are worthy of appreciation, theres also people who expect it. dont assume by what i just said that i feel one way or another about gun control, obama, bush, the war, the troops or government, its me putting things into perspective.

    ive known no one to ever die from terrorism, i dont even know anyone who knows anyone. yet, everyone is afraid they will die from it. how many times have you heard of razor blades in apples on halloween? every year? check snopes, its never happened.

    i dont mean to offend anyone, but people always get offended. maybe what dentful said wasnt entirely right, but it wasnt all wrong either. i got pulled over the other night at 3am, driving to the store to conquer a sunkist craving. the cop clearly told me he was looking for bad guys and i wasnt one, yet, he insisted on searching my vehicle.

    blowing up an ammo can with water or with a robot isnt keeping anyone safe. its time to start telling people worrying about bombs and terrorists and al qaeda that they are going to die, but not from terrorism. more than likely from heart disease because the outdoor activity they wanted to do was prevented by people not having at least a resonable doubt. dont assume by what i just said i feel any way about conway, its citizens, law enforcement or kris allen, its just me making a statement.

    another thing, about following protocol. i hear this alot lately. i heard it when the cop wouldnt transport the woman in memphis to the hospital so she died on the side of the road. i can name several instances when following protocol has caused more harm than good. i thought the whole point of us being human was that we could use better judgement. following protocol is a better way for an employer to say they didnt have faith the person could make a reasonably good choice.

    again, im not trying to upset anyone. every muggle i tell about geocaching responds with, "how do you know theres not a bomb in it". to the point i have a canned response for it. i learned in school that my civil rights extended pretty far as long as they didnt infringe anyone elses civil rights. i dont think someone else having an unreasonable fear is included in that. before someone else brings up timothy mcveigh, less than 200 people were killed because of that terrible atrocity, almost 15 years ago and an estimated 15k a year die from homicide. 225,000 to 168 odds that will be shot by a murderer on the way to the ammo can bomb we are about to open that was rigged by a domestic terrorist. dont assume i support or condone any actions such as these, that i watch whale wars, that i buy sea sheperd geocoins or that i intended to start a flame war.

    im a paid actor and all of this was said while in character, but hopefully its something to think about.

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