the Facilities director are working on an "official" County Policy
statement to permit letterboxing and geocaching - up to this point
there had been an informal agreement and a form that needed to be
filled out, but they wanted to formalize the policy and extend it to
all county properties. They are very interested in it and have
actually asked me to provide feedback to them when they send me the
draft. I am truly excited and glad that I took the approach of
getting permission before placing a box. I'll keep you updated.
aintnorock.
--- In letterbox-usa@yahoogroups.com, "aintnorock19"
wrote:
> Hi All-
>
> Okay, I'm a newbie. I've read a lot of posts on the lbna and lbma
> lists as well as this one, but I haven't seen a lot about this
> subject, and I'd like to get everyone's opinion:
>
>
> Should you get permission from the landowner (i.e., government
owned
> public lands) prior to placing a box?
>
> Or should you have a don't ask, don't tell philosophy.
>
>
> My gut feel says to ALWAYS get permission to do something like
this -
> without trying to be self-righteous about it, it just seems like
> the right thing to do. But the other half of my brain says why
> bother - you're not going to hurt anything, you're going to take
> care of the box, and only boxers are likely to find it, so what
> difference does it make whether some county commissioner or park
> superintendent knows and approves of what I'm doing.
>
> I live in Pennsylvania. The state Dept of Natural Resources has a
> policy ( http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/geocaching.aspx ) and my
County
> Parks also approve ( Chester County Permission for Boxes.doc in
lbna
> files list). But here in PA, we have townships, county roads,
> boroughs, cities, and who knows who else is interested. My wife
and
> I want to place some boxes around the county on public property
and
> know that they would be properly maintained, but feel responsible
> enough to ask first. I spent all afternoon yesterday preparing
> letters to officials seeking their policies: a township park, a
> privately owned, but publicaly accessible nature preserve, and to
a
> county commissioner asking just who should I ask to place a box
> around a covered bridge - don't know who's responsible for it, but
> the commissioner's name is on the plaque. These three are GREAT
> places for boxes, but I'm concerned that I'm not going to get
> permission. THEN what do I do? I don't just want to place boxes
in
> some of the same places others in my county have done, but I'm
> unsure whether they bothered to get permission or not.
>
> Hopefully, this will generate some debate. And if it's been
debated
> in length before, please don't flame me, I just haven't decided
> completely yet.
>
> thanks,
>
> aintnorock & angelsweetie.