Another geocache bomb scare

[+Ma & Pa]

http://www.niagarafallsreview.ca/2014/05/20/geocache-leads-to-bomb-scare-in-niagara

[+Lil Devil]

This is the cache.

[+Lil Devil]

Been around for 6.5 years and almost 900 logged visits.

[+TriciaG]

Watch out for those skirt lifters!

[+SwineFlew]

http://www.niagarafallsreview.ca/2014/05/20/geocache-leads-to-bomb-scare-in-niagara

Wow, what a boat load of drama going on in the comment section.

[Mr.Yuck]

Finally, after all these years, a local one to me! A different Country, but 13.7 miles from my home coordinates. Although that cache was on my ignore list (as is pretty much anything in a parking lot), I have driven by that location dozens of times. It's a very busy "welcome to Canada" tourist information Center. I'm actually shocked it lasted so long, and almost 900 people had found it. You would think getting permission would not have been a problem here, but I'm sure there was none.

[+Touchstone]

http://www.niagarafallsreview.ca/2014/05/20/geocache-leads-to-bomb-scare-in-niagara

Wow, what a boat load of drama going on in the comment section.

 

Oh my! So that's what an Unmoderated thread looks like

[+Ms.Scrabbler]

It must not be your ordinary LP cache with 11 favorites.

[+Manville Possum]

Finally, after all these years, a local one to me! A different Country, but 13.7 miles from my home coordinates. Although that cache was on my ignore list (as is pretty much anything in a parking lot), I have driven by that location dozens of times. It's a very busy "welcome to Canada" tourist information Center. I'm actually shocked it lasted so long, and almost 900 people had found it. You would think getting permission would not have been a problem here, but I'm sure there was none.

Well, after following the link and reading the comments from all of the clueless that claim to be experts bantering it out about what geocaching is,..... it is understandable. I did see a post form one geocacher named "Jim" that makes sense, but I think it is useless to try and explain to that crowd what geocaching is about, they seem to think that they already know. The real experts are here in this forum.

 

I do agree with you that permission was not granted, but this is a old cache, not a new one. I would think that a new listing without permission would raise more concern. I can imagine a noob with their very first FTF doing the drunkin' bee dance with war whoops, but that does not paint the image of a mad bomber in my mind. A suspected drug drop maybe, but not a terrorist blowing up a lamp post.

[Keystone]

I read the history in the archived pre-publication reviewer notes. I am very, very proud of the work done by my colleague as the publishing reviewer. He gave the cache owner quite the grilling. The cache owner poo-poo'd the reviewer's concerns about the proximity to the border crossing. The eventual published location was a good distance away from the originally proposed spot. The permission word was tossed around more times than a volleyball on a beach. The record is unclear about what permission was obtained, as some of the correspondence took place outside the cache page.

[4wheelin_fool]

So if someone was to place a bomb, in theory they could leave it in a busy area for 7 years, and make over 800 visits to check on it, before anyone would notice? Would they use stealth?

[+Manville Possum]

I read the history in the archived pre-publication reviewer notes. I am very, very proud of the work done by my colleague as the publishing reviewer. He gave the cache owner quite the grilling. The cache owner poo-poo'd the reviewer's concerns about the proximity to the border crossing. The eventual published location was a good distance away from the originally proposed spot. The permission word was tossed around more times than a volleyball on a beach. The record is unclear about what permission was obtained, as some of the correspondence took place outside the cache page.

 

Just for the record, I support Groundspeak reviewers.

[+Ike 13]

Just curious if permission was obtained do you think the bomb squad would check with the Welcome Center first? I don't think they would. I feel like once they get a call of a suspicious package they just jump into blow it up mode and almost nothing can stop that.

[Mr.Yuck]

I read the history in the archived pre-publication reviewer notes. I am very, very proud of the work done by my colleague as the publishing reviewer. He gave the cache owner quite the grilling. The cache owner poo-poo'd the reviewer's concerns about the proximity to the border crossing. The eventual published location was a good distance away from the originally proposed spot. The permission word was tossed around more times than a volleyball on a beach. The record is unclear about what permission was obtained, as some of the correspondence took place outside the cache page.

 

Just for the record, I support Groundspeak reviewers.

 

Who doesn't? Speaking of which, reviewer CacheDrone only disabled the cache, and his disable note almost seemed to imply that there was permission way back when. But then the owner came along and archived the cache without comment. Well, he did comment, but that comment was "Archived".

[+Crow-T-Robot]

I found that cache in 2010 and while I normally wouldn't call a LPC cache "fun", but this one was. I had arrived at a perfect time at the border (ie, almost noone else crossing), so there wasn't anyone at the Welcome Center when I stopped. Shame it bit the dust...I'm sure a lot of cachers got their first cache on Canadian soil at that spot, as I did.

 

[+Ms.Scrabbler]

I found that cache in 2010 and while I normally wouldn't call a LPC cache "fun", but this one was. I had arrived at a perfect time at the border (ie, almost noone else crossing), so there wasn't anyone at the Welcome Center when I stopped. Shame it bit the dust...I'm sure a lot of cachers got their first cache on Canadian soil at that spot, as I did.

I'm really curious, what made the LPC fun? 11 favorites, it must be good.

[4wheelin_fool]

I found that cache in 2010 and while I normally wouldn't call a LPC cache "fun", but this one was. I had arrived at a perfect time at the border (ie, almost noone else crossing), so there wasn't anyone at the Welcome Center when I stopped. Shame it bit the dust...I'm sure a lot of cachers got their first cache on Canadian soil at that spot, as I did.

I'm really curious, what made the LPC fun? 11 favorites, it must be good.

 

11 favorites out of 800 finds is not too unusual. This one apparently had a decoy which made it a little different. Anything out of the ordinary in a high traffic area will rack up favorites.

[Mr.Yuck]

I found that cache in 2010 and while I normally wouldn't call a LPC cache "fun", but this one was. I had arrived at a perfect time at the border (ie, almost noone else crossing), so there wasn't anyone at the Welcome Center when I stopped. Shame it bit the dust...I'm sure a lot of cachers got their first cache on Canadian soil at that spot, as I did.

I'm really curious, what made the LPC fun? 11 favorites, it must be good.

 

11 favorites out of 800 finds is not too unusual. This one apparently had a decoy which made it a little different. Anything out of the ordinary in a high traffic area will rack up favorites.

 

I know three people who found it together, but only one of them would remember it, or any other cache very specifically. But it would take days before he responded to my email. There are tons of pictures of the actual cache in the gallery, and it looks like a metal tin, which could be argued is a small, not a micro. Probably had a film canister under the skirt decoy. Just guessing.

 

All that being said, a cache with 900 finds that was probably several people's first cache in Canada would rack up 11 points easily, even if it was a film canister at a border Wally world, with a wet lump of paper as the log.

[+NYPaddleCacher]

I found that cache in 2010 and while I normally wouldn't call a LPC cache "fun", but this one was. I had arrived at a perfect time at the border (ie, almost noone else crossing), so there wasn't anyone at the Welcome Center when I stopped. Shame it bit the dust...I'm sure a lot of cachers got their first cache on Canadian soil at that spot, as I did.

I'm really curious, what made the LPC fun? 11 favorites, it must be good.

 

11 favorites out of 800 finds is not too unusual. This one apparently had a decoy which made it a little different. Anything out of the ordinary in a high traffic area will rack up favorites.

 

It's also just over the Canadian border and for many, might be their first find in Canada. It might be their only international find. For that, some people might give it a favorite.

 

A favorite point doesn't necessarily mean that it's fun. A favorite point could just mean that it was in somehow "special" compared to some persons finds.

[+Chief301]

Out of 900 finds I suppose it's very possible that there were a good number of cachers who had never seen an LPC before, so to them it was a really neat hide and worthy of a Fave point. Just a theory. Then there's the border aspect....I'd probably give a Fave point to my very first cache in a new country because it was noteworthy to me, even if the cache itself was fairly ordinary.

 

But it's still an LPC. Aren't bomb squads supposed to blow these things up? 😜. One less LPC in the world wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing....

[4wheelin_fool]

Out of 900 finds I suppose it's very possible that there were a good number of cachers who had never seen an LPC before, so to them it was a really neat hide and worthy of a Fave point. Just a theory. Then there's the border aspect....I'd probably give a Fave point to my very first cache in a new country because it was noteworthy to me, even if the cache itself was fairly ordinary.

 

But it's still an LPC. Aren't bomb squads supposed to blow these things up? 😜. One less LPC in the world wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing....

 

Apparently geocaching, along with the bomb squads, have inadvertantly stumbled upon a very basic design flaw which poses a likely threat. Perhaps all new lampposts should be built differently, and existing ones in problematic areas repaired, but the responsibility ultimately lies with the property owner. In some areas that style of removable bolt anchor cover does not exist.