Arcticabn

The Minnesota Geocaching Association is proud to announce the presales of the MnGCA Geocoin. The MnGCA Geocoin design concept was developed by a committee of organization members and voted upon by the membership at large. The Geocoin Committee is currently working with USCoin Force to render the concept in a final coin friendly art design. In the mean time we are opening up presales of the coin to the membership and to the geocaching community. So what do you need to know? The design of the coin is intended to reflect the organization and the Minnesota geocacher. The coin will be approximately 1.5 inches in diameter made of a shiny silver base and have enamel coloring. The front side of the coin will depict the Minnesota Geocachers Association logo (state outline, pine trees, and Geocache) and will include the tag lines of “Minnesota Geocaching Association” and the web address www.mngca.org. Each coin will be serialized on this side. The back side of the coin is intended for periodic redesign. The first edition coin will depict a winter woods scene and a set of foot prints leading off into the woods. The tag lines for this side are “No GPS Needed…” and “Just Follow the Tracks!” Cost: $7.00 per coin (includes shipping) Shipping: United States Postal Service (1st Class Mail) Insurance: Optional (Fixed Price Based Upon Quantity) 1-7 Coins - $1.30 7-14 Coins - $2.20 15-21 Coins - $3.20 Payment Methods: Paypal, Check, Money Order, Cash Serialization Policy: This policy was developed based upon guidance from the MnGCA board. 1. MnGCA members will receive first priority. 2. Buyers with Minnesota mailing addresses will receive second priority. 3. All other buyers. This policy applies to the first coin order by each buyer. Mass orders will receive one coin that complies with the above policy and the remainder of the order will be filed after all orders receive their first serialized coin. Timeline: The prepay period currently is set to run through the end of the year (December 31st). If the minimum order of 300 coins is achieved and the funds are received then the committee will place the order the first week of January 2006. It is expected that it will take 6 to 8 weeks for the coins to be struck and shipped to the Geocoin Committee. As soon as they are received and inventoried they will be shipped to you. Based upon this timeline we expect to ship by March 15, 2006. Those interested in purchasing a coin may follow the link below to the sales page. http://www.mngca.org/geocoin.php If you prefer to place your order by mail we will accept checks or money orders. Please down load the Minnesota Geocoin Order Form at the link below. http://webpages.charter.net/arcticabn/geoc..._Order_Form.pdf Thanks for your participation. Arcticabn (Geocoin Committee Chariman)

I'd like to make a couple of other points here. 1. The MnGCA is not a state organization. It does not represent all of the cachers in the state. Nor does it attempt to represent itself as such. There is no requirement for any individual to join either. 2. On the other hand those of us that do say we are part of MnGCA generally accept the decisions of the board that was elected by the members. 3. The members of the board are know to us not only by our Geocaching name but by their real names as well. Does it really supprise anyone that they don't want their full names posted on the internet. 4. The board does not nor has never attempted to govern any of it's members or any other cacher in the state. 5. The Minnesota Geocaching Association (MnGCA) was formed to provide a resource for area geocachers and to organize activities and events that will improve the credibility of the sport within the state and protect our natural resources. MnGCA members will provide education to new members if asked. They will provide opinions which may be as diverse as the culture because that is exactly how we are "diverse". 6. There are no membership dues, cards, letters or anythiing else that says you are a member. Litterly, all you have to do is say you are a member. Generally, those that participate either actively or pasively on the website and forums are considered members (in my opinion). Obviously, if we were selective about how and who then we wouldn't even have gone down this road of discussion. 7. The Minnesota Geocaching Association (MnGCA) is a group of Minnesota geocachers who are committed to promoting safe, responsible, and environmentally friendly geocaching. We welcome the involvement and cooperation of park management and government to work with us to develop this activity to benefit both geocachers and parks. The MnGCA also provides a way for people to come together to organize regional activities and events that will promote the credibility of the sport and bring families together in nature and technology. This does not mean that we will not place caches in challenging locations. Heck you could be walking in the woods on a 1/1 cache, have a heart attack and I would assume that the stress of walking in the woods would be considered a safety issue. 8. Yes there is a web page that provides guidance on caching in Minnesota parks. However, this is a resource page and the information posted is not the rules of MnGCA but rather those of the various park systems around the state and are provided as a resource to cachers. Bottomline is that this individual has riled up as many cachers here as he has on the MnGCA web site. And seems to be just as welcome here as he is on the MnGCA site. He appears to be more into instigating then to either understanding or caring. He attacks members of the board without even knowing who they really are or how well they may be respected by the community. They are board members for a reason. They didn't just say we are the board. They were elected. Oh and one last point. Silent Bob's position as the VP of the Board has nothing to do with him being an admin on the web site. The two have nothing to do with each other. EagleXplorer's thread was locked becasue as an admin SB didn't want the thread to deteriorate into a flaming contest by the members at large. He did the right thing.

All, Please take this individual with a very small grain of salt. I am not a member of the MnGCA board but am an active member of MnGCA and a very active Geocacher. Recently, we have had an individual join our local forum and start to spout off about how good he is, how good his hides will be and about how he intends to increase the quality of the sport. He has not been received well by the members of MnGCA. My guess is that this is the same individual. On MnGCA he goes by the handle "EagleXplorer". As I say I suspect that this is the same individual. I'll be seeing several of the board members today and will inform them of this thread and see if they want to make an official response. However, unofficially, I can say that what this individual is spouting is not the position of the MnGCA. Unfortunately, we can not keep individuals like this from posting, so I would suggest that the best thing we can do is to just ignore the PITA and maybe he/she will just go away. Thanks, Arcticabn, member MnGCA

lppd841, if you haven't already gotten the message, your messing with the wrong crowd. Since you are not a resident of Minnesota I don't even know why it is of concern to you who approves our caches. Don't you think that if the cachers of Minnesota and the members of the Minnesota Geocaching Association (MNGCA) had a problem with mtn-man that we would address it with GC.com and resolve our issues. I don't think that we need an outsider trying to tell us how to establish and maintain caches in this state. In looking at your profile it seems your more interested in placing caches then finding caches. If so that's fine with me. However, since we take cache maintence here pretty seriously, unless you can get a co-sponsor here in the future please refrain from placing caches here that you can't maintain. This is particularly important in those areas that are monitered by the DNR or local Commissions. We are very proactive here in trying to establish good relationships and the inability to maintain a cache doesn't help the cause. I don't need to defend mtn-man, he's a big boy and knows how to do that himself.

OK all, Yes I am a real person. And Yes I am from Minnesota. I've been commuting out here for at least one week a month for about a year now. This last trip was for 8 days and included a weekend. I am a defense contractor that is currently working on a Navy contract. AND YES I MONSTER CACHE. I usually work from 5a.m. to 3 p.m. and then get a couple of hours in before dark. This last weekend I started Saturday at 6a.m. and went North starting above the Torry Pines area up the coast over to La Costa and back South on the East side of 5 for 28 caches. On Sunday I started at 6 a.m. in the Jumal area and worked my way north to Santee. On the week days I try for about 10 caches after work. And yes I have a life, a wife and a family. They are just not here so I can be focused. By the way I am a retired Army paratrooper (Arctic Airborne). So I deal with the pain and the heat and just Drive On. The secret to the numbers is a good game plan and route planning. I did my homework before arriving here and had the 8 days preplanned. I use GPS visualizer to provide me the overall maps. My only draw back is because I don't know the hills or have a caching partner here I won't venture to far up or out into the back country. It's just something I won't do by myself. I'll keep an eye on the thread and let you all know when I'm going to be back next time. Maybe we can get together for a friendly hunt and a beer. Arctic