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Old lady called police on me!


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I was doing a cache today that's around the center of a town and its final stage ends in a small park... the park is a grass field with a rock wall down the middle of it and one park bench right in the middle. At the edge of the park is one old house and its impossible to hide from the view of that house's windows. The rest of the park has a road that curves around it and cars driving by within view.

 

Anyway, I spent about 5 minutes looking for the cache. It was inside the wall (not my choice... I'd never place a cache inside a wall in a public place). I didn't have to move anything except the rock that was in front of the cache. The rest of my searching was just gazing at the wall around a 30 foot long section of it... its hard to be inconspicuous when there's nowhere to hide and you have to crouch down to peer into wall holes. I found the cache, sat down on the bench, signed the log, then quickly put it back and left.

 

Just as I exit the park's premises, a police car pulls up in a hurry, sirens on and lights flashing. I was far enough away that he didn't notice me, and I stood at a distance behind something and watched. An old moonbat rushes out of the house, all frantic and panicked, and was busy pointing out to the officer the park bench that I was around. I couldn't hear her actual words but I could tell by her behavior that she was acting as if someone was just shot in the park and then dragged away. Seeing a man in a park for 5 minutes was probably more excitement than she's seen in a long time! I can tell the type... they have NOTHING to do and just sit there in their house peering out the windows ALL DAY LONG just waiting for SOMETHING to happen. And then they call the police first excuse they get.

 

Seeing that my presence was now unknown, I wasn't about to walk over there and explain what's going on. I know what would have happened... the nasty old lady would have pointed and yelled "That's him!! Get him!" and next thing you know it'd be "FREEZE! On the ground or I shoot!" People like that lie, so the officer would probably believe I'm a threat based on all the frantic story telling from the old lady. I'm just doing a hobby and I really don't need that kind of problem. I'm still expecting the police to arrive at my house and bang on the door any minute now. I'm worried and I didn't do anything wrong!

 

I said what happened in the cache log and flagged it as "needs archiving". I don't think a cache should be by the house of someone like this. I hope that was the right thing to do.

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I said what happened in the cache log and flagged it as "needs archiving". I don't think a cache should be by the house of someone like this. I hope that was the right thing to do.

 

Most certainly post a note. I wouldn't post an SBA unless mine was one of several such occurances there.

 

BTW- Were you thinkin' about Gladys Cravits from Bewitched? That's who I pictured reading your post. I know the type.

Edited by Snoogans
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The cache has been there for 2+ years without any reported problems. Maybe she is just curious about the parade of people that visit the same spot pulling out a rock as they go. I think you may have over-reacted.

 

You were not doing anything wrong and as such shouldn't be afraid to talk to the police. You cannot even be certain that the police were called as a result of your visit.

 

I would have talked to the cop and explained the situation and Geocaching - that way future visitors would be more confident. That is just me though.

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BTW- Were you thinkin' about Gladys Cravits from Bewitched? That's who I pictured reading your post. I know the type.

 

I wasn't familiar with the reference, but I just looked it up and I see a close resemblance.

 

And I wasn't about to walk over the to officer. I routinely carry pepper spray (never know when you'll get a dog attack while geocaching in the woods), and police can get REALLY excited about finding that on you even though I have it legally.

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With over 100 visitors to the cache in the last 2 years and this is the first time anyone has reported this situation, I think it will be ok. Perhaps she has been noticing people visiting the same location over the past few weeks or months and saw something on TV to make her suspicious. The SBA is probably too much in this case, but at least the cache owner will know what happened so he or she can decide what to do from here.

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You were not doing anything wrong and as such shouldn't be afraid to talk to the police. You cannot even be certain that the police were called as a result of your visit.

 

No it was definitely because I was there. There was no one around anywhere, no one going for walks, no one doing anything except driving by. The park is just a big field with a wall and bench, and its even nearly devoid of trees.

 

If someone's curious about a parade of people coming and going from there (not much of a parade... one group every few weeks), perhaps they should try walking up to the people and asking! I don't go call the police unless I have a good reason.

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You were not doing anything wrong and as such shouldn't be afraid to talk to the police. You cannot even be certain that the police were called as a result of your visit.

 

No it was definitely because I was there. There was no one around anywhere, no one going for walks, no one doing anything except driving by. The park is just a big field with a wall and bench, and its even nearly devoid of trees.

 

If someone's curious about a parade of people coming and going from there (not much of a parade... one group every few weeks), perhaps they should try walking up to the people and asking! I don't go call the police unless I have a good reason.

But you didn't hear the conversation at all. It seems likely that the call involved your visit but you just can't be certain.

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The cache has been there for 2+ years without any reported problems. Maybe she is just curious about the parade of people that visit the same spot pulling out a rock as they go. I think you may have over-reacted.

 

You were not doing anything wrong and as such shouldn't be afraid to talk to the police. You cannot even be certain that the police were called as a result of your visit.

 

I would have talked to the cop and explained the situation and Geocaching - that way future visitors would be more confident. That is just me though.

And me. Be open, solve problems instead of escalating them!

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My vote is to leave it as it is.

Nothing is being done illegally. Let her call the cops. perhaps the fun of this cache is to see if one can get in and out before the cops get there each time.... visits at night with flashlights would be good too...

 

Chelmsford Resident

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As a police dispatcher, I can tell you that I know all of the whiners and complainers in my town. Trust me, the local pd probably knows her too. She is probably calls them all the time and then threatens to call the chief if she doesn't get the response that she likes. So the officers get 20 feet from the entrance to the park and turn on the lights and siren, then they come flying into the park like they are there to save the world. She thinks that they have done something, and she goes away for a little while.

 

I would most definitly walked over to the officer and explained what was going on. Unless OC spray is illegal in your area, there is nothing to worry about. Also, as you are walking up just ask, "Officer, is there a problem?" He/she will most likely come over to you and explain why she called, and then tell her what's going on. If the old gal doesn't like it...too bad.

 

The only downside is that she may then go looking for the cache and destroy it so people will quit coming by. But she probably isn't motivated enough to do that.

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OK, I changed my Needs Archiving log to just a regular note.

 

The Chelmsford cache is called Town Center Treasure.

 

The cache has been found many times before, so I have no idea why she decided to call the police when I was there. No other logs mention any incidents (but if you leave before the police arrive, you wouldn't know... if I was just one minute faster, I wouldn't have known either). By the look of some of the logs, some of the people were there much longer than me and even moved rocks around. (I hate moving rocks in a wall... can make the wall look like crap... I'm for responsible non-destructive geocaching.)

 

It could just be that old ladies hate me simply by sight. They've called authorities on me before for absurd reasons. One time I was out in the dead-end dirt road street in front of my parent's house taking pictures of my new wife, and the neighborhood moonbat called the National Guard on me... they arrived with a Hummer and brandishing M-16's and demanded that I stop taking pictures. We almost got gitmo'ed. (My wife is non-white... that's what may have set off that particular old lady, probably thinks that every non-white person is "muslim". I hate racists.)

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I had a DNF last summer at that cache ... I was in the right spot but just couldn't find the container. I must have spent 20 minutes searching (yeah, I know, pretty poor performance!) but had to go. I wonder if Dragon Lady was away the day I was there.

 

I think an SBA is overkill. But it's good to have the notes in the log, the next few cachers should come prepared to 'splain what they are doing.

 

FWIW,

Bill W

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I said what happened in the cache log and flagged it as "needs archiving". I don't think a cache should be by the house of someone like this. I hope that was the right thing to do.

 

Most certainly post a note. I wouldn't post an SBA unless mine was one of several such occurances there.

 

BTW- Were you thinkin' about Gladys Cravits from Bewitched? That's who I pictured reading your post. I know the type.

 

[/highpitch old lady's voice]

 

LOOK!!! ABNER!!! THERE'S A MAN SNEAKING AROUND OUT THERE!!!!

 

[/highpitch old lady's voice]

 

<bored husband reading a newspaper>

 

Mind your own business Gladys!

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I think an SBA is overkill. But it's good to have the notes in the log, the next few cachers should come prepared to 'splain what they are doing.

 

Either that, or they need to do the find within 5 minutes. I think the police department is about 5 minutes away, so she must have called them almost immediately upon my arrival before I had a chance to start any significant poking around.

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You should have taken off running with one hand in your pocket. Then you could have seen some real excitement

 

And while screaming "allah akbar" (or however you spell it) and while wearing a bulky tactical vest that keeps all my geocaching gadgets in easy reach... nah... I like excitement but not this kind of excitement.

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My vote is to leave it as it is.

Nothing is being done illegally. Let her call the cops. perhaps the fun of this cache is to see if one can get in and out before the cops get there each time.... visits at night with flashlights would be good too...

 

Chelmsford Resident

 

This is similar to my thought about one of my first cache hides! I had placed it in a public park area, with homes around it. I thought I had placed it discreetly enough that nobody would see from there homes. I had a bunch of hides released the day of my first event, and this was one of them. One of the major discussion points at the event that day was the crazy old lady in her bathing suit that stood at the fence screaming at everyone to get off the grass! She said they were ruining the rabbits food! Someone asked her what happened to all the rabbit food that had been dug up to build her house...but that didn't help matters.

 

Anyway, I was going to archive it that night, but everyone that hadn't found it yet, asked me to leave it. It became a local game to see who could nab the cache without her seeing them! Some of the logs were hilarious.

 

The cache is still there...she moved. :laughing:

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Ya got to stop picking on old people.

I'm an old people, and I have to step in here.

By the way, this day in age don't they tell you to report suspicious activity in your neighborhood?

What could be more suspicious than a guy standing with his hands on his hips talking to a stone wall?

 

Wait, that could be me talking to the wife!...never mind.

Edited by olbluesguy
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Its OK, I only pick on mean, nasty busy-body types of old people (and young people, for that matter).

 

People should report suspicious activity only if its suspicious. What else could I have been doing? Planting a bomb to blow up all the people (all 0 of them) in the park? Stealing a rock? Besides, considering the age of the geocache, you would think she'd be used to people showing up, poking around, doing something with a tupperware box and then leaving. Its not suspicious if it happens frequently (it becomes normal). And, I can't believe that I'm the first person she saw doing this, so why pick me (and in broad daylight... some geocachers do it in the middle of the night with flashlights and I can understand that'd look strange).

 

Ya got to stop picking on old people.

I'm an old people, and I have to step in here.

By the way, this day in age don't they tell you to report suspicious activity in your neighborhood?

What could be more suspicious than a guy standing with his hands on his hips talking to a stone wall?

 

Wait, that could be me talking to the wife!...never mind.

Edited by Nutty Squirrel
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Ya got to stop picking on old people.

I'm an old people, and I have to step in here.

By the way, this day in age don't they tell you to report suspicious activity in your neighborhood?

What could be more suspicious than a guy standing with his hands on his hips talking to a stone wall?

 

Wait, that could be me talking to the wife!...never mind.

 

I am an Old People too and an OLD LADY at that!!! So ease up.....sometimes it is not so much age as IQ!

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I have had this simular experience before....I was not hidden or anything, the cops just walked up to me! I calmly explained what I was doing and they kindda rolled their eyes.....like this :) .......and they said "Oh, that crazy trasure hunting game again" and they told me to have fun and they walked off.

 

ONWARD "To Boldly Cache Where No One Everyone Has Cached Before" :)

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...I said what happened in the cache log and flagged it as "needs archiving". I don't think a cache should be by the house of someone like this. I hope that was the right thing to do.

 

It wasn't. Your log would notify the cache owner who can then decide if there is a problem and then act ot solve it. There would be nothing stopping the cache owner from talking to the woman so she knows what she's looking at and doesn't need to panic next time. She would either be intrested, or she would freak out, but at least the owner would have had the option.

 

The problem isn't the cache it's a freaked out neighbor.

 

Edit:

Having bumped into freaked out neighbors I've always managed to go talk to them and work things out. I'm not sure you could have done that though as the call was made before you probably noticed her.

Edited by Renegade Knight
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At the edge of the park is one old house and its impossible to hide from the view of that house's windows.

 

I hate caches like this for the very problem you ran into. They're too close to where people live and I don't like looking over my shoulder for the cops. So I try to stay away from these and cache in the woods or in a park far from prying eyes. If I wind up in the first situation, I have often bailed out because I felt uncomfortable.

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I'm never going to do any more caches that are in plain view of people's houses. I'll still do it if a virtual stage happens to be there (e.g. such as when I need to look for a name on the monument by the street in order to get the coords). I much prefer woods.

 

To the old lady: sorry if I alarmed you. I won't be back (but others may!)

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...I said what happened in the cache log and flagged it as "needs archiving". I don't think a cache should be by the house of someone like this. I hope that was the right thing to do.

 

It wasn't. Your log would notify the cache owner who can then decide if there is a problem and then act ot solve it.

 

I already removed the flag. And that's why I asked the question in the first place. Its not unreasonable to question whether a cache should be in a place like this... I don't consider it a good thing if cache placement results in calls to the police. Now, police just happening to observe you as they're going about their duties and wondering what's up, that's different. BUT, people who live next to the cache not knowing about it and then causing costly police incidents? Something's not right here!

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Ah, the joys of urban caching! I have found this cache (and many others in the Chelmsford area) and I thought it was a well done multi cache. Perhaps the reason I didn't have any trouble is I am an "old people" too! :)

 

It probably helps a lot. Would also help if you have a herd of small children all around you... its normal for them to run all over the place, peer into things, climb over everything, etc.

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Nutty Squirrel,

 

After reading your numerous stereotypes of old ladies, and your "always negative" view of Law Enforcement, you lost all credability with me. I love how you brandished others racist because your wife is "non white" and LEOs were called on you.

 

What would you think?

 

The hobby of geocaching is quite unusual when compared to most leisure activities. It relies on annonymity and discretion--stealth even.

It relies even more on being able to hide geocaches on other people's property for our colleagues to find. Geocaching cannot exist without discretely placing geocaches where others can find them. This usually means on property we don't own, either public or private. Let's think about how our hobby looks to others.

 

Pretend for a moment that you are a normal person.

You look out your window toward a greenbelt in your neighborhood and see a stranger lurking about with a strange device, obviously trying hard not to be noticed. Then you see several other strangers doing the same thing over the course of a weekend. You might even spot them looking for something hidden, or hanging around for a few minutes and then hiding something before leaving.

What would you think? You find yourself overlooking an open area near a train station, or even an airport. A stranger comes to the area, and furtively walks around with a strange device (looks like some kind of homing system or remote detonator like they use in spy movies!). He stops for a while, repeatedly pushing buttons on the device. He then gets an olive drab container with military markings out of his car and hides it! The whole time he has obviously been on the lookout for anyone watching him, and generally looked very sneaky!

What would you think? Suppose you happen to notice a lot of folks showing up, for no reason that you can think of, behind the local convenience store. They seem to crawl around on the ground for a while, feel there way around trash containers and electrical boxes until they find a small container. They surrepticiously take this container a short distance away, all the while looking around to see if they are being watched. They rifle through the contents before, just as secretively, returning the container where they found it and then making a quick getaway!

What would you think? Okay, enough trying to think normally!

Let's think like a geocacher planning a cache hide (much easier than thinking normally for many of us). The importance of considering appearances is growing by the day. We need to consider how unusual activity at our cache location looks to observers who know nothing about geocaching. In today's society, most of us recognize that there can only be a limited number of responses by various bomb squads before they start comparing notes and decide that geocaching is a waste of resources and/or a potential cover for other covert activities. If communities begin to consider geocaching in this light, it would be easy for them to decide it should simply be banned. So how do we keep from bringing geocaching to the attention of regulatory bodies who may feel the need to help us keep things from looking bad? By behaving responsibly, and encouraging our fellow geocachers to do the same. Start by always following the spirit of the geocaching.com submission guidelines. This includes getting permission BEFORE placing a geocache, where appropriate. Most of the folks I have approached and discussed geocaching with have been happy to allow geocaches to be placed on property they administer. Obviously, the cache must be placed in an appropriate area, and designed to not cause conflicts or difficulties. If you have communicated with the property manager or owner, it should reduce the likelihood of calls to the police. Be prepared to take "NO" a an answer! There are plenty of places to hide a geocache in southern California. For a bit more information on selecting a cache location, please read: "Ready to Hide Your First Geocache?" We should all encourage other geocachers to place responsible caches. If you find a geocache that you think may draw unwanted attention or is in an area that is questionable for geocaches, you should contact the cache owner and explain your feelings. They may not be receptive, but you will have done your part. A diplomatically worded email could draw their attention to something they may not have considered. We shouldn't have to form the "cache police", but we do need to encourage each other to behave responsibly. If we continue to have bomb squads respond to geocaches, we will draw even more attention of a type we don't want. I am not trying to re-ruffle feathers or salt any recent wounds, but this is a topic we have to discuss openly for our hobby to survive!

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Ahhh thats a local cache that I havent found yet. As a female...I would love to take the Moonbat out caching. I bet she would love it :)

 

Maybe I should go find it and after start walking right towards her house lol

Carry a violin case with you, wear a trench coat and look around with a pair of binoculars first, just to make it interesting. :)

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I'm never going to do any more caches that are in plain view of people's houses. I'll still do it if a virtual stage happens to be there (e.g. such as when I need to look for a name on the monument by the street in order to get the coords). I much prefer woods.

 

To the old lady: sorry if I alarmed you. I won't be back (but others may!)

Too bad... you'd probably not do my cache cause it's right next to my house. But I love meeting cachers out there.

 

I wouldn't swear off this caches... I mean if they really make you uncomfortable, then I s'pose I wouldn't do 'em. But you're not doing anything wrong, you don't need to fear the police. Just explain what's going on and go from there.

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Just as I exit the park's premises, a police car pulls up in a hurry, sirens on and lights flashing. I was far enough away that he didn't notice me, and I stood at a distance behind something and watched. An old moonbat rushes out of the house, all frantic and was busy pointing out to the officer the park bench that I was around. I couldn't hear her actual words

 

Maybe her son was the police officer who hid the cache and she was just excited that someone found it and wanted him to congratulate you! :)

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I couldn't hear her actual words but I could tell by her behavior that she was acting as if someone was just shot in the park and then dragged away. Seeing a man in a park for 5 minutes was probably more excitement than she's seen in a long time! I can tell the type... they have NOTHING to do and just sit there in their house peering out the windows ALL DAY LONG just waiting for SOMETHING to happen. And then they call the police first excuse they get.

 

Seeing that my presence was now unknown, I wasn't about to walk over there and explain what's going on. I know what would have happened... the nasty old lady would have pointed and yelled "That's him!! Get him!" and next thing you know it'd be "FREEZE! On the ground or I shoot!" People like that lie, so the officer would probably believe I'm a threat based on all the frantic story telling from the old lady. I'm just doing a hobby and I really don't need that kind of problem. I'm still expecting the police to arrive at my house and bang on the door any minute now. I'm worried and I didn't do anything wrong!

 

That's a pretty lively imagination you have. :)

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Seeing that my presence was now unknown, I wasn't about to walk over there and explain what's going on. I know what would have happened... the nasty old lady would have pointed and yelled "That's him!! Get him!" and next thing you know it'd be "FREEZE! On the ground or I shoot!" People like that lie, so the officer would probably believe I'm a threat based on all the frantic story telling from the old lady. I'm just doing a hobby and I really don't need that kind of problem. I'm still expecting the police to arrive at my house and bang on the door any minute now. I'm worried and I didn't do anything wrong!

 

I said what happened in the cache log and flagged it as "needs archiving". I don't think a cache should be by the house of someone like this. I hope that was the right thing to do.

 

You seem to be a bit paranoid and you certainly don't seem to trust police. Is there more to this than you are letting on? I also find your story of taking pictures to sound somewhat exagerated. If not, maybe your house is adjacent to Area 51??? :)

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I'm never going to do any more caches that are in plain view of people's houses. I'll still do it if a virtual stage happens to be there (e.g. such as when I need to look for a name on the monument by the street in order to get the coords). I much prefer woods.

 

 

I'm with you on preferring woods caches, but I think avoiding ANY caches that are in sight of houses is a bit of overkill. For me, the deciding factors in such cases are:

 

1) Is the cache in a place where the public has a real right to be?

2) Is the place where I need to be a spot where homeowners should *expect* to see members of the public, even if I may not be acting exactly like most people seen there?

3) Do I feel that my being there is an invasion of the homeowner's reasonable expectation of privacy?

 

A cache in a public park, where any homeowner whose house abuts the park should have an expectation of seeing strangers near their property line, would be unlikely not to meet those three criteria.

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(My wife is non-white... that's what may have set off that particular old lady, probably thinks that every non-white person is "muslim". I hate racists.)

 

This from someone who calls little old ladies Moonbats? Whats the difference between judging someone by race, or by age?

 

Someone else should have calmly talked with the police and the neighbor. This would, most likely, have calmed the neighbor, and helped the police. However, with your attitude toward the police, and the neighbor, it's probably best to write a note and let someone else go talk with them.

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Heck, this happened to me in the woods far from the nearest house. I'm sure the cops don't like this either. They have to respond to calls and they pretty much know the nut cases. The cop saw us hiking and within two minutes thought the mountain biker that had phoned us in as 'suspicious' because we had a hiking stick was a bonafide nutcase.

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i'm a little alarmed at the characterizaton of the caller: "people like that lie". seems to me that this is unfair. people like what? i have been in more than one park where there is evidence of illegal activity. unless you know the local concerns, you can't really judge.

 

i have been detained on suspicion of being a terrorist because i took a picture of a bridge. i was also questioned about illegal dumping at a different cache. both times it was neighbors calling it in. although they were wrong, i don't believe it would have been fair to call them busybodies or whiners.

 

i am also equally alarmed at the suggestion the phrase "allah akbar" should arouse notice. Islam in general is taking an unfair beating these days and too many people seem to think this is acceptable. any of us might start a prayer with the words "God is great", regardless of the language in which it is delivered.

 

if you're going to make ethnic and religious slurs i'd just as well not have to see it. geocaching is a worldwide game and we are citizens of the world. let's try to play nice, ok?

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