Please help protect our rights to prospect!

[faaus]

I'm posting this in several forums. Please help if you can. Your state might be NEXT:

I'm sure that many of you know a group of prospectors from Indiana and Illinois and Wisconsin were recently cited by the DNR for prospecting in an open stretch of Indiana river. Two of them was only panning! The officer chose to cite these prospectors for offenses to regulations which clearly were written to limit large-scale removal of material (sand and gravel) from the rivers, without a permit. The case is scheduled for next month, so there isn't much time to prepare a defense.

I have dredged in that area of the state several times, and each time removed a good bit of lead, metal and glass trash in conjunction with the trip. I'm certain most of you do your share of “ good housekeeping” too. This beneficial service, as well as tourism dollars and many other good things derive from our activities, but are not realized by most folks outside our circle.

Chuck Lassiter (http://www.midwestprospector,com) is one of those cited and he needs our help to win this legal decision. The outcome will affect Indiana prospecting, and may well affect other areas. Chuck has engaged an attorney and is attempting to educate the DNR (and the public) on the unfairness of outlawing river prospecting.

Most of us contribute freely and donate items to protect our rights as prospectors. Well, in this case these folks are facing fines of from $25-$1000 each. A bigger issue is at stake though. We need to convince the (Indiana) DNR to recognize the worth and value of dredging and get them to render a decision that excludes our activities from the present statute.

I hope that you will join me in lending your support to Chuck and the others who were cited. More importantly, you will be defending everyone's right to river prospecting.

Please send donations and other assistance to Chuck at http://www.midwestprospector.com

Thanks,
faaus