Town Attitude & Cache Maggots

[+Renegade Knight]

I live in a blue collar town. The kids hate it, the adults hate it, the city officials dislike their ignorant citizens, and the citizens can't stand their city officials. Tax is high, service is low, and all solutions involve increasingly inventive tax schemes that the residents continue to vote no on. Everybody whines, nobody learns, and life goes on exactly as before.

 

A very popular website sprang up about how pathetic the town is. This website got national attention. The area is a recreational paradise and within driving distance of several other nationally recognized recreational paradises.

 

As it happens we have a cache maggot on the loose and looking at the town it really doesn’t surprise me one bit. In addition to the maggot we have one or two other individuals who move caches and run interference without actually stealing caches.

 

In areas with a cache maggot out stealing caches is the towns attitude about itself bad? I’m wondering if there is a correlation.

[+rusty_tlc]

Sounds like the town I grew up in.

 

Kids (all ages) have few choices for recreation in those places. Hasseling cachers sounds like it is becoming a passtime with the locals in your neck of the woods. I could see this happening in any small community.

 

My suggestion is to try to get drinking related events for the local muggles. A passed out muggle is harmless.

How about "Octoberfest in July!" or "JD Chug-a-Lug World Championship".

[+DeskJocky]

I guess people are just products of their enviornments...

[+carleenp]

Hard to say, but I know that my area has had few problems, and people generally really like the city and like living here. I do suppose that happy people are less likely to do bad things. Also being a cache maggot just doesn't fit with the midwestern attitude very well.

[+Renegade Knight]

Hard to say, but I know that my area has had few problems, and people generally really like the city and like living here. I do suppose that happy people are less likely to do bad things. Also being a cache maggot just doesn't fit with the midwestern attitude very well.

You are right, in generall it doesn't at all. It's strange coming from places where people like their community to a town that doesn't. Most of Idaho would not trade their town for anyplace else on earth unless it was another town in Idaho.

[+Stump]

I don't think there's a connection. Aberdeen, WA is as pathetic of a town as you'll find in the Northwest. It is, after all, the birthplace of grunge music (love the music, but you don't get that kind of attitude growing up in a healty community). But we've had great success with caches there. And only one in the area was plundered by people in the year I've cached and that was because it was in a really bad location (could have been taken because it looked like litter!).

 

Also, Vancouver Canada seems to have a big problem with cache pirates and that's a city that's rated highly.

[+cacheKidds]

We had a maggot problem in central Iowa but have had none in the crime cesspool that is SE Virginia.

[+Team GPSaxophone]

Hard to say, but I know that my area has had few problems, and people generally really like the city and like living here. I do suppose that happy people are less likely to do bad things. Also being a cache maggot just doesn't fit with the midwestern attitude very well.

You are right, in generall it doesn't at all. It's strange coming from places where people like their community to a town that doesn't. Most of Idaho would not trade their town for anyplace else on earth unless it was another town in Idaho.

How can you trade one non-existent town for another?

[+CurmudgeonlyGal]

It's a state of mind, Sax.

[Cholo]

Most of Idaho would not trade their town for anyplace else on earth unless it was another town in Idaho.

And dontcha just love it when Oprah says "Idaho"?

[+New England n00b]

Most of Idaho would not trade their town for anyplace else on earth unless it was another town in Idaho.

And dontcha just love it when Oprah says "Idaho"?

Never heard her say it. What's the punchline?

[+Robespierre]

I live in a blue collar town. The kids hate it, the adults hate it, the city officials dislike their ignorant citizens, and the citizens can't stand their city officials. Tax is high, service is low, and all solutions involve increasingly inventive tax schemes that the residents continue to vote no on. Everybody whines, nobody learns, and life goes on exactly as before.

 

Sounds like some schools where I sub.

 

So, what's worse: bored spoiled rich kids? rowdy farm boys? bored angry poor kids? Housewives? Ninja Hamsters?

[+clearpath]

As it happens we have a cache maggot on the loose and looking at the town it really doesn’t surprise me one bit.  In addition to the maggot we have one or two other individuals who move caches and run interference without actually stealing caches.

 

The situation you describe could be a by-product of the environment surrounding a bigger issue however, I'm guessing the cache maggot is a male aged 18-27 with way too much time on his hands. The person moving your caches could easily be identified by reviewing logs unless of course they don't log their finds. I guess also it could be your cache maggot on the loose. I gotta think this maggot will lose interest when he, a.) finds a girlfriend or b.) gets a real job, or c.) mysteriously disappears, wink, wink ....

[Zoptrop]

or c.) mysteriously disappears, wink, wink ....

 

Meet my friend, "Mr. Baseball Bat". He'd like to discuss with you recent events...

 

Actually it's all relative. When I was a hard-core mountain biker (now I'm just a 'soft-core' mountain biker) we had a similar problem with people moving trails. Really. They'd come out and re-engineer entire sections of a trail that, they, deemed too difficult. Of course, the very next day we'd be out in force undoing their handywork and daring any of the yellow-belly newbie DH sissies to say something.

 

It was a matter of persistence. We stayed on top of it and didn't let any minor changes creep up. Kinda like the broken windows theory. Stay on it and keep putting your caches back - don't let them win.

[ATMouse]

In my county (all 48,000 or so) some cachers and I have been trying to talk up the sport, placing caches, etc. and a local HS gym teacher decided to get some of her classes caching. Well, to make a long story short, one of my caches that the classes (she has taken several groups out) found was taken.

 

This was a cache (Workin' on the B & S RR) that had DNF on it. It wasn't near any homes and the chances of anyone seeing the cache was slim to none. I ended up calling the teacher (whom I know) and talking to her about it.

 

I'll say the same here that I said to her: it is worth the risk that some idjit comes back and does damage to attract newbies to the sport. However, my heart is heavy and I'm not happy and I'd like to borrow "Mr. Baseball Bat" for a few seconds (irrational, but so sad, so true.) The student they suspect had been sullen and hadn't wanted to go.

 

In addition, brownout's "One Sorry 'Saurus" was vandelized shortly after this same school group(s) found it.

 

What a pain.

 

ATMouse

[+bblhed]

Ya know, it kind of makes you wonder, if someone would pay about $100+ on a GPSr just so they can go out and take caches, that is about as dumb as it gets. On the other hand I have told people about the hobby, and they act like I should be retreveing piles of cash and gold coins for my efforts. I do know a few people that cache and don't log because they are hikers and it is more about being there than anything else. People that just take caches are already out the $100+ for a GPSr, so if they bother you that much, switch to Micros, small, EZ to replace, hard to find, and cheep. I am mostly a log book cacher myself, there has to be something really cool for me to trade (Geogaching magnets and stickers are a favorite with me). Try to remember the point is to get people to go to places that they might not know about and see the place for me a micro with a view is better than a full ammo box in the woods any day.

 

bblhed

[+Robespierre]

In my county (all 48,000 or so) some cachers and I have been trying to talk up the sport, placing caches, etc. and a local HS gym teacher decided to get some of her classes caching. Well, to make a long story short, one of my caches that the classes (she has taken several groups out) found was taken.

 

It should be an UNWRITTEN LAW and point of etiquette: never take your group to a cache in their own area, unless it's yours. I take kids out, but only to mine, or some distance away.