Cache Police!

[+NeoAddict]

If you thought knives were bad, try finding a syringe. Disgusted me to no end.

 

The person who left it even kindly put a piece of masking tape on it and wrote "It's Clean" in pencil.

 

 

I wouldn't sniff at finding a pocket knife in a cache though. I've even thought of trading for one or two of them.

[+pokerace]

One... only had a wench strap in it and the log book.

Wow! Really? A wench strap? I thought the whole misogynistic thing of using straps on wenches went out of vogue back in England by the year 1920. And, I had never heard of the custom, much less the wench straps themselves, having migrated to America. Thus, I am surprised at your find in the heartland of America. I do hope that you will not be tempted to use the strap on any wenches whom you encounter.

Thus, I am surprised at your find in the heartland of America.

 

why? we all started in england

 

not be tempted to use the strap on any wenches whom you encounter.

 

why not

[+prntr1]

If you can't bring it into a courthouse, school room or on an airplane it probably shouldn't be in a cache.

JMHO

Up here the courts and schools allow anything with a blade less than six inches and without a fixed blade.

Seriously? A 14-year-old can carry a knife with a 5.5-inch folding blade to high school and use it to settle a pubescent hormone induced grudge? So what's with all these news stories about zero-tollerance schools expelling kids because their parents packed a dull butter knife in with their lunches?

 

Any form of knife was against the rules back when I was in school, and that was in rural Mississippi 15 years ago. Lots of kids carried them (including me), but they were used as tools not weapons.

 

Back to the topic at hand, I personally feel that there is nothing wrong with a knife in a cache under normal conditions. HOWEVER, the rules specifically state that knives are prohibitted, so I don't place knives in caches. And I remove any I find (trading when possible, but always removing).

Decades ago, when I was in grade school and high school, we were allowed to carry knives. I though the limit was a four-inch blade, but I'm likely wrong.

Decades ago, growing up in West Virginia, we used to take our deer rifles to school, we would stack them in the corner during the day, and then we could hunt on the walk home, which, by the was uphill and frequently snowing!!!

[+SunshineGang]

Trading is the best option but if you have to chose between leaving the cache empty or leaving the knife I am glad you chose to remove the knife.

 

There are two very big negatives to having knives in caches. The first is the most obvious that some child could get hurt.

 

But the other is that it can give Geocaching a black eye... Imagine your local parks department finding a cache on accident, perhaps they have never even heard of geocaching. They look inside the container and find knives. Their first impression may very well be that geocaches are a danger to the youth or their communities. They are likely to wonder how many other caches are out there and what dangerous items do they contain.

[+BCandMsKitty]

The guidelines are your friend...

 

http://www.geocaching.com/about/guidelines.aspx#contents

Cache Contents

 

Use your common sense in most cases. Explosives, fireworks, ammo, lighters, knives (including pocket knives and multi-tools), drugs, alcohol or other illicit material shouldn't be placed in a cache. As always respect the local laws. Geocaching is a family activity and cache contents should be suitable for all ages.

 

In many states, prison labor is used for cleanup of parks and such. If they find a knife in a found cache, you give them a weapon. Many people don't like their kids playing with knives as well.

We give our prison labor chain saws. I tried to take a photo for Keystone at the time but it didn't come out.

 

This may be true RK, but at the end of the day, I think the gaurds would notice the chainsaw stuffed in the inmate's pants...a knife found in a cache might not be as noticeable and MIGHT even make it back to prison to be used as a weapon!

 

Actually, the pants is not where they would stuff a pocket knife, and unless you have seen it, you wouldn't believe how fast it can be done! ... and Here in Ontario, that's one place we are not allowed to search!

[+sbell111]

The guidelines are your friend...

 

http://www.geocaching.com/about/guidelines.aspx#contents

Cache Contents

 

Use your common sense in most cases. Explosives, fireworks, ammo, lighters, knives (including pocket knives and multi-tools), drugs, alcohol or other illicit material shouldn't be placed in a cache. As always respect the local laws. Geocaching is a family activity and cache contents should be suitable for all ages.

In many states, prison labor is used for cleanup of parks and such. If they find a knife in a found cache, you give them a weapon. Many people don't like their kids playing with knives as well.

We give our prison labor chain saws. I tried to take a photo for Keystone at the time but it didn't come out.

This may be true RK, but at the end of the day, I think the gaurds would notice the chainsaw stuffed in the inmate's pants...a knife found in a cache might not be as noticeable and MIGHT even make it back to prison to be used as a weapon!

Actually, the pants is not where they would stuff a pocket knife, and unless you have seen it, you wouldn't believe how fast it can be done! ... and Here in Ontario, that's one place we are not allowed to search!

I can't believe that you aren't allowed to search shirt pockets. Edited April 23, 2008 by sbell111

[+Totem Clan]

The guidelines are your friend...

 

http://www.geocaching.com/about/guidelines.aspx#contents

Cache Contents

 

Use your common sense in most cases. Explosives, fireworks, ammo, lighters, knives (including pocket knives and multi-tools), drugs, alcohol or other illicit material shouldn't be placed in a cache. As always respect the local laws. Geocaching is a family activity and cache contents should be suitable for all ages.

 

In many states, prison labor is used for cleanup of parks and such. If they find a knife in a found cache, you give them a weapon. Many people don't like their kids playing with knives as well.

We give our prison labor chain saws. I tried to take a photo for Keystone at the time but it didn't come out.

 

This may be true RK, but at the end of the day, I think the gaurds would notice the chainsaw stuffed in the inmate's pants...a knife found in a cache might not be as noticeable and MIGHT even make it back to prison to be used as a weapon!

 

Actually, the pants is not where they would stuff a pocket knife, and unless you have seen it, you wouldn't believe how fast it can be done! ... and Here in Ontario, that's one place we are not allowed to search!

When I worked as a CO we were allow to. We could even have them examed by a docter and or have x-rays taken to find out one way or the other.

[+Totem Clan]

I can't believe that you aren't allowed to search shirt pockets.

[+ZSandmann]

A lot of the caches you hit, are probably like that from LA cachers making a swing through MS for some good hides and taking everything and leaving nothing

 

Just kidding!!!

I have cached a lot of places, and everywhere suffers from the "cache full of junk syndrome", carry a bag of swag from garage sales, and be part of the solution, not part of the problem.

 

Happy Caching!!!

 

Those darn Sippians are at it again.

 

I like finding the little pocket knives in caches I usually trade them out and my wife will rotate them into her sewing kit or one of our first aid kits. Handy dandy.

[+Knight2000]

I guess the question is if you cant or choose not to trade for the knife then should you leave it? If something bad happens which is unlikely, then where does the fault lie? The person who left the knife in the first place? Perhaps the person who looked the other way?

 

I don't consider necessary to restock the caches.

It is nice though. We like to restock ours. I want people to look forward to our caches. Not say:

 

"Crap, its a Knight cache. Arent there any nearby Wal-mart micros we can find instead?"

[+gof1]

"Crap, its a Knight cache. Arent there any nearby Wal-mart micros we can find instead?"

 

I've heard that one before.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sorry, I couldn't resist.

[+Renegade Knight]

The guidelines are your friend...

 

http://www.geocaching.com/about/guidelines.aspx#contents

Cache Contents

 

Use your common sense in most cases. Explosives, fireworks, ammo, lighters, knives (including pocket knives and multi-tools), drugs, alcohol or other illicit material shouldn't be placed in a cache. As always respect the local laws. Geocaching is a family activity and cache contents should be suitable for all ages.

 

In many states, prison labor is used for cleanup of parks and such. If they find a knife in a found cache, you give them a weapon. Many people don't like their kids playing with knives as well.

We give our prison labor chain saws. I tried to take a photo for Keystone at the time but it didn't come out.

 

This may be true RK, but at the end of the day, I think the gaurds would notice the chainsaw stuffed in the inmate's pants...a knife found in a cache might not be as noticeable and MIGHT even make it back to prison to be used as a weapon!...

 

Yes they would notice a chainsaw. But the access to a chainsaw implies the ability to make sharp pointy sticks. access to screwdrivers, files and dozens of other things to where either these prisoners really are non violent or the prison system is utterly insane to relese them for work like they do. I'm going to trust that the prison system knows what they are doing. Especially since the most violent thing I've encountered at my work is learning about an employee that went postal and decked another employee.

[+sbell111]

The guidelines are your friend...

 

http://www.geocaching.com/about/guidelines.aspx#contents

Cache Contents

 

Use your common sense in most cases. Explosives, fireworks, ammo, lighters, knives (including pocket knives and multi-tools), drugs, alcohol or other illicit material shouldn't be placed in a cache. As always respect the local laws. Geocaching is a family activity and cache contents should be suitable for all ages.

In many states, prison labor is used for cleanup of parks and such. If they find a knife in a found cache, you give them a weapon. Many people don't like their kids playing with knives as well.

We give our prison labor chain saws. I tried to take a photo for Keystone at the time but it didn't come out.

This may be true RK, but at the end of the day, I think the gaurds would notice the chainsaw stuffed in the inmate's pants...a knife found in a cache might not be as noticeable and MIGHT even make it back to prison to be used as a weapon!...

Yes they would notice a chainsaw. But the access to a chainsaw implies the ability to make sharp pointy sticks. access to screwdrivers, files and dozens of other things to where either these prisoners really are non violent or the prison system is utterly insane to relese them for work like they do. I'm going to trust that the prison system knows what they are doing. Especially since the most violent thing I've encountered at my work is learning about an employee that went postal and decked another employee.

The prisoner who finds the knife might not be the violent one, but he certainly could sell it to a violent one.

[+Team Cotati]

The guidelines are your friend...

 

http://www.geocaching.com/about/guidelines.aspx#contents

Cache Contents

 

Use your common sense in most cases. Explosives, fireworks, ammo, lighters, knives (including pocket knives and multi-tools), drugs, alcohol or other illicit material shouldn't be placed in a cache. As always respect the local laws. Geocaching is a family activity and cache contents should be suitable for all ages.

In many states, prison labor is used for cleanup of parks and such. If they find a knife in a found cache, you give them a weapon. Many people don't like their kids playing with knives as well.

We give our prison labor chain saws. I tried to take a photo for Keystone at the time but it didn't come out.

This may be true RK, but at the end of the day, I think the gaurds would notice the chainsaw stuffed in the inmate's pants...a knife found in a cache might not be as noticeable and MIGHT even make it back to prison to be used as a weapon!...

Yes they would notice a chainsaw. But the access to a chainsaw implies the ability to make sharp pointy sticks. access to screwdrivers, files and dozens of other things to where either these prisoners really are non violent or the prison system is utterly insane to relese them for work like they do. I'm going to trust that the prison system knows what they are doing. Especially since the most violent thing I've encountered at my work is learning about an employee that went postal and decked another employee.

The prisoner who finds the knife might not be the violent one, but he certainly could sell it to a violent one.

 

At last check, "going postal" involved guns and dead people.

[+Team Cotati]

Trading is the best option but if you have to chose between leaving the cache empty or leaving the knife I am glad you chose to remove the knife.

 

There are two very big negatives to having knives in caches. The first is the most obvious that some child could get hurt.

 

But the other is that it can give Geocaching a black eye... Imagine your local parks department finding a cache on accident, perhaps they have never even heard of geocaching. They look inside the container and find knives. Their first impression may very well be that geocaches are a danger to the youth or their communities. They are likely to wonder how many other caches are out there and what dangerous items do they contain.

 

"perhaps they have never even heard of geocaching" Now THAT's pretty hard to believe.

[+Team GeoBlast]

Team GeoBlast,

I try to leave something related to Louisiana everywhere we go.

Mostly small calculators, Sealed decks of playing cards and of course

Louisnana Keychains. I know the owner has no control over what is left in a cache and the people going to visit a cache will never see this thread. I just got tired of seeing "jacks" "dimes" and wet "GeoCards" that the ink has run on everywhere we went.

 

Hi Pat,

 

That's great, we try to leave good stuff too. However, it is often frustrating to see logs that say things like "the area had a ton of trash around it, we are not sure why anyone would put a cache here" or "the cache log was wet and moldy so we couldn't sign it" or "the cache was full of junk." These are all things that take time and energy to complain about. Although I have no expectations of everyone doing things like this, these are things that you can change if you choose to.

 

Instead of those negative logs, I feel like yelling "YES!" when I see logs like; "the area had trash all over it, we had planned to go find other area caches but instead our entire group when back to the car and got trash bags and we cleaned it up" or "the cache log was shot, replaced it with a new one and added a new pen" or " the swag in this cache was so depleted we had to CITO most of it because it was a health hazard. We dumped our entire swag bag into the cache and it looks great now."

 

These are the actions of people that I am truly honored to be associated with.

[+sbell111]

The guidelines are your friend...

 

http://www.geocaching.com/about/guidelines.aspx#contents

Cache Contents

 

Use your common sense in most cases. Explosives, fireworks, ammo, lighters, knives (including pocket knives and multi-tools), drugs, alcohol or other illicit material shouldn't be placed in a cache. As always respect the local laws. Geocaching is a family activity and cache contents should be suitable for all ages.

In many states, prison labor is used for cleanup of parks and such. If they find a knife in a found cache, you give them a weapon. Many people don't like their kids playing with knives as well.

We give our prison labor chain saws. I tried to take a photo for Keystone at the time but it didn't come out.

This may be true RK, but at the end of the day, I think the gaurds would notice the chainsaw stuffed in the inmate's pants...a knife found in a cache might not be as noticeable and MIGHT even make it back to prison to be used as a weapon!...

Yes they would notice a chainsaw. But the access to a chainsaw implies the ability to make sharp pointy sticks. access to screwdrivers, files and dozens of other things to where either these prisoners really are non violent or the prison system is utterly insane to relese them for work like they do. I'm going to trust that the prison system knows what they are doing. Especially since the most violent thing I've encountered at my work is learning about an employee that went postal and decked another employee.

The prisoner who finds the knife might not be the violent one, but he certainly could sell it to a violent one.

 

At last check, "going postal" involved guns and dead people.

What are you talking about?

[Luckless]

I removed a knife from my cache. It looked like it would make a good fishing knife- good for scaling. I know the land manager would not like having a knife on the property where kids could get it. But, silly me, I also restocked it with a multi tool. So there you go. After I realized I shouldn't have done that I planned to remove the tool the next time I went to maintain the cache, but someone traded the tool out.

[+geobudman]

If you can't bring it into a courthouse, school room or on an airplane it probably shouldn't be in a cache.

JMHO

Up here the courts and schools allow anything with a blade less than six inches and without a fixed blade.

Seriously? A 14-year-old can carry a knife with a 5.5-inch folding blade to high school and use it to settle a pubescent hormone induced grudge? So what's with all these news stories about zero-tollerance schools expelling kids because their parents packed a dull butter knife in with their lunches?

 

Any form of knife was against the rules back when I was in school, and that was in rural Mississippi 15 years ago. Lots of kids carried them (including me), but they were used as tools not weapons.

 

Back to the topic at hand, I personally feel that there is nothing wrong with a knife in a cache under normal conditions. HOWEVER, the rules specifically state that knives are prohibitted, so I don't place knives in caches. And I remove any I find (trading when possible, but always removing).

Decades ago, when I was in grade school and high school, we were allowed to carry knives. I though the limit was a four-inch blade, but I'm likely wrong.

 

It was pretty much understood that a boy carried a knife to school when I came up. (I'm 51) Teachers used to ask for knives when they had a need, and they had left theirs at home. They always called for mine first because I knew how to keep one sharp. As a rule, I don't leave knives in cache. I have taken knives out of caches--but I ALWAYS trade UP. I NEVER, EVER, FOR ANY REASON leave a cache in a poorer condition than I found it in. It is not a chore to pack a few "premium" items in to a cache. Heck. I've got my bill fold with 2-3 one dollar bills in it wherever I go!!! "I don't want to carry all of that weight" is NEVER an excuse. Trade even or up, or trade nothing and take nothing Regardless of what it is! Your idea of a threat is a fun find for another.

[Clan Riffster]

A 14-year-old can carry a knife with a 5.5-inch folding blade to high school and use it to settle a pubescent hormone induced grudge?

I don't think he suggested that aggravated battery was OK. I think he suggested that a kid, being in possession of a knife, is OK. Just because a kid has a knife, doesn't mean he/she is going to stab someone with it. I carried a pocket knife from about 5th grade on, and to date, I've never stabbed anyone.

[+BlueDeuce]

Heck. I've got my bill fold with 2-3 one dollar bills in it wherever I go!!!

 

You should carry some 2 dollars bills. Less weight and more fun to find.

[Dinoprophet]

Imagine your local parks department finding a cache on accident, perhaps they have never even heard of geocaching. They look inside the container and find knives. Their first impression may very well be that geocaches are a danger to the youth or their communities. They are likely to wonder how many other caches are out there and what dangerous items do they contain.

The first impression should be, "I never heard of geocaching, I'm glad this nice geocacher asked permission before hiding a cache in the park".

 

[+amagrud]

What really bothers me about this whole thing is that there are some really nice caches here that have what amounts to a negative log in their pages, and the impression, intended or not, that the caches in Mississippi are crap. Some of the caches in question involve hikes through pine hills or hardwood bottomlands with pretty views of lakes and abounding with wildlife. One has a large fenced in area next to it where deer are kept for study and can be easily viewed. Another, a hidden gem, is a very small park that teaches visitors about the importance of wetlands. Here the visitor can view fish in the pond, snakes, turtles, rabbits, even wood ducks nesting in the boxes provided. Others may not be so pretty, but have a lot of historical significance, such as the cemetery with the large proportion of veterans of various wars buried in it. Yes, some of the caches Pat visited were not so inspired, but he lumped them all together, and the best thing he said was "full of JUNK".

 

I'm sorry Pat, but if the only thing you are concerned about is the quality of the swag, you should probably get out of the hobby and just go by the local Dollar Tree when you want a trinket or the local McDonalds if you want the McToy of the month. It will be lot's cheaper and you will rarely be disappointed. I recently completed the Louisiana Delorme Challenge, and I got to tell you, most of the caches I found were full of JUNK, and I guess you would also call the Scout patches I left in them junk also. The best thing, though, was I got to see a lot of very interesting places. I can't say all the caches were inspiring, but I certainly never left a negative log, preferring instead to say something positive about each visit. Even the cache that was full of junk (actually mud, slime and crap. We washed it out, dried it, put in a new log, and added several junk trinkets and Scout patches before re-hiding) a little south of Baton Rouge.

 

Different folks look for different things in the caches they seek. I prefer interesting locations or fun puzzles, others may just want to rack up numbers, and some may judge a cache by the swag inside. There is a lot of things to like for just about anyone in our hobby, and it pains me to see such negative blanket statements thrown out in such a public forum.

[+XopherN71]

Wow...

 

Well said, not much more to add.

[+The Jester]

My take on the matter of knives: if you aren't willing to trade for the knife, send the cache owner a note so that he/she can take care of it. They are the ones that will get most of the grief from land managers, so they should be the one to deal with the "problem" if you're not willing to trade for the swag.

[Dinoprophet]

My take on the matter of knives: if you aren't willing to trade for the knife, send the cache owner a note so that he/she can take care of it. They are the ones that will get most of the grief from land managers, so they should be the one to deal with the "problem" if you're not willing to trade for the swag.

Yeah, you're probably right. If a cache is placed in violation of the guidelines, we don't just snap it up, and to me an illegal placement is a more serious situation. Some other items might warrant immediate removal, but a knife, I'd say trade even or report it.

[+bluesprucejr]

Looks like "Pat in Louisiana" generated quite a stir from his recent caching trip to Mississippi - both on here and on the Mississippi Geocaching forums. Being a Mississippi cacher - who has not had any caches found by Pat - I was a bit offended by Pat's comments. And I recognized several MS cachers on this forum who seemed upset as well.

 

The comments about knives in caches was addressed on the MS forums about a month ago when a newbie put some out, not realizing the "danger" they posed. He vowed to immediately stop placing them, but nobody expected him to retrace his steps and gather up all the knives. And if they were like some of the knives I have seen - and left - in caches, they were less a danger than a butter knife. And while I am on the topic of weapons, I have just one question to all those who were worried about prisoners finding these knives and using them as weapons. Do the guards walk these areas and pick up any broken glass or scrap metal before the prisoners come along, so the prisoners won't be able to use them as weapons?

 

I don't have a major problem with Pat posting his "junk" comment on the cache page when he logged his find. All owners of caches get an email with the log comments, so it would inform the owner that the cache could use a little TLC.

 

But what bothered me is that Pat thought it was his responsibility to notify the whole world via this forum. What was it that he intended to do except slam a whole state and its' caches based upon a few caches and his personal preference of "quality" swag which was lacking in them? I can't see any other reason to go national with his personal opinions.

 

 

To his credit, though, Pat's diatribe did spur some cachers in our state to check on their caches and restock them so people like Pat won't get their feelings hurt.

Edited April 24, 2008 by bluesprucejr

[+Hemicharger99]

If you can't bring it into a courthouse, school room or on an airplane it probably shouldn't be in a cache.

JMHO

 

So I can't leave anything larger than a 3oz container of liquid or a can of Red Bull? Thanks to the airline standards. Just don't make me take my shoes off to find the cache.

[+sbell111]

... The comments about knives in caches was addressed on the MS forums about a month ago when a newbie put some out, not realizing the "danger" they posed. He vowed to immediately stop placing them, but nobody expected him to retrace his steps and gather up all the knives.

As you stated, the knives were known to be in the caches for 'about a month'. Doesn't that pretty much do away with the rational for simply notifying the cache owners of the object and letting them remove them?

And if they were like some of the knives I have seen - and left - in caches, they were less a danger than a butter knife. And while I am on the topic of weapons, I have just one question to all those who were worried about prisoners finding these knives and using them as weapons. Do the guards walk these areas and pick up any broken glass or scrap metal before the prisoners come along, so the prisoners won't be able to use them as weapons?

You are approaching the prisoner issue as if it is a hypothetical concern, rather than a real one expressed by land managers. Real park systems forbid caching in their parks when knives were found. By keeping knives out of caches, this is no longer a concern for them.

I don't have a major problem with Pat posting his "junk" comment on the cache page when he logged his find. All owners of caches get an email with the log comments, so it would inform the owner that the cache could use a little TLC.

 

But what bothered me is that Pat thought it was his responsibility to notify the whole world via this forum. What was it that he intended to do except slam a whole state and its' caches based upon a few caches and his personal preference of "quality" swag which was lacking in them? I can't see any other reason to go national with his personal opinions.

I think that you are taking it too personally. Caches being filled with junk has been forum fodder for as long as these forums have been around.

To his credit, though, Pat's diatribe did spur some cachers in our state to check on their caches and restock them so people like Pat won't get their feelings hurt.

Yippee.

[+sbell111]

If you can't bring it into a courthouse, school room or on an airplane it probably shouldn't be in a cache.

JMHO

 

So I can't leave anything larger than a 3oz container of liquid or a can of Red Bull? Thanks to the airline standards. Just don't make me take my shoes off to find the cache.

Most people would prefer that no liquids (and certainly no red bull) be placed in caches. Alternatively, bottles of water and sode can still be carried onto airplanes. They just can't be brought through security.

[+WebChimp]

Well said, not much more to add.

 

Agreed, that should have been the last word. However, the debate thrives. Much like the proverbial dog and his tail, our discussion now has a direction:

Edited April 24, 2008 by WebChimp

[+ronbo]

Agreed, that should have been the last word. However, the debate thrives. Much like the proverbial dog and his tail, our discussion now has a direction:

 

Could this debate thrive on the Mississippi Forums???????? Nada. I would like to take the opportunity to thank the National Forum Moderators for allowing meaningful discussion and the dog to chase his tail without a moderato locking down the thread. I know, I'm off topic, but I couldn't resist. Sorry.

 

So far we have three new caches in Mississippi called "Cache Full of Junk" and a 4th is being hid as we speak. I have found all three and they are loaded with high end items. The FTF on each gets an ammo can full of high end items for him to hide. But....they have to do the same as a FTF prize when the hide the ammo can. Neat idea, huh???? I guess we could thank Pat for that. The fact that Pat wanted to air it on a National Forum and it didn't get locked down has allowed a wide variety of opinions and the creation of a series of cache hides in Mississippi. This would have never happened if the moderator had chose to lock it down. Yea, I know. I'm back off topic again, or am I?

[+Silfron Mandotheneset]

If you can't bring it into a courthouse, school room or on an airplane it probably shouldn't be in a cache.

JMHO

Up here the courts and schools allow anything with a blade less than six inches and without a fixed blade.

Seriously? A 14-year-old can carry a knife with a 5.5-inch folding blade to high school and use it to settle a pubescent hormone induced grudge? So what's with all these news stories about zero-tollerance schools expelling kids because their parents packed a dull butter knife in with their lunches?

 

Any form of knife was against the rules back when I was in school, and that was in rural Mississippi 15 years ago. Lots of kids carried them (including me), but they were used as tools not weapons.

 

Back to the topic at hand, I personally feel that there is nothing wrong with a knife in a cache under normal conditions. HOWEVER, the rules specifically state that knives are prohibitted, so I don't place knives in caches. And I remove any I find (trading when possible, but always removing).

Decades ago, when I was in grade school and high school, we were allowed to carry knives. I though the limit was a four-inch blade, but I'm likely wrong.

 

That's definitely not true here. Have one in your pocket? Expelled. Notice it in your pock and move it to your backpack, and they find it there? Expelled. Locker? Expelled. Car parked in the parking lot, locked, hidden in the glove box, and they know darn well you won't be going to your car all day? Expelled. No questions asked, period. Of course that's just around here.

 

EDIT for punctuation

 

EDIT AGAIN: OF course that only applies to students and faculty. I have no idea what the policy for visitors is, but I can't image they'd appreciate it if you brought one.

Edited September 8, 2008 by Silfron Mandotheneset

[stryder717]

If you can't bring it into a courthouse, school room or on an airplane it probably shouldn't be in a cache.

JMHO

Up here the courts and schools allow anything with a blade less than six inches and without a fixed blade.

Seriously? A 14-year-old can carry a knife with a 5.5-inch folding blade to high school and use it to settle a pubescent hormone induced grudge? So what's with all these news stories about zero-tollerance schools expelling kids because their parents packed a dull butter knife in with their lunches?

 

Any form of knife was against the rules back when I was in school, and that was in rural Mississippi 15 years ago. Lots of kids carried them (including me), but they were used as tools not weapons.

 

Back to the topic at hand, I personally feel that there is nothing wrong with a knife in a cache under normal conditions. HOWEVER, the rules specifically state that knives are prohibitted, so I don't place knives in caches. And I remove any I find (trading when possible, but always removing).

Decades ago, when I was in grade school and high school, we were allowed to carry knives. I though the limit was a four-inch blade, but I'm likely wrong.

 

That's definitely not true here. Have one in your pocket? Expelled. Notice it in your pock and move it to your backpack, and they find it there? Expelled. Locker? Expelled. Car parked in the parking lot, locked, hidden in the glove box, and they know darn well you won't be going to your car all day? Expelled. No questions asked, period. Of course that's just around here.

 

EDIT for punctuation

 

EDIT AGAIN: OF course that only applies to students and faculty. I have no idea what the policy for visitors is, but I can't image they'd appreciate it if you brought one.

Decades ago being the key word

[+Proud Soccer Mom]

Decades ago being the key word

 

Seriously. Last year, a father brought a knife into his son's elementary school for a meeting he was having with the principal about security. He put the knife on the desk and said, "It's that easy to bring a knife in. You have to toughen up security." and the principal had him arrested.

 

So, no, you cannot bring a weapon into school. In this case, size truly doesn't matter.

 

- Elle

[Influence Waterfowl Calls]

I have seen knives and I had plenty when I was a kid so I do not get worked up about it unless it was big like a butcher knife. But there are things that should be taken out like the syringe!

Edited September 9, 2008 by Influence Waterfowl Calls

[+sbell111]

If you can't bring it into a courthouse, school room or on an airplane it probably shouldn't be in a cache.

JMHO

Up here the courts and schools allow anything with a blade less than six inches and without a fixed blade.

Seriously? A 14-year-old can carry a knife with a 5.5-inch folding blade to high school and use it to settle a pubescent hormone induced grudge? So what's with all these news stories about zero-tollerance schools expelling kids because their parents packed a dull butter knife in with their lunches?

 

Any form of knife was against the rules back when I was in school, and that was in rural Mississippi 15 years ago. Lots of kids carried them (including me), but they were used as tools not weapons.

 

Back to the topic at hand, I personally feel that there is nothing wrong with a knife in a cache under normal conditions. HOWEVER, the rules specifically state that knives are prohibitted, so I don't place knives in caches. And I remove any I find (trading when possible, but always removing).

Decades ago, when I was in grade school and high school, we were allowed to carry knives. I though the limit was a four-inch blade, but I'm likely wrong.

 

That's definitely not true here. Have one in your pocket? Expelled. Notice it in your pock and move it to your backpack, and they find it there? Expelled. Locker? Expelled. Car parked in the parking lot, locked, hidden in the glove box, and they know darn well you won't be going to your car all day? Expelled. No questions asked, period. Of course that's just around here.

 

EDIT for punctuation

 

EDIT AGAIN: OF course that only applies to students and faculty. I have no idea what the policy for visitors is, but I can't image they'd appreciate it if you brought one.

Decades ago being the key word

Sorta like this thread.

[+TeamAtlas]

 

That's definitely not true here. Have one in your pocket? Expelled. Notice it in your pock and move it to your backpack, and they find it there? Expelled. Locker? Expelled. Car parked in the parking lot, locked, hidden in the glove box, and they know darn well you won't be going to your car all day? Expelled. No questions asked, period. Of course that's just around here.

 

EDIT for punctuation

 

EDIT AGAIN: OF course that only applies to students and faculty. I have no idea what the policy for visitors is, but I can't image they'd appreciate it if you brought one.

 

Same policy applies in my county as well. A couple years ago a senior was expelled 2 weeks before graduation because someone saw a hunting knife in the back of his truck. He'd gone hunting with his dad over the weekend and forgot the knife was back there. Caused a huge uproar with parents and kids alike, by them not allowing him to graduate. Personally I think it was huge deal over nothing, but I do understand the zero tolerance angle. What was so ironic was, a few months later there was a fund raising raffle at the same school, and one of the raffle prizes was a set of steak knives...

 

As far as leaving knives in caches, personally I have no problem with pocket knives, multi-tools, etc. An open knife maybe, but I see no harm in a pocket knife. I have two sons who each have a pocket knife. As a parent it is our job to educate our children about such things and more importantly, not let them rifle through a cache without our supervision.

[janx]

That's great, we try to leave good stuff too. However, it is often frustrating to see logs that say things like "the area had a ton of trash around it, we are not sure why anyone would put a cache here" or "the cache log was wet and moldy so we couldn't sign it" or "the cache was full of junk." These are all things that take time and energy to complain about. Although I have no expectations of everyone doing things like this, these are things that you can change if you choose to.

 

Instead of those negative logs, I feel like yelling "YES!" when I see logs like; "the area had trash all over it, we had planned to go find other area caches but instead our entire group when back to the car and got trash bags and we cleaned it up" or "the cache log was shot, replaced it with a new one and added a new pen" or " the swag in this cache was so depleted we had to CITO most of it because it was a health hazard. We dumped our entire swag bag into the cache and it looks great now."

 

These are the actions of people that I am truly honored to be associated with.

 

That's the gist of what I was thinking as well. Each of us should consider ourselves a "Cache Custodian", rather than a "Cache Cop".

 

By practice, that means:

try to leave the cache in better condition than you found it

remove prohibited items

replenish trinkets (if you can)

remove some trash from the area

replace a soggy logbook (and dry it and return it to owner)

add writing utensils if missing

 

It may be difficult to do all of them for every cache. Being prepared to do some of them would help keep caches better for everyone.

[AZcachemeister]

"the area had trash all over it, we had planned to go find other area caches but instead our entire group when back to the car and got trash bags and we cleaned it up" or "the cache log was shot, replaced it with a new one and added a new pen" or " the swag in this cache was so depleted we had to CITO most of it because it was a health hazard. We dumped our entire swag bag into the cache and it looks great now."

 

These are the actions of people that I am truly honored to be associated with.

 

I resemble that! Just never did ALL those things at ONE cache!

[+chrisandjanet]

As far as leaving knives in caches, personally I have no problem with pocket knives, multi-tools, etc. An open knife maybe, but I see no harm in a pocket knife. I have two sons who each have a pocket knife. As a parent it is our job to educate our children about such things and more importantly, not let them rifle through a cache without our supervision

.

 

AMEN to that!!!

[+Zop]

If you can't bring it into a courthouse, school room or on an airplane it probably shouldn't be in a cache.

JMHO

Up here the courts and schools allow anything with a blade less than six inches and without a fixed blade.

 

Here in the North Bay area CA, possession of a knife on school property is grounds for expulsion. Even a little tiny keychain sized pocket knife.

[+Renegade Knight]

... I have no idea what the policy for visitors is, but I can't image they'd appreciate it if you brought one.

Neither do I but when I do visit I slip my knife into my pocket so the clip doesn't show. No problems so far.

 

At all other times the clip is there for the world to see. Nobody ever says anything. A knife is just expected here. It's a tool. At work I have access to machetties, butcher knives and chainsaws. However I'm prohibited from bringing a pocket knife with a blade longer than 3" to work. On the other hand they would probably buy me a fixed blade knife as a tool if I asked.

[+Thin Air Freak]

Many years ago I did often times place small pocket knives / key fobs in caches. The blade was no more than 1 to 1½ inches long, much shorter than some of the letter openers I've found in caches. I have always carried a small pocket knife, and each one of my vehicles has at least 2. They are a very useful item to have (especially now days with the problems we all suffer with nano logs). I believe many people do carry, or at least have access to a knife of some sort when caching.

 

Yes, we all know that small box cutters have been used to take planes hostage, and yes, women are urged to use their keys as defensive weapons, and pens and pencils have been the cause of many serious injuries. (from what I've seen on the news, prisoners have a better selection of weapons in their cells than I could ever come up with to place in a cache) Cell phones have been attributed to a lot of home made bombs, but millions of people carry one. Thousands of children die each year due to choking on the small items I regularly find in caches. And I'm sure most serious Geocachers have suffered more injuries trying to locate a cache then from any of the items in a cache (I've drawn blood on several caches due to broken bottles, fences, thorns, tree limbs, or even an irrate mother robin protecting her brood). I've always tried to leave quality items that are useful to someone. I agree there has to be a certain level of protective standards in our sport. But I've also seen how untethered paranoia can damage our sport. We've all read articles where cache containers have caused the local bomb squads to be summoned, or people hiding or looking for caches near or on bridges or buildings have been stopped and questioned by LEO's. And the fact that many cities/towns/districts will not allow caches to be placed in their domain only stiffens the arguement that paranoia has effected Geocaching.

 

I do not trade knives anymore, but most of the time I do not trade items at all (the missus still goes goo-goo gaa-gaa over some trinkets). It's too much of a hassle. As much as I dislike micros and nanos, I enjoy their simplicity and lack of swag. I'm in it for the search and find, not the trinkets

 

If people think the caches are full of "junk," then it is partially their responsibility to upgrade that level of swag in the cache. Trade up if items are seen as "junk." Or don't trade at all. I've spent a fortune on equipment (GPSr's, palms, software, etc), bags, proper clothing, and medicine (I should own stock in DEET and Ivy Block), So the $100 a year I spend for decent swag is nothing Never be afraid to add a pen or pencil. If the baggie is torn or in bad shape, replace it. If the container is broken or defective, fix or let owner know. If one feels that something in the cache is offensive/dangerous, then take it and replace it with something that is appropriate to the cache and the sport.

 

But all of this is just my opinion, and since I'm extremely insignificant in the grand scheme of things, it really doesn't matter what I think.

[+Thin Air Freak]

POSTED BY ME JULY 1, 2005

 

TOPIC:

"Your vision of the future of geocaching"

 

I am sure that in short time there will be a small percentage of individuals who will abuse this sport just like they do so many others. They will tear down the landscape to get to the hide, take what they want without replacing, and finish off their 6 pack on the way out to celebrate their ultimate victory. (of course they won’t carry the empties out)

Although there have been no cases yet, I am sure in time there will be some nut-case that will place a real bomb in a container in order to maim and cripple some unsuspecting cacher. After all, I’m sure most of us remember how fun Halloween used to be before razor blades and poison showed up in the candy. And to be honest, with all the CSI stuff on TV, I’m waiting for the first case of a dead body being hidden to be found as a cache.

Will all this cynicism keep me from enjoying this sport? NO WAY!! I still hunt and target shoot, I still ride my ATV and 4x4 when I get the chance, I still smoke, and if I had a cell phone I would probably use it while driving. If I’m not stopping all the other hobbies/sports I enjoy in spite of public opinion, I’ll be damned if I’m going to give up my GPS. Being one who has had many once enjoyable pleasures limited by social perceptions and knee jerk reactions, it is silly for all of us to say that social or political pressure cannot possibly curtail geocaching.

 

As Pogo says: “We have seen the enemy, and he is us.”

[+WatchDog2020]

I know they rules say "no knives" because small children participate. But shouldn't the PARENTS be responsible enough to not give it to the kid if they think there is an issue doing so. And before you say 'kids may Geocache alone'. If they are old enough and bright enough to use a GPS and wonder around by themselves, shouldn't they be old enough to find a small knife?

[+sbell111]

I know they rules say "no knives" because small children participate. But shouldn't the PARENTS be responsible enough to not give it to the kid if they think there is an issue doing so. And before you say 'kids may Geocache alone'. If they are old enough and bright enough to use a GPS and wonder around by themselves, shouldn't they be old enough to find a small knife?

That is not why the guidelines forbid knives.