Treasure Hunting

These are the kind of events that makes Metal Detecting a truly honorable hobby.

Black Mountain, Asheville, NC — A group of metal-detecting enthusiasts helped police find some stolen jewelry last week.

The jewelry was stolen in a string of home break-ins last month. Five town residents were arrested in the case. The Police Department approached the metal-detecting hobbyists and gave them the approximate location of where they thought the suspected criminals disposed of some items.

The treasure hunters did the rest of the work.

“They did a good job,” police Sgt. Rob Austin said.

Mike Post, a Swannanoa Valley resident and dealer for Minelab brand metal detectors, recruited members of the Blue Ridge Metal Detecting Club and posted a message on Treasurenet.com, a website for hobbyists. They converged on the site Aug. 5 at the end of Vance Avenue and Montreat’s In the Oaks campus, and began sweeping the area, Post said.

Another man out for a walk discovered some jewelry boxes after the searchers told him what they where looking for. They were able to use their metal detectors to uncover the jewelry hidden beneath the leaves and dirt.

“It doesn’t take long for this stuff to bury itself,” Post said. “It settles once it rains and the wind blows.”

Club members came from as far as Sylva, and one man who was traveling through the area from Illinois made a detour to attend after seeing the post on Treasurenet.com.

“It was a good idea,” Austin said. “It panned out.”

The jewelry is now being processed as evidence. Austin is reviewing descriptions from police reports filed immediately after the break-ins to match the jewelry with the owners.

He said the case underscores the need for homeowners to document their possessions with photographs and record the serial numbers of possessions. Having photos can help homeowners claim their stolen goods if they are recovered, and serial numbers can help law enforcement officials track items through nationwide databases.

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This time it looks like an anonymous donor hit The Salvation Army of Great Houston. Earlier today a Canadian gold coin, valued at around $930, was dropped into a red kettle station outside of a Sam’s Club store.

It was wrapped inside of paper with a tiny note which was also wrapped into a dollar bill. The note only said :A child is born. Jesus!”

From Channel 6 KFDM news:

“”We’ve all been wondering if we were going to receive any gold coins this year. Donations have been slow and we understand that people aren’t able to give as much as they have in the past, but this donation really lifts our spirits and brings the true joy of the holiday season to our Christmas,” says Carr.

Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, this year, The Salvation Army of Greater Houston has been aiming to reach some $2.5 million in donations to help fund its many year-round programs and services, which include disaster relief, emergency response, youth programs, senior programs, rehabilitation, financial assistance, counseling, housing and Christmas assistance. This task, however, has not been an easy one.

Red Kettle donations are down 16 percent; while mail campaign donations are registering decreases of 20 percent, in comparison to the same timeframe last year.

“Hopefully this donation will inspire others to give generously,” Carr concluded.’

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My post on Friday recognized the fact that one man’s trash may be another man’s treasure. But today I thought we should recognize all the trash that isn’t treasure, but still needs to be found, picked up, and properly disposed of.

Volunteers collected 6.6 tons of trash from Indian River County in Florida on July 19, 2008. The cleanup extended to inlet dives at Sebastian and Fort Pierce, conductd by Operation Blue Streak; and an offshore reef dive, conducted by Florida Oceanographic Society and the Port Salerno Commercial Fishing Dock Authority.

President of the marine association, Marty Laven, states “The effort was spectacular, everyone came away from the event feeling we really made a difference. We made a BIG difference.”

“Overall, 52 fishing nets were retrieved, along with miles of fishing line. Some of the more unusual items include 25 anchors retrieved from the Martin County reef dive, a foreign hand gun, a bag of marijuana, a tiki hut, a boat bow, a piñata, several home made toilets, a solar panel, a mattress and box spring, a Christmas tree, several bicycles, street signs and a kitchen sink. Also noted by several cleanup teams was quite a bit of hurricane debris, including insulation, mobile home pieces and window glass. They also reported finding chairs and buckets high up in the mangroves.”

This event is important for treasure hunters. Many of you may have heard of Sebastian Inlet - it’s home to Mel Fisher’s museum of Spanish Treasure finds. Imagine trying to wade through 6.6 tons of trash in hopes of finding one gold coin! A big thank you should go out to the folks who participating in this event.

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