lostinjersey

I stole this from another group to which I subscribe. I thought fellow NJians might share a concern and want to drop the commision a letter... The deadline for comment submission to the Pinelands Commission has been extended by about two months. Apparently the builders are strongly opposed to this proposed amendment. Public comments in support of the amendment are more important than ever! Support is also necessary for adding all endangered species on the state list to the list of the 54 protected species on the current list of the CMP. Hopefully we can encourage the environmental sector to overwhelm the Pineland Commission with letters supporting both of these amendments pleas write to: Pinelands CommissionPinelands Commission PO Box 7 15 Springfield Road New Lisbon, New Jersey 08064 Sample letter************************* It is my belief that the natural resources of the 4,100 acres of land within the Oyster Creek and Waretown Creek Watersheds warrant a more protective management designation. I urge you to adopt the proposed amendment to change the design of these two areas from a Rural Development Area designation to a Forest Area designation. Recent studies of the Oyster Creek and Waretown Creek watersheds and their branches have shown this area to be of much greater ecological significance than previously estimated. Studies by Dr. Alfred E. Schuyler and Ted Gordon for the Academy of Natural Sciences, after extensive field study and surveys in these watersheds, have conclude that "these areas harbor pristine habitats rich in rare and endangered species. It is clear that the ecological significance of this region initially was underestimated by the Pinelands Commission due to a lack of knowledge of the area" (Gordon). If allowed to be developed under the Rural Development Area designation, this area stands to lose many of the rare species, both flora and fauna, that make our Pines such an ecological treasure. I also urge you to add all of the endangered species on the state list to the list of the 54 species that are currently protected under the Comprehensive Management Plan.

http://www.state.nj.us/dep/seeds/litw.htm The New Jersey State Park Service offers an informative program for young students (grades 1 - 4) that focuses on what to do if lost in the woods. The content highlights nine simple tips to help a child if they are separated from their family, class or friends while camping, hiking or recreating in a woodlands area. This program was developed by British Colombia Search and Rescue and is based on materials from the book Lost in the Woods by Colleen Politano. an ad I saw in the paper said its for kids 6-10 the website says 7-10. feh. its being run 1/23 at chesequake state park at 1pm and theres no charge.

perhaps you should also search for "Nigh" as well, eh? //grin

several dead bodies have turned up in the Palisades near the NY/NJ border over the past few years, though I think some washed ashore as opposed to being dumped in the woods. Also a gentlemen died there a week ro two ago after crossing a fence barrier and playing on the rocks and then falling to his death. one must always exercise caution. this may be a sport, but real life can stick its nasty head back in any time it wants, be it heart attacks, slipping and falling or meeting maniacs in the woods.

I agree. if you give them a dedicated area where they can have their fun, then *hopefully* it will confine the activity to a specific area which can be managed, as opposed to folks doing it illegally wherever they want, and making it much ahrder to control. I believe NJ is one of the few states that doesn't have a place where 4x4s can legally go and have their fun. ergo, we get lots of places needlessly torn up. attempts to open up the old Jungle Habitat for just such a use were shot down a year ago. Extreme Habitat I think they called it. Would've been perfect use for an unused parcel of property, and generated tax revenues for the town &/or the state as well. as unusual, NIMBY defeated it.

why couldn't they implement a search function (either as a search or as a PQ) that does a radius along a straight line. you enter coordinates 1, then 2, and ask it for all caches within 10 miles of that direct line. granted it won't follow the twists and turns of a highway, but if there arent *that* many twists and turns you could maybe do 2 or 3 legs, cooresponding to each major turn in the road. I'm not inclined to actually map this out but lets say I'm headed to Mohegun sun in CT, I could plot a point in NY at the point where 287 crosses into ny and end it at the point where I'd exit 95 and head north on 395. then do a 2nd search from that point north to the casino. it might need some tweeking, but you could always widen the search to maybe 20 miles. you'd obviously want to seriously narrow the caches, say maybe only difficulties up to 2 or above 4 (depending on what your prerence is) as well as some other factors too to avoid a result of several hundred caches.

happy holidaze to all of you out there in the caching community. I'd like to add a little more then jsut the typical warm thoughts though... I got a christmas card from my cousin, Stephanie. Her husband Anthony has had a rough 6 months. He's been working as a concretetruck driver, and someone wasn't paying attention and the chute swung unexpectedly, hitting in the head giving him a concusion (and, predictably, covering him in concrete mix). The head injury has been slow to recover from, but at the hospital they discovered a tumor in his belly which they removed with a 95% chance of complete recovery. But he hasn;t exactly been in too good spirits. So I get this card with an old fashioned Santa on the front. Inside the text reads: "things are tough, times are hard, here's your s***ting christmas card!" Now that was amusing, but inside was something printed out (probably from an email or from the net) which kinda put everything in perspective. Reprinted here, feel free to cut/paste it if you see fit. I'm not sure about the percentages being 100% accurate but I think the general point remains valid. Have a Happy and healthy Holidaze, I wish you all well. ********************************************************* If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish somewhere.. ...you are among the top 8% of the world's wealthy. If you woke up this morning with more health then illness... ...you are more blessed then the million who will die this week. If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the lonliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation... ...you are ahead of the other 500 million people in the world who live with that every day. If you can attend a church without fear of harassment, arrest, torture or death... ...you are more blessed then the 3 billion people in the world who can't. If you parents are alive and still married... ...you are more blessed the most people, even in the US If you can hold up your head with a smile on your face are truly thankful... ...you are blessed because the majority can, but most do not. If you can hold someone's hand, hug them or even touch them on the shoulder.... ...you are blessed because you can offer a healing touch If you can read this message, you just received a double blessing because someone was thinking of you, and furhtermore there are 2 billion in the world who could not reade this Always remember to count your blessing and realize that there are always people who in worse situations then you. Be thankful for what you have and do not dwell on that which you do not have.

from the bergen record, following several weeks of artivcles about complaints by the RMP and others about paint iand sludge in their backyards... figured yaw'lld wanna know. also I'm wondering if any micros are in the affected area... ********************************************** The state moved Friday to close a Ringwood State Park hiking trail where recent soil and water samples show dangerous amounts of toxins, 10 years after the Ford Motor Co. supposedly cleaned out industrial waste it had dumped in the former mining area. "We will likely be posting trail closure signs in the coming days," said Bradley M. Campbell, the head of the state Department of Environmental Protection. Based on the latest testing of property declared clean by the federal Environmental Protection Agency in 1994, he said, "It is now very clear that Ford and the EPA missed a significant area of contamination during the first cleanup. As for how large that area is, we will find out." The trail is at the end of Peters Mine Road, near where about 500 members of the Ramapough Mountain Indian community reside. For years, they have complained of ailments they believe are caused by toxins. Those ailments include abnormally high cancer rates, skin rashes, asthma and neurological problems among their children. Government investigations are under way into both the health problems and the extent of remaining pollution, but no formal link has been established between the two. Much of the leftover waste lies outside the park. But the latest investigation found toxins a quarter of a mile into a part of the parkland that the state acquired after Ford dumped the material there between 1967 and 1974. A set of soil and water samples taken in the state park by a non-profit group, Edison Wetlands Associates, and released Thursday found lead readings nearly 100 times greater than levels considered safe. Arsenic readings were also well above safe levels, and a trace of cancer-causing PCBs was found in the bank of a stream that feeds into the Wanaque Reservoir about a mile away. Campbell spoke with staff at the Wanaque Reservoir on Friday and was assured that the water quality faced no immediate threat. In the past, trace amounts of PCBs have shown up in stream samples by staff of the reservoir, which supplies drinking water to 2 million people. Those levels have not been considered dangerous. However, officials are concerned that unless the site is clean, toxins could eventually migrate downstream and foul the water. Ford, already facing EPA mandates for a renewed cleanup, has said that it would comply with all government edicts. Campbell said that he would "order" the company to undertake another cleanup if that proved necessary. "Currently, we are looking to see whether we will need to take direct action," Campbell said. The hiking trail was deserted Friday afternoon, except for two patrolling rangers from the state Division of Parks and Forestry. No signs were yet posted to keep out or advising residents that there was any danger. Residents who live near the entrance to the park say the trail hasn't been used much, probably because Peters Mine Road is fairly desolate. People live in old houses and close to the land - with chickens and stray dogs running about freely. Junk is strewn about inside the park - old furniture, beer bottles and other items. One resident of Peters Mine Road who would identify himself only as Jack recalled the days in the late 1960s when Ford dumped tons of paint in the field just across the street from his house. That field is overgrown with brush, but Jack wondered just how much toxin remains in the soil. "There were days when they were dumping so much paint that you couldn't breathe," he said. "People complained, but nothing was done about it." Jack is 45 years old and says he has had three strokes. He said his sister, who grew up on Peters Mine Road, died of cancer when she was 14. Now his grandson lives in the house with him, and the boy, he said, has asthma and a constant rash.

interesting stuff. in the late summer I began getting emails about this spot in ALpine on 9W just 1/4 mile south of the NY border. All the emails stated there was evidence of satanic rituals there, they had gone there at night and seen hooded figures, etc etc. I thought it was all bs, but the emails were very detailed. went up there, and sure nuff, I found the evidence. You can see pics, and read the discussions here The story kept getting weirder and weirder as a gate went up, which was then smashed down (and I mean **smashed**, see the pics). Lately its been fairly quiet though... this is all south of Harriman not too far off.... strange stuff. wish there were pics of what you found, but then again, maybe Iits better that there aren't.

I agree. Keep personal agendas out of caches. That and religious stuff as well as those "hate group" literature. OK, I'm a newbie. This is my first post and I'll probably get flamed for it but here goes ... In a land that places premium value on freedom of speech and expression how can religious and/or political materials be the WORST thing someone has found in a cache? Maybe they've just had the good fortune of finding great stuff in all their caches. Simple really. this is about sport. it is not a forum (well this is a forum, but the caches are not) for advancing personal beliefs, ideals, POV, agendas etc. Its the same reason why there arent any commercial caches (or at least they try not to allow them). Newspaper letters to the editor is an appropriate place to be preached to do that, and I say that not meaning just religion, but in reference to politics, and any other agendas. If I knew that every cache was going to contain pamphlets like "10 reasons to vote for G W" or "Christians are going to heaven and here's why" I wouldn't bother caching. I want to avoid that stuff. And I am sure that "10 reasons why the war in iraq is wrong" or "there is no god, and here's how I know" would be just as offensive to others...

I hear Avroair has been dumping his supply of glow in the dark aliens, sometimes filling ammo canisters full with them. That's what you get when you can't tell the difference between 10 *dozen* and 10 *gross*.

but a bomber could place a bomb in any geocache container placed. anywhere. I guess you think we'd better stop caching then?

Reading this thread I got to thinking and wonder if my idea would be a good one to be adopted as part of the rules... essentially it has to do with caches that are approved by the police/park ranger/state trooper/land management/etc. Apparently this ammo canister was placed near a police station in the woods with permission. Someone saw it, got suspicious, the bomb squad was called in, the person who apporved its placement wasnt consulted and so they blew the thing up. My suggestion wasn that if a cache is placed in a sensitive area with approval, it should be stated on the exterior *who* approved it. In this way if anyone gets suspicious, they know who to contact *before* removing it or blowing it up. THis could be down by paitning the words on the side of the ammo canister, or simply written on paper and covered by clear plastic tape wrapped around the container to preserve it. "approved by park rangers" how hard could this be? and this would save everyone a lot of headaches.

I disagree only because they had permission. I mean, if thyey say its ok, you're to assume its cool, right? If they didn't have permission, I would absolutely agree. I think in the future any such hides should have some sort of something on the *outside* stating: placed with permission of the Park ranger/state police/local police/whomever. In this way anyone suspicious knows who to contact in case any concerns come up. What I found interesting is this part of the first article... Squad members X-rayed the box and saw it contained electronic components, so they put charges in it and blew it up They put charges *in* it, meaning they iopened the container, then blew it up. Now this could simply be poorly worded by the writer, but if that really is what happened, then I gotta ask wtf is wrong with them? they could (or should) have seen that it was a dvd, a stuffed animal, camera, etc, so why blow it up then? I'm really hoping thats bad wording and not what happened, because that then raises the level of incompetance to new levels. In all fairness to the police chief (or whoever it was that approved it), with all things cops have to remember and worry about, its not inconveivable that word of something so trivial might not filter down to (or be remembered by) all members of the dept.

handled very nicely by both sides.

We had 5 of us at the I organized for yesterdaypaintball event, which was immediately followed by the Spaghetti Western free for all geocaching event. Both went well. One of the reasons that ABC paintball in West Milford was chosen was its good location for most of the attendees and their reasonable prices. I wanted to extend an invitation to any of you pb fans to join me at Skirmish on December 11th in Jim Thorpe, PA. It will be half price paint day, making it just a little more reasonably priced then normal. Prices are 29.95 including playing, gun and mask. ($27 if we get at least 20 people) camo rentals are extra. Paint will be $50 per case that day, and the average person were use about half that. Reserations (and payment) are required in advance. 1-800 SKIRMISH. Tell them you're with William Angus's party. Afterwards, theres a decent looking bar/tavern down the road about 5 mins ride. We can eat there afterwards. The fields are located about 40 mins w if the DE Water Gap, Route 80W to exit 284, then s onto 515, and then west (or is that south also) onto 903 and its about 10 mins down the road. It is an all day event starting around 930 and you get back around 430. You eat lunch on the fields, either buying burgers and fries or bringing your own. the food is good and reasonably priced but I usually stop at the wawa which is N on 515 about 2 minutes off of 80. Everything you need and its oh so good.

thanks to everyone who came to both the event and the paintball. for those who wanted to attend the pb but couldn't make it, please check out a new thread I just made about another pb date I'm working on.

final calll! final call! see you around 845-9ish at PB, and the rest of you around 530 ) or later) at the geocaching event!

any final takers? I'm gonna contact the restaurant & PB place tomorrow with some possible #s of those participating.

probably already said somewhere, but my absolute favvvvvorite is a clue that tells you where the parking (or trail head) is but dont say a word about the cache. I'm sorry, but I generally decode when I'm AT THE CACHE SITE! not in the parking lot of a diner wondering "where, oh where is the correct place to park". Although I will admit that giving clues as to the best place to park isnt a bad idea per se. Sometimes its downright helpful. but for godssake, put in it the words [parking] and [cache] PLEASE!

I dont count. I just wait till i think I've waited long enough. That doesn't mean I wait till I think its 30 seconds mind you. If I waited 10 seconds and felt "thats long enough", then i click. if I wait 30 seconds and then I feel "thats long enough", then i click.

I can't help but wonder if this is tied to Brian's planned Louisville Slugger cache? i heard TPTB benched that cache so we never got a chance to see it.

Harrald I need one case please.

Nelson Muntz: Ha-HA! Lisa S: That's terrible! He got hurt! Nelson Muntz: Well I *said* ha-HA! *rolls eyes*

Event was approved