Attempt a FTF during a campus lockdown

[+2hypergirls]

Yesterday, I got a notifications of a just published caches. Made a mad dash out the door and had the gps locked and loaded. While driving (the hubs was driving) to the caches I realized that they were placed on a large university campus. I was reading on FB and discovered that the campus was on lockdown due to a gunman on campus. Having the kids with us and not feeling like dying we turned around and went home about 6 miles from the campus. I wrote a note on one of the log sheets about heading down there then realizing about the gunman we turned around. Hoping that other cachers would heed the warning and wait till all was clear. Apperently, that didn't stop two people for going after it. This college campus is huge and it is possible that the caches (there were 2 of them) were on the opposite end of the campus. But to me it just didn't make sense to risk it. Still can't believe that people would put their lives in danger for a FTF.

[+Ike 13]

If they were able to get to the caches then it was either a poorly maintained lock down or that section was not in lock down. Odds are the people did not know about the lock down and had no issues.

[+Mr.Benchmark]

Yesterday, I got a notifications of a just published caches. Made a mad dash out the door and had the gps locked and loaded. While driving (the hubs was driving) to the caches I realized that they were placed on a large university campus. I was reading on FB and discovered that the campus was on lockdown due to a gunman on campus. Having the kids with us and not feeling like dying we turned around and went home about 6 miles from the campus. I wrote a note on one of the log sheets about heading down there then realizing about the gunman we turned around. Hoping that other cachers would heed the warning and wait till all was clear. Apperently, that didn't stop two people for going after it. This college campus is huge and it is possible that the caches (there were 2 of them) were on the opposite end of the campus. But to me it just didn't make sense to risk it. Still can't believe that people would put their lives in danger for a FTF.

 

Hopefully they didn't know - there are people who pay just about zero attention to the news. (How would you have known if you hadn't happened to check facebook?)

 

The bigger problem with doing something like this if you knew about the gunmen is that you potentially put other people's lives in jeopardy.

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

I supposed it is possible that they didn't have access to FB, what? Perhaps too, they were listening to Sirius radio rather than local programming.

That aside, you don't really think that advances in technology actually make people any smarter, do you?

[+Scubasonic]

Yesterday, I got a notifications of a just published caches. Made a mad dash out the door and had the gps locked and loaded. While driving (the hubs was driving) to the caches I realized that they were placed on a large university campus. I was reading on FB and discovered that the campus was on lockdown due to a gunman on campus. Having the kids with us and not feeling like dying we turned around and went home about 6 miles from the campus. I wrote a note on one of the log sheets about heading down there then realizing about the gunman we turned around. Hoping that other cachers would heed the warning and wait till all was clear. Apperently, that didn't stop two people for going after it. This college campus is huge and it is possible that the caches (there were 2 of them) were on the opposite end of the campus. But to me it just didn't make sense to risk it. Still can't believe that people would put their lives in danger for a FTF.

 

It seems to me that it is always the person that didn't get the FTF complaining about ones that did for whatever reason, with lots of details left out of the post, and we here are trying to wade through the situation, to really find out what happened. There are always 2 sides to the story, we are only hearing one.

You turned around you made the choice to not go after the FTF so live with it. If NOT getting the FTF bothers you that much, that you have to come on a forum and complain about it, looking for sympathy I would suggest that you find a different facet of the Geocaching game that does not get you so upset. If you can't handle heat stay away from the fire. JMO

[+dprovan]

Still can't believe that people would put their lives in danger for a FTF.

Your concern is touching. Let us know if anything happened to them.

[+SwineFlew]

The other cacher(s) knew there was a gunman on the campus.

 

FTF log

 

Cache in Question.

 

The other cache on the same campus.

[+Don_J]

Yesterday, I got a notifications of a just published caches. Made a mad dash out the door and had the gps locked and loaded. While driving (the hubs was driving) to the caches I realized that they were placed on a large university campus. I was reading on FB and discovered that the campus was on lockdown due to a gunman on campus. Having the kids with us and not feeling like dying we turned around and went home about 6 miles from the campus. I wrote a note on one of the log sheets about heading down there then realizing about the gunman we turned around. Hoping that other cachers would heed the warning and wait till all was clear. Apperently, that didn't stop two people for going after it. This college campus is huge and it is possible that the caches (there were 2 of them) were on the opposite end of the campus. But to me it just didn't make sense to risk it. Still can't believe that people would put their lives in danger for a FTF.

 

It seems to me that it is always the person that didn't get the FTF complaining about ones that did for whatever reason, with lots of details left out of the post, and we here are trying to wade through the situation, to really find out what happened. There are always 2 sides to the story, we are only hearing one.

You turned around you made the choice to not go after the FTF so live with it. If NOT getting the FTF bothers you that much, that you have to come on a forum and complain about it, looking for sympathy I would suggest that you find a different facet of the Geocaching game that does not get you so upset. If you can't handle heat stay away from the fire. JMO

 

Failed comprehension?

No where in that post did anyone express displeasure for not getting a FTF. They were expressing their surprise that someone would risk a confrontation with a gunman simply to get a FTF.

 

I find it hard to believe that you still haven't figured out that not everyone shares your compulsion for FTFs. Instead of actually reading the words in the message, you simply wrote it off as another complaint about FTF'ers and responded as expected.

[+Sol seaker]

Some different kinds of responses here (read: strange) but I guess that might be expected when you really didn't make clear what you wanted from these forums in response.

 

Was there a question there?

 

Sure some people are mad about FTF, but 1. they likely didn't know about the situation, and 2. if the roads onto the campus weren't blocked, it really wasn't much of a lock down. If it were that dangerous police should have been blocking the roads.

 

The situation was likely over with or on another part of campus.

We don't have any more information to go on here.

This seems to be a thread of wild speculation at this time. We really don't have any information.

[+The A-Team]

If they were able to get to the caches then it was either a poorly maintained lock down or that section was not in lock down.

This.

If the location of the caches was part of the lockdown, cachers wouldn't be able to get to it at all. The fact that they were able to access the caches tells me that the area in question was not part of the lockdown, so there was no problem with them going for and getting the FTFs. There's also the possibility that the lockdown had already ended by the time the FTFer got there.

Like Scubasonic said, we've only got half the story.

[+SwineFlew]

If they were able to get to the caches then it was either a poorly maintained lock down or that section was not in lock down.

This.

If the location of the caches was part of the lockdown, cachers wouldn't be able to get to it at all. The fact that they were able to access the caches tells me that the area in question was not part of the lockdown, so there was no problem with them going for and getting the FTFs. There's also the possibility that the lockdown had already ended by the time the FTFer got there.

Like Scubasonic said, we've only got half the story.

The lockdown was ended Sunday night (8:45 p.m) and the FTF took a pic of himself with the cache in daylight. What I read was the whole campus was locked down but if thats the case, they did a poor job of it.

[+Max and 99]

Yesterday, I got a notifications of a just published caches. Made a mad dash out the door and had the gps locked and loaded. While driving (the hubs was driving) to the caches I realized that they were placed on a large university campus. I was reading on FB and discovered that the campus was on lockdown due to a gunman on campus. Having the kids with us and not feeling like dying we turned around and went home about 6 miles from the campus. I wrote a note on one of the log sheets about heading down there then realizing about the gunman we turned around. Hoping that other cachers would heed the warning and wait till all was clear. Apperently, that didn't stop two people for going after it. This college campus is huge and it is possible that the caches (there were 2 of them) were on the opposite end of the campus. But to me it just didn't make sense to risk it. Still can't believe that people would put their lives in danger for a FTF.

 

I know it may be hard to believe, but not everyone uses Facebook. If you hadn't checked Facebook, you would have gone after the cache as well! And just because YOU posted a note on the "log sheet" doesn't mean other caches got it! I may have gotten the notification email and immediately headed out the door, completely unaware that a notification was placed on Facebook and that YOU posted a note on the cache page.

 

I probably would have emailed the FTFers to say "You dummies! Didn't you know the campus was on lockdown? Glad you made it out of there alive!"

[+The Jester]

The other cacher(s) knew there was a gunman on the campus.

 

FTF log

 

Cache in Question.

 

The other cache on the same campus.

But when did they know about the gunman? They could have read the note just before posting their Found log and never knew about the gunman until after getting back home.

 

Their logs show flippant bravado, not what I want to hear from someone who is packing (I assume) - but that's another topic in itself.

[+The A-Team]

The lockdown was ended Sunday night (8:45 p.m) and the FTF took a pic of himself with the cache in daylight.

Fair enough. We still don't know for sure that the FTF went into the area knowing of the lockdown. It's obvious that it wasn't a true lockdown of the entire campus, or they wouldn't have been able to get in at all. He may have learned of the lockdown only after he got home and saw the OP's note, at which point he made a comment about the gunman in his logs.

Again, without the FTFer's participation in this topic, all we can do is wildly speculate, just like that off-road area topic a few weeks ago.

[+lamoracke]

yeah, I could easily see this. One is somewhere, gets a notification, loads the cache. Arrive at campus. Would not have heard about the lockdown because one did not have the radio on nor was on facebook. Walked into campus without knowing there was any to-do nearby. Went home. Was going to log cache and then saw the note about a lockdown. One's mind could have been, "what lockdown?" Sounds like the logger could have just logged a little bit of a flippant adrenalin log. That log does not imply to me they knew there was a lockdown at the time. We do not know.

 

Interesting though, would certainly make me wonder if they knew if I was around there and in your shoes. Nothing one could do about it either way, but I would have loved to know for curiosity if nothing else if it was a cache I tried on and was denied for such a reason.

[+Ambient_Skater]

Was there even a lockdown at all? Sometimes the media will report "alert" or cautionary modes as lockdowns because it's easier than explaining there's a possible situation occurring. As for people putting their lives in danger for a FTF, I'd believe it. Some people take the game way too seriously, and most of them are interested in FTFs. That said, entering a campus that's in pseudo-lockdown (or whatever) is about as dangerous as pulling out a USB drive without choosing Safely Remove, so I wouldn't worry too much about it.

Edited April 30, 2012 by Ambient_Skater

[+SwineFlew]

Another possibility to keep in mind what time the notifications of the two published caches on the campus was send out. Was the FTF was on the campus before the lockdown took place?

 

During my college years, I been on a campus during a lockdown (bomb threat) and everybody was to leave but nobody was able to get in.

 

Looking at the map, there is a large group of apartments on the far southwest of the campus of where the two caches was placed. I got a feeling they didnt really have a true lockdown but just lockdown part of the campus.

[Pup Patrol]

Video, too:

 

http://www.fox10tv.com/dpp/news/local_news/mobile_county/gunman-loose-on-usa-campus

 

USA campus given 'all-clear', one suspect still on the loose

 

Updated: Monday, 30 Apr 2012, 10:28 AM CDT

Published : Sunday, 29 Apr 2012, 3:47 PM CDT

 

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) - The USA campus went into lockdown around 3 p.m. Sunday when students were notified that a gunman was loose on the campus, officials have said two suspects were involved in an armed robbery.

 

Officials said a shot was fired during the armed robbery in one of the dorms, but no one was injured. They said a student's guest, who was not a student, robbed him of about $1,000 and his cell phone at the Delta 4 dormitory.

 

Freshman Colby Maddox said the victim, a freshman, is his friend.

 

"My man got tied up," Maddox said.

 

Maddox lives in Stokes Hall, which is right across from the Delta Dormitory. Maddox was standing outside when he saw the suspect run into his building.

 

When the gunman entered, students in the building were told to leave. Armed police officers started a search of the building, door-to-door.

 

Zoe Goodnight was in her dorm room when she heard police announce the potentially dangerous situation over the campus loudspeakers.

 

"All the police were out here. I was told to go back in my dorm and to stay in my room, and I heard everybody in the hallway," she said.

 

One suspect was taken away by campus police during the search, but they said another was involved.

 

The other suspect has not been arrested, but the same loudspeaker system that announced the original lockdown has since released an all-clear announcement.

 

USA police have asked that anyone who has information on the incident or sees suspicious activity should call USA police at (251) 460-6312.

 

 

B.

[+J the Goat]

Yesterday, I got a notifications of a just published caches. Made a mad dash out the door and had the gps locked and loaded. While driving (the hubs was driving) to the caches I realized that they were placed on a large university campus. I was reading on FB and discovered that the campus was on lockdown due to a gunman on campus. Having the kids with us and not feeling like dying we turned around and went home about 6 miles from the campus. I wrote a note on one of the log sheets about heading down there then realizing about the gunman we turned around. Hoping that other cachers would heed the warning and wait till all was clear. Apperently, that didn't stop two people for going after it. This college campus is huge and it is possible that the caches (there were 2 of them) were on the opposite end of the campus. But to me it just didn't make sense to risk it. Still can't believe that people would put their lives in danger for a FTF.

 

It seems to me that it is always the person that didn't get the FTF complaining about ones that did for whatever reason, with lots of details left out of the post, and we here are trying to wade through the situation, to really find out what happened. There are always 2 sides to the story, we are only hearing one.

You turned around you made the choice to not go after the FTF so live with it. If NOT getting the FTF bothers you that much, that you have to come on a forum and complain about it, looking for sympathy I would suggest that you find a different facet of the Geocaching game that does not get you so upset. If you can't handle heat stay away from the fire. JMO

 

Failed comprehension?

No where in that post did anyone express displeasure for not getting a FTF. They were expressing their surprise that someone would risk a confrontation with a gunman simply to get a FTF.

 

I find it hard to believe that you still haven't figured out that not everyone shares your compulsion for FTFs. Instead of actually reading the words in the message, you simply wrote it off as another complaint about FTF'ers and responded as expected.

 

This exactly.

[+BBWolf+3Pigs]

Yesterday, I got a notifications of a just published caches. Made a mad dash out the door and had the gps locked and loaded. While driving (the hubs was driving) to the caches I realized that they were placed on a large university campus. I was reading on FB and discovered that the campus was on lockdown due to a gunman on campus. Having the kids with us and not feeling like dying we turned around and went home about 6 miles from the campus. I wrote a note on one of the log sheets about heading down there then realizing about the gunman we turned around. Hoping that other cachers would heed the warning and wait till all was clear. Apperently, that didn't stop two people for going after it. This college campus is huge and it is possible that the caches (there were 2 of them) were on the opposite end of the campus. But to me it just didn't make sense to risk it. Still can't believe that people would put their lives in danger for a FTF.

 

It seems to me that it is always the person that didn't get the FTF complaining about ones that did for whatever reason, with lots of details left out of the post, and we here are trying to wade through the situation, to really find out what happened. There are always 2 sides to the story, we are only hearing one.

You turned around you made the choice to not go after the FTF so live with it. If NOT getting the FTF bothers you that much, that you have to come on a forum and complain about it, looking for sympathy I would suggest that you find a different facet of the Geocaching game that does not get you so upset. If you can't handle heat stay away from the fire. JMO

 

Failed comprehension?

No where in that post did anyone express displeasure for not getting a FTF. They were expressing their surprise that someone would risk a confrontation with a gunman simply to get a FTF.

 

I find it hard to believe that you still haven't figured out that not everyone shares your compulsion for FTFs. Instead of actually reading the words in the message, you simply wrote it off as another complaint about FTF'ers and responded as expected.

 

+1. Seems like Scubasonic was doing more complaining than the OP:

 

But to me it just didn't make sense to risk it. Still can't believe that people would put their lives in danger for a FTF.

 

Sounds to me like she just couldn't comprehend the lengths some folks go to, to get an unimportant "title".

[+Flintstone5611]

Yesterday, I got a notifications of a just published caches. Made a mad dash out the door and had the gps locked and loaded. While driving (the hubs was driving) to the caches I realized that they were placed on a large university campus. I was reading on FB and discovered that the campus was on lockdown due to a gunman on campus. Having the kids with us and not feeling like dying we turned around and went home about 6 miles from the campus. I wrote a note on one of the log sheets about heading down there then realizing about the gunman we turned around. Hoping that other cachers would heed the warning and wait till all was clear. Apperently, that didn't stop two people for going after it. This college campus is huge and it is possible that the caches (there were 2 of them) were on the opposite end of the campus. But to me it just didn't make sense to risk it. Still can't believe that people would put their lives in danger for a FTF.

 

It seems to me that it is always the person that didn't get the FTF complaining about ones that did for whatever reason, with lots of details left out of the post, and we here are trying to wade through the situation, to really find out what happened. There are always 2 sides to the story, we are only hearing one.

You turned around you made the choice to not go after the FTF so live with it. If NOT getting the FTF bothers you that much, that you have to come on a forum and complain about it, looking for sympathy I would suggest that you find a different facet of the Geocaching game that does not get you so upset. If you can't handle heat stay away from the fire. JMO

 

Failed comprehension?

No where in that post did anyone express displeasure for not getting a FTF. They were expressing their surprise that someone would risk a confrontation with a gunman simply to get a FTF.

 

I find it hard to believe that you still haven't figured out that not everyone shares your compulsion for FTFs. Instead of actually reading the words in the message, you simply wrote it off as another complaint about FTF'ers and responded as expected.

 

+1. Seems like Scubasonic was doing more complaining than the OP:

 

But to me it just didn't make sense to risk it. Still can't believe that people would put their lives in danger for a FTF.

 

Sounds to me like she just couldn't comprehend the lengths some folks go to, to get an unimportant "title".

If we all had the same info. Again there is a lot of presumption in the OP's comments. It does seem that the cacher was not in any real danger and never ran into any authorities that would have told them otherwise. There is nothing strange about this except that the OP knew something the FTFer may not have. Even if he did, it was clear that this as an over reaction based on the video, it was confined to one dormitory.

[+DragonsWest]

I'm expecting any one of these years some geocacher is going to feature in the Darwin Awards

[+SwineFlew]

I'm expecting any one of these years some geocacher is going to feature in the Darwin Awards

I fear it will happen someday. Some people sold their soul to the FTF game.

[+Flintstone5611]

I fear it will happen someday. Some people sold their soul to the FTF game.

That's hilarious! I think there is a slight over inflation of the whole issue, but I am glad that you have a dramatic outlet for yourself. "sold their soul"... Classic!

[+2hypergirls]

LOL DragonsWest. No I was not complaining just stating what had happened yesterday. Isn't that what these boards are for?

[+DragonsWest]

LOL DragonsWest. No I was not complaining just stating what had happened yesterday. Isn't that what these boards are for?

 

And I'm simply making an observation and posing a theory, based upon probability and behavior. At some point opportunities will intersect, the larger the population the sooner it is likely to happen and we have a lot of geocachers out there. Those who will stray into potentially dangerous setting, whether it's for FTF or a find period, further accelerate the eventuality.

 

Back when we started playing this game, I don't think many thought it would last long and few, if any, foresaw the eventuality that friends and acquaintances, who played the game, would pass on - unrelated to the game. Now we have seen people die on the trail and possibly from falls while in pursuit of a find.

 

I'm a big believer in the idea that you need only one ticket to win a lottery, you're not in the game without one. More tickets improve your probability incredibly tiny amounts. To come to harm or and early end as a geocacher, all you needed was one find -- you're in the game -- though pursuing each individual find exposes the geocacher to hazards of driving, cycling, hiking, animals, spiders, insects, stray bullets or lightning bolts. Knowing the risks, I'll accept some, but I'm not keen on pressing my luck.

[Ian's Dad]

Check here for the map of the campus.

 

http://www.southalabama.edu/usamaps/campusmap.pdf

 

Look for the #30 [Dormitory where assault/robbery occurred]

 

One cache was located at the #105 and the other was in the middle of the parking lot just under the #4.

 

Yes I knew about the GUNman [NOT shooter] there is a HUGE difference. No I was not "packing" as "assumed" because even with a permit to carry concealed that would be illegal on a college campus without express written permission from USAPD. USAPD had no road blocks up nor did I observe them at anytime while on campus.

 

"flippant bravado"...hmmm...sticks/n/stones

 

Not that I have to explain, but I am prior military and am more than capable of "observing/scanning my sector" and being more than keenly aware of my surrounding(s).

 

2hypergirls and I have shared a co-FTF and she has placed a cache that I got a FTF on...at least she can claim she has placed one, I can't. She is a wonderful person and mother because she had her children with her and made her protective decision. No, my son was not with me.

 

To be honest though...I place myself in greater harm just doing my job than hunting for a cache; with our without a perp in the area. If you want to know what my job is then take the time to check my profile.

 

If you want to ask me exactly what happened with regard to the "Lockdown-FTF Fiasco in Mobile"...just message me via GC...that's why it is available. Want to "friend" me through GC please do...can never have too many. As for Facebook, I only subscribe to caching related groups and am friends only with other cachers...other than that it is a major pain due to the drama and BS...much like forums.

 

Since I won't be observing this thread after this response if you have any questions message me as described above...otherwise...carry on as usual. That is all. Oh and "Nuts!"