Third caught relic hunter gets 2 years

[Bill Huber]

From today's Fredericksburg Free Lance - Star:

Third caught relic hunter gets 2 years
November 9, 2007 12:36 am
By RUSTY DENNEN


By RUSTY DENNEN

The last of three men caught illegally relic hunting on Spotsylvania Court House battlefield has been sentenced in federal court.

Jeremy Burroughs, 30, of Spotsylvania, was sentenced Monday in U.S. District Court in Richmond. He received two years in jail, a year of supervised probation, and was ordered to pay $28,600 in restitution to the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park.

In March, Burroughs and two other Spotsylvania men, Fenton E. Terembes Jr., 28, and Vincent E. Williams, 37, were caught by a park ranger who saw them digging in the national park on a Sunday, during the day. Their metal detectors and the relics they unearthed were confiscated.

Among the items recovered were bullets, and a Confederate belt buckle. According to evidence in the case, the men had found the buckle during an earlier foray into the park and had sold it for $3,300. The buckle was recovered and is now in the park's collection.

"These are public property and owned by future generations. Once these artifacts are gone and in private collections, they cannot be replaced," said Keith Kelly, military park's chief ranger.

"If someone is poaching deer or cutting trees, those can be replaced. With Civil War artifacts, once every bullet is removed there's no way we can have that back."

Terembes was sentenced on Sept. 24. He received two years in jail, one year of supervised probation, and ordered to pay $28,600 in restitution.

Williams, who authorities said had a lesser role, was ordered to pay $1,400 in restitution.

The men were charged with felonies under the Archaeological Resource Protection Act. It's a federal crime to damage archaeological sites on or remove property from federal lands. It is illegal to collect or search for artifacts on federal land without permission.

Violators can be fined up to $250,000 and sentenced to two years in prison.

A week after Burroughs, Terembes and Williams were caught, two juveniles were caught metal detecting in the Hill-Ewell Drive area of the Wilderness battlefield.

They were from Orange and Spotsylvania and pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges in federal court in Charlottesville. The 16- and 17-year-olds were sentenced to community service and ordered to pay restitution.

The Fredericksburg area is home to some of the nation's most significant Civil War sites. The park commemorates four battles--Spotsylvania Court House, Chancellorsville, Wilderness and Fredericksburg--and encompasses more than 8,000 acres.

[KarinTimour]

Re: Third caught relic hunter gets 2 years

Fantastic news -- anyone know how we can get the names and addresses of the prosecutor and judge in this case? Finally we've got some folks who are serious about enforcing laws on violation of battlefield land. I'm thinking that it's time to reinforce this type of behavior. Here's a suggestion: thank you notes and emails to the judge and prosecutor.

If someone locally knows or could find out the name of the park ranger who saw them doing it, I'd like to also send a strongly worded note of support and a donation through his or her supervisor.

Nothing like reinforcing that they aren't alone in this, and that there are a legion of us who support them, in the face of defense attorneys who paint this as "no big deal, just a few moldering bullets...."

Any suggestions on how to get names and addresses of judge, prosecutor would be great. If someone doesn't post it tonight, I'll go research the supervising ranger and post that address tonight after work.

Made my week for sure, thank you very much for posting this.

Sincerely,
Karin Timour
Period Knitting -- Socks, Sleeping Hats, Balaclavas
Coming to Remembrance Day? The Sock Line and I will be at Chris Daley's store -- come say "hey!"
Atlantic Guard Soldiers' Aid Society
Email: Ktimour@aol.com

[Crockett]

Re: Third caught relic hunter gets 2 years

Sorry, but I don't agree with the excessive penalties. Much of what is in museums today in the way of artifacts comes from the purchase or donation of private collections from metal detecting hobbyists. Many rare and unknown artifacts have been found by these people and donated as well, many of which we, as reenactors, have studied and replicated.


One thing is certain, if these relics are never recovered, they will never be seen by anyone and will likely rust or decay into oblivion and sure as heck will never be replaced then. I would rather they be in someones private collection than wasting away underground. These collections seem to always end up somewhere for public viewing. The Confederate belt plate would still be underground and not doing anyone a bit of good. If these relics are "public property" they should be SEEN by the public, not walked over. I can't even begin to imagine what has been lost to time and weather and bulldozers.

If the parks would like to make some money off of this hobby they could charge those who metal detect $500.00 a pop for a chance to metal detect on park property, a controled event with controled areas. Artifacts would be found, cared for, displayed, sold to the public they belong to, or donated to museums.

Joe Mode

[Slouch]

Re: Third caught relic hunter gets 2 years

if the penalties were not stiff, there would be little to discourage the illegal excavation of relics.

For clarity,

Relic= a rusty object with little or no historic contxt but has monetary value

Artifact= object with a rich historical context that has cultural and historical value

[Marc]

Re: Third caught relic hunter gets 2 years

The men were charged with felonies under the Archaeological Resource Protection Act. It's a federal crime to damage archaeological sites on or remove property from federal lands. It is illegal to collect or search for artifacts on federal land without permission.

Violators can be fined up to $250,000 and sentenced to two years in prison.


It is the law, even if you agree or disagree with it.

[Abrams]

Re: Third caught relic hunter gets 2 years

The law is the law, and if not considered fair, it should be worked on to be changed. Until then, the law needs to be enforced. Sounds like it was.

But Crocket brings up an interesting point. Maybe the Park Service could put some of these guys desire to uncover history to a good use. They could set up a weekend for volunteers to search for relics and artifacts, under close supervision, with which to expand the Park Service's displays. Crockett points out that these relices discovered would still be mouldering in the ground, to be seen by no one, until discovered by these guys. That is a true waste, to let them just waste away. I agree with Crockett in that respect. The fact that these guys found some items proves that there are still items out there to be found. Some effort should be made to find what still is recognizable. But by the Park Service, not individuals for individual collections.

The Park Service could even "reward" the finder by attaching their name in the display cabinet as the person that helped recovered the relic or artifact. Maybe even turn this "Park Service Discovery Weekend" into a rare opportunity to have a living historian to accompany the searchers and describe the action in the various areas as the searches cover the area, to put it all into a historical context.

Just an idea. :)

[FlatLandFed]

Re: Third caught relic hunter gets 2 years

I know that many members of this forum enjoy relic hunting, and I have forked over some modest $$$ over the years for others' dug relics.

However, there are some distinctions IMHO.

It is one thing to get permission from the owner of private property to go relic hunting -- what you find can help verify some of the actions there during the WBTS. It is quite another to steal onto a NBP and tear up the soil in search of something for your bookshelf -- and reprehensible to hunt for artifacts (are cammo and night vision goggles really necessary for a legitimate business venture?) IF their only worth to you is their current street value.

At the rate developers are paving over history, it shouldn't be very tough to find new hunting grounds without disturbing the hallowed fields that HAVE been set aside to help us remember and learn from our ancestors' deeds.

Pardon the rant. Now, back to your regularly scheduled programming.
Paul Hadley
Happy Birthday, Devil Dogs.

[Dignann]

Re: Third caught relic hunter gets 2 years

Personally, I am pleased with the conviction, although I would have liked to see stiffer fines. I have nothing against relic hunting, as some of my closest friends enjoy the hobby and some of my earliest battlefield memories involve hunting for relics with my father. That said, there is plenty of private land where folks can legally hunt. If they choose to come onto federal property, breaking the law, than I say they also choose to suffer the consequences and to throw the book at them.

A couple things to consider -- 1) it is not necessarily the relics/artifacts themselves that are important to have, but their location and all of the other information gleaned from their discovery. Just digging up relics to put in a museum collection does not necessarily do the NPS any good. 2) having some familiarity with this case, the felons were bad guys to begin with, having records and priors that went beyond illegal relic hunting. I do not feel sorry for them in the least.

Eric

[Crockett]

Re: Third caught relic hunter gets 2 years

Hey, I don't feel sorry for the guys either. And granted, if the law is wrong, it should be changed or modified so as much history and information can be gleaned from these sites. Additionally, just because a law is a law does not mean that it is a just law. 0ur Revolutionary War ancestors weren't thrilled with some British laws and did their thing.The fact that these gentlemen were caught doesn't really bother me, just the excessive fines. $28,000 in restitution? Restitution for what? Our own government screws us often with wonderful concepts such as imminent domain. You might as well hold your breath for any "restitution" from ole Sam.

I have a degree in Archaeology and despise pot hunters in general because they do destroy the information and context of the item excavated. It is then worthless in many respects, but valueable as a piece of history just the same. Under controled conditons relics could be hunted at these sites, having each find mapped and recorded for posterity and then donated to the park museum in which it was found. I dare say many metal detecting hobbyists would pay to participate in such an endeavor, a fund raising of sorts for the NPS.

Oh, just for the record, I like to metal detect and have never and will never hunt on NPS property.

Joe Mode

[Slouch]

Re: Third caught relic hunter gets 2 years

the National/Capital region of the NPS does use volunteers to perform metal detector surveys under the supervision of Park Archaeologists. They have done this at Manassas and Monocacy

[Milliron]

Re: Third caught relic hunter gets 2 years

As a lawyer, I agree that's a pretty stiff penalty. Frankly, there are people walking the streets at this very moment who were let free due to lack of space who need to be in jail FAR more than these two idiots. You'd likely get less time in jail burglarizing the VC or selling crack at Spotsylvania CH NMP than these two got. Nope, can't agree with that sentence.

Six months in the slam and a hefty fine + probation would get the point across very nicely, I would think. Keep in mind, however, that we are probably not in possession of all the facts. If the guy had a history of doing this kind of thing, that might explain the maximum sentence. If this was his first time up, I think the judge needs to have his head examined.

[BorderRuffian]

Re: Third caught relic hunter gets 2 years

Hello,

The NPS used to have a program called PIT (Passport in Time) where volunteers would render assistance for arch. digs and metal detector surveys (supervised).I don't know if that is still active or not,but all it used to cost the volunteer was their time and any travel expenses.
I confine my search for relics to private property after landowner's permission has been secured,as do the vast majority of those in the hobby I reckon.As with any group,there will always be the few that go outside the law making it rough on the group as a whole.I say hammer the offenders hard enough and others may think twice before poaching relics from protected land.


My .02

[Garrett Silliman]

Re: Third caught relic hunter gets 2 years

Fines for the disturbance of federally protected arcaheological sites are based upon how much an actual controlled archaeological data recovery would cost if conducted in the disturbed area . The NPS sends in a team of archaeologists following the discovery of these illicit activities to determine the extent of the damage. Bottom line: the penalties are neither capricious nor arbitrary. The NPS does in fact utilize the services of relic hunters and has done so for years. It is often a great benefit to the park and the archaeological community in general to have the knowledge and skills of these folks put to use in a controlled environment. Personally, I have utilized several individuals for archaeological investigations at Civil War sites around Atlanta including the Kennesaw National Battlefield Park. All of these projects were in response to Section 106 compliance or ARPA issues and individuals were not volunteers but in fact paid by my firm for their services (the NPS generally uses volunteers, but as a private firm if we budget for metal detection they'll be paid). All material recovered was properly cataloged, recorded and remitted to the NPS or whatever lead agency the project was for. The guys were happy to do it and I was happy to have them. This of course is a far cry from illicit activities taking place on NPS property such as the Spottsylvannia knuckleheads.

[Rob Walker]

Re: Third caught relic hunter gets 2 years

The penalties are fine with me yet I think they are stiff. Reason being is that the NPS see it fit to punish these guys but yet allow and appatently are not going to pursue leagal action against the moron that dug up a large section of Harpers Ferry. I also agree that the laww is the law but it should be applied evenly and the park service should not allow this destruction of a site in one area and then try for maximum penalties in other cases. I also understand the difference between relic huntig fro profit on NPS land and simple destroying NPS land but I wonder how many artifact were detroyed and lost forever due to the greed of one individual. I personally would never dig up anything on a battlefield but if I were one of these knuckleheads I would appeal using the Harper's Ferry incident and the lack of NPS prosecution as an example. These guys should get a stiff penalty for doing what they did bu the guy that dug the trench in Harper's Ferry should be jailed for several years and fined so that other know destruction of public lands will not be tolerated by the NPS. Okay, I'm done ranting.

[Gallinipper]

Re: Third caught relic hunter gets 2 years

Since the individuals in question had already sold an excavated CS buckle for $3,300, it doesn't sound like they were interested in a donation to anybody but themselves. The law is the law, and your choices are pretty simple. You can abide by it, work to change it, or break it. If they knowingly chose the latter, that may be the reason for the "stiff" sentence. Just my $.02.

Rich Croxton