Cache Removal Notice

[School Dude]

I am trying to locate the person responsible for placing the cache box on the playground at the Corvallis Waldorf School. This cache has been removed. Permission was not requested or granted to place this on school grounds. It is also inappropriate to place a military ammunition box on a playground.

 

The cache does not have any identifying numbers. If someone wants to claim this box for placement elsewhere let me know.

[+WeightMan]

I am trying to locate the person responsible for placing the cache box on the playground at the Corvallis Waldorf School. This cache has been removed. Permission was not requested or granted to place this on school grounds. It is also inappropriate to place a military ammunition box on a playground.

 

The cache does not have any identifying numbers. If someone wants to claim this box for placement elsewhere let me know.

If you are able to get a set of coordinates, it would be easier for the reviewers to figure out which cache it is. It is also possible that this cache was not reviewed for listing on geocaching.com as it does not meet guidelines. Those guidelines state that caches are not to be placed near a school, among other places.

[jholly]

I am trying to locate the person responsible for placing the cache box on the playground at the Corvallis Waldorf School. This cache has been removed. Permission was not requested or granted to place this on school grounds. It is also inappropriate to place a military ammunition box on a playground.

 

The cache does not have any identifying numbers. If someone wants to claim this box for placement elsewhere let me know.

 

I have no issue with the action you took.

 

I assume it is in Corvallis, OR? Nothing shows up near the co-ordinates for the school. Others are around but do not appear to be on school grounds. Was there a log book in the cache? Is there a name on the logbook? If there is a logbook, are there any signatures in the logbook? The reason I ask is this will help identify the possible owner. If the logbook is blank then the cache could be unpublished as of this date. Also there are other listing sites and this cache might be listed on those and not here. One last question, was there a rubber stamp in the cache? It could be a letterbox.

 

Edit: I have the co-ordinates as N44 35.895 W123 13.374 3855 NE Highway 20 Corvallis, OR 97330

 

Jim

Edited September 24, 2008 by jholly

[+Renegade Knight]

I am trying to locate the person responsible for placing the cache box on the playground at the Corvallis Waldorf School. This cache has been removed. Permission was not requested or granted to place this on school grounds. It is also inappropriate to place a military ammunition box on a playground.

 

The cache does not have any identifying numbers. If someone wants to claim this box for placement elsewhere let me know.

 

I have no issue with the action you took.

 

I assume it is in Corvallis, OR? Nothing shows up near the co-ordinates for the school. Others are around but do not appear to be on school grounds. Was there a log book in the cache? Is there a name on the logbook? If there is a logbook, are there any signatures in the logbook? The reason I ask is this will help identify the possible owner. If the logbook is blank then the cache could be unpublished as of this date. Also there are other listing sites and this cache might be listed on those and not here. One last question, was there a rubber stamp in the cache? It could be a letterbox.

 

Edit: I have the co-ordinates as N44 35.895 W123 13.374 3855 NE Highway 20 Corvallis, OR 97330

 

Jim

 

Good job on the homework. I don't mind the cache removal. It bothers me though that folks always kick in a judgment. My kids would have thought an ammo can the perfect lunchbox had I been caching when they were that age. Along somes someone who says "Ammo can's are not appropriate on school grounds". Eh? It brings up the question of "what exactly is an appropriate lunch box that could be left on the grounds?" Where can you find a cooler lunchbox for 3.99? Then the problem become evident.

[+TotemLake]

The reviewers have been advised and are looking into it.

[School Dude]

Thanks for the assistance. I do not have the coordinates, but someone else has posted them(via the address in Oregon). The cache does contain a logbook and an instruction sheet that refers to this website for questions or comments. I tried unsuccessfully to locate the cache using the names of people who have found it and then decided to post on the forum.

 

I would like to clarify that as an employee of the Corvallis Waldorf School one of my prime responsibilities is to provide a safe environment for the children attending. I respect that geocaching is an excellent family activity and am trying to return this cache to its owner. From the current postings I can see that the majority of geocachers understand what is and what is not appropriate in a school setting.

[Moun10Bike]

I did a search on those coordinates looking for active, unpublished and archived caches and came up empty on all fronts. There's a possibility that the coordinates are not correct or that we are talking the final location of a multi or puzzle cache, but nothing popped up nearby. I'll continue to investigate, but so far I am not seeing this as a cache listed on Geocaching.com.

[+TeamIDFC]

I tried unsuccessfully to locate the cache using the names of people who have found it and then decided to post on the forum.

If you can either post those user names and the dates they signed (or provide them to the moderators) there is a decent chance the underlying cache can be identified...

[Moun10Bike]

I should clarify my previous post: I found archived caches nearby, but in all cases they indicated that the container was no longer present. The closest of these was this cache, archived in June of last year. Another was this one, last found in 2004. The next closest caches (still all archived) show up as 0.4 miles away.

Edited September 25, 2008 by Moun10Bike

[+WeightMan]

I should clarify my previous post: I found archived caches nearby, but in all cases they indicated that the container was no longer present. The closest of these was this cache, archived in June of last year. Another was this one, last found in 2004. The next closest caches (still all archived) show up as 0.4 miles away.

Those links won't work for any other than admins.

Edited September 25, 2008 by Moun10Bike

[Moun10Bike]

Doh! Rookie mistake. I've fixed the links.

[jholly]

I did a search on those coordinates looking for active, unpublished and archived caches and came up empty on all fronts. There's a possibility that the coordinates are not correct or that we are talking the final location of a multi or puzzle cache, but nothing popped up nearby. I'll continue to investigate, but so far I am not seeing this as a cache listed on Geocaching.com.

 

I got the co-ordinates from Google Earth. I found the school through a google search and then plugged in the address to GE. Put a placemark there and got the co-ords from the placemark properties. It is approximate, placemarked the address. I could have put it more in the middle of the school grounds.

 

Some names and dates from the log would help the search.

 

Edit:Both listed are on the grounds of the school I found. The first one (Good day or bad?) could be a winner depending on when school dude picked up the can.

 

Jim

Edited September 25, 2008 by jholly

[+AndrewRJ]

You know, I wonder if the cache could have been found by a student on their walk to school or something similar, and then dumped on the grounds.

 

Just talkin out loud.

[+BoggyWoggy]

I am the one who placed the cache more than a year ago. I have sent a detailed letter to the original poster on this thread. The cache disappeared more than a year ago and I spent quite a bit of time trying to follow up. The original poster has all of the info, including the fact that I specifically spoke with a Waldorf office person and also offered to teach a course to any interested students/teachers. I am a teacher in the Corvallis School District.

The cache was not a military ammunition box. It was purchased at a local store (Bi_Mart) 2 1/2 years ago.

 

I am curious as to why this has arisen now, after 16months later? My geocaching name and personal e-mail address were included in the cache, as part of the agreement with the office person at the school. There was a growing interest with families at WS, which is why I brought the cache in ahead of time in order to get the approval. It was hidden off the ground, on a tree branch, very obviously (not well-hidden, in other words.) I live only 1 block from the location and followed up completely, including a letter to the school, via snail mail, letting them know I'd archived the cache when it went missing.

Edited September 25, 2008 by BoggyWoggy

[+TotemLake]

Sounds like there was a failure of communication.

Edited September 26, 2008 by TotemLake

[+hydnsek]

One explanation could be that it did go missing (vandalized) a year ago, and BoggyWoggy archived it. The perpetrators discarded the container in a different location on school grounds, minus the identifying paper, and now it's been found again. But "institutional knowledge" of the cache wasn't widespread enough for School Dude to know about it and connect the dots. My 2 cents.

Edited September 26, 2008 by hydnsek

[School Dude]

The earliest find on the log is 4/1/07. All the Staff members at our school that were here at that time, including myself, have no knowledge of this cache. Maybe a parent volunteer was the contact person in the office at that time. Most of the activity with this cache occurred during April and May of 2007. One person has found it since then (on 4/4/08). It was found by a Faculty member in blackberry bushes and is in a rusty MILITARY green box that states in yellow on the side 100 Cartridges CAL 50. This may be a different cache than the one that BoggyWoggy bought at Bi-Mart and hung in a tree. As I have stated before, there was no identifying information in the cache (number, e-mail, name).

 

My intent in posting on this site was to inform the geocaching community that an unwanted cache was found and it has been removed. I was also trying to return the box to its rightful owner and explain that without any prior knowledge of its origin, finding a rusty military ammo box in the bushes on a playground raises an alarm. Clearly marking "GEOCACHE" on the exterior of any boxes would help to prevent confusion. All I am asking is to please refrain from hiding anything on school grounds without written permission from the Administrator of the Corvallis Waldorf School.

 

The instruction sheet included in the cache ends with this statement:

"If this container needs to be removed for any reason, please let us know. We apologize, and will be happy to move it."

 

Thank you for the assistance provided in trying to locate the responsible party for this cache. Hopefully this thread will help to raise the awareness of appropriately placing a cache within communities.

[+Renegade Knight]

...

Edited September 26, 2008 by Renegade Knight

[+Renegade Knight]

...My intent in posting on this site was to inform the geocaching community that an unwanted cache was found and it has been removed. I was also trying to return the box to its rightful owner and explain that without any prior knowledge of its origin, finding a rusty military ammo box in the bushes on a playground raises an alarm. Clearly marking "GEOCACHE" on the exterior of any boxes would help to prevent confusion. All I am asking is to please refrain from hiding anything on school grounds without written permission from the Administrator of the Corvallis Waldorf School. ..

 

This is my theory: You have found a cache that was taken by a school kid and dumped on school grounds. In other words you have recovered stolen property and it's a good thing to try and get it back to it's owner. The cache is likely local, and was located within riding distance of the school, but wasn't on the school grounds.

 

As a general rule caches located on school property are not listed on this site. They are activly discouraged by the caching community for several reasons. Not the least of which is the potential for kids to find it, take it and dump it.

 

The sleuths who know the area can probably figure out which cache it was.

Edited September 26, 2008 by Renegade Knight

[+Dgwphotos]

 

As a general rule caches located on school property are not listed on this site. They are activly discouraged by the caching community for several reasons. Not the least of which is the potential for kids to find it, take it and dump it.

 

 

The admins won't approve such a cache, for the very circumstances discussed in this thread, either.

[+TheBeanTeam]

One explanation could be that it did go missing (vandalized) a year ago, and BoggyWoggy archived it. The perpetrators discarded the container in a different location on school grounds, minus the identifying paper, and now it's been found again. But "institutional knowledge" of the cache wasn't widespread enough for School Dude to know about it and connect the dots. My 2 cents.

 

Who were the last few finders. If they logged it online we should be able to find out which cache it is.

[+Celtic-Heart]

I haven't heard anyone say it yet, so I will. Thanks School Dude. That was VERY nice of you to try to contact the owner of the cache to return it. You clearly took the initiative and the time it took and thats very appreciated! Thought you should hear it.

CCC

[+TotemLake]

I haven't heard anyone say it yet, so I will. Thanks School Dude. That was VERY nice of you to try to contact the owner of the cache to return it. You clearly took the initiative and the time it took and thats very appreciated! Thought you should hear it.

CCC

Good catch!

 

Indeed! A big Thanks!

[School Dude]

Thanks for all the help and the thank you. I have been in contact with BoggyWoggy about the cache that may or may not be his/hers. From my end I am done with this issue but if you wold like to try and locate the cache I will provide some finders names.

5/6/07 Orygun Lady Bug

5/5/07 Trailhound & Trailfox

4/22/07 Bean Team

 

Once again, thanks for your assistance.

[+ZSandmann]

Good Day or Bad?

 

May 6, 2007 by orygunladybug (23 found)

thank-you.

[view this log on a separate page]

 

May 5, 2007 by Trailhound and Trailfox (489 found)

Easy find. A great idea for placement.

Took: TB

Left: Keychain

Signed log

[view this log on a separate page]

 

 

April 29, 2007 by ChazandMom (327 found)

Warm for a late spring day out cachin'. Only one for the day however - mainly had to make a TB drop.

[view this log on a separate page]

 

April 22, 2007 by BeavTeam (5761 found)

Good day, sun is out, air is warm, top is down, caching. Thanks

[view this log on a separate page]

 

[+Allanon]

This looks to be a good candidate: Good Day or Bad

[+TheBeanTeam]

Good Day or Bad?

 

 

That looks like it is the one. Looks like the assumption it was stolen and dumped on the school grounds is a pretty good one. It was nice of School Dude to post here so I will add my thanks as well.

 

Thanks