Ginnie Artwork- Do you know Will?

[MORGAN]

I agree Mike. Although "public property" is a contradiction.

Well, it's property owned by the public, like a state or national park.

[FW]

It would appear that GA park rangers have a different attitude than FL park rangers

This was posted on TAG Net. It is a listserver for "dry" caves in the TN, AL, and GA area.


1) Cave vandal in jail
By: Allen Padgett (Lafayette, Georgia)
ON_ROPE@windstream.net




In the early morning hours of Thursday July 25 an act of cave vandalism
took place in Pettyjohns Cave Georgia. A group of cavers from New York
were coming out of the far reaches of the cave. When they reached the
top of the breakdown mountain in the big room near the entrance they
encountered a swastika painted in bright orange spray paint. It was not
there when they entered the cave. Nearby there was more paint and more
paint. On their way toward the entrance they encountered two people. A
24 year old man with a spray can in his hand and a young female
accompanying him. The cavers exited the cave and reported the vandalism
to police. The police contacted Ranger Tim Gilbreath who met with the
cavers and gathered as much information as possible. He then went to the
scene but the vandals had left. In addition to the cave vandalism he
discovered the same graffiti at a nearby overlook.

Ranger Gilbreath contacted two members of the Pigeon Mountain Grotto to
assist his investigation by taking photos in the cave of the graffiti.
The graffiti consisted of the two swastikas , the "N" word in one place,
several identical sets of lovers initials a few 'beware' and 'danger'
inscriptions. Criminals are not very smart. The two graffiti artist
filled out a cave card prior to entering the cave so the Ranger had
their names which matched the initials painted on the cave walls. A
quick check on facebook found a photo of the two of them together which
matched the description given by the New York cavers.

Ranger Gilbreath then went to the girls address and interviewed her. The
juvenile confessed to involvement. Next Ranger Gilbreath interviewed the
young man who also admitted involvement. After consulting with the
Walker County District Attorney Ranger Gilbreath obtained warrants for
the young man and filed a juvenile complaint on the young woman. They
are both charged with felony criminal damage to government property,
misdemeanor littering, and the man is charged with failure to obtain
GORP permit. The cave is owned by the state so graffiti in it is a
felony. The man has been arrested and is currently sitting in the Walker
County Jail awaiting a hearing.

On Friday evening after the incident the Pigeon Mountain Grotto held an
'emergency' clean up trip to Pettyjohns to remove all of the offensive
spray paint. Eight members spent about three hours cleaning up the mess
prior to the weekend traffic to the cave. The grotto takes the incident
seriously and will assist the New York cavers in obtaining the NSS
Vandalism Deterrence Reward. There is actually a poster describing the
reward on the kiosk near the cave entrance. Ranger Gilbreath worked
tirelessly to pursue this case to resolution and deserves our heartfelt
thanks for his hard diligent work.

Safe cavin,

Allen Padgett

[MORGAN]

It would appear that GA park rangers have a different attitude than FL park rangers

This was posted on TAG Net.

Perfect! Good work on the part of the New York cavers for reporting it, and the ranger for following up.

The comment about criminals not being very smart reminds me of an article in the Florida Wildlife magazine a couple years ago about two idiots who shot a deer out of season and posted pictures (time and date stamped) of themselves and the dead deer on Facebook. They were promptly arrested. My retired game warden father got a big kick out of that one.

[MichaelAngelo]

Very nice to see

[Ken Hill]

It would appear that GA park rangers have a different attitude than FL park rangers

This was posted on TAG Net. It is a listserver for "dry" caves in the TN, AL, and GA area.

Idiots ...
1. For doing vandalism and
2. Doing it in Walker County

Perhaps a reward in this economy would be helpful!

[Kelly Jessop]

Idiots ...
1. For doing vandalism and
2. Doing it in Walker County

Perhaps a reward in this economy would be helpful!

Ken,as far as I am aware the CDS still has a cave vandalism reward fund leading to the prosecution of someone committing vandalism.

[scottj]

Ken, Michael Angelo suggested I let you know about some graffiti at Manatee I noticed. There is a rock probably less than 100 inside that head spring that looks like it is getting tagged and written on. I am assuming this may be from free divers (strong ones!) given where the rock is and the direction of the hand prints. Also at Manatee in Catfish there is quite a bit of writing on the walls on the ledge at about 20 feet or so. Mostly just looks like scratching off the algae but still pretty unattractive.
--Scott

[Win brown]

I reported to the rangers about one recent one in catfish .. Kris Ohio is what was marked into the wall .. They said they were gonna look into divers who had registered to see if anything matched up . I never heard of any updates on the issue .

[contender]

To the person(s) responsible!

The thing you need to do is come forward, be prepared pay the diving expenses of someone with skills and training like Michael Angelo to restore the area to its originality and settle up with the owners of the site if they have a grievance. You will also have to surrender or forfeit your cave diving certifications for a period of time, until retrained to the satisfaction of the Conservation Officers of the NSS-CDS and NACD.

In the previous incident at Cow, the person responsible was caught, admitted to doing the damage and was prosecuted in the Florida Court systems. The individual paid over $8000.00 after all was said and done. This amount represented legal fees, court costs, damages and restoration.

Your "dive buddy" may be considered an accomplice and will likely be charged and face a similar scenario.

I, or someone already looking into this will learn who you are and will seek the same prosecution with permanent revocation of your cave diving certifications, forfeiture of gear etc. by court order in addition to the monetary losses you will sustain.

If you or your dive buddy wish to avoid the legal system, retain your confidentiality, respect and integrity and at some point rejoin the cave diving community you may PM me and I will get the process started for you.

I am sure the above advice is going to work out well..... I highly doubt anyone is going to send you a message proclaiming their guilt. The person responsible for this most likely knows it will be next to impossible to prove anything on him/her if they have half a brain.... However, I hope you are able to catch the responsible party and achieve the satisfaction that it brings whether it be prosecution or public humiliation, Vandalism in any form is uncalled for!!!!

[Ken Hill]

I am sure the above advice is going to work out well..... I highly doubt anyone is going to send you a message proclaiming their guilt. The person responsible for this most likely knows it will be next to impossible to prove anything on him/her if they have half a brain.... However, I hope you are able to catch the responsible party and achieve the satisfaction that it brings whether it be prosecution or public humiliation, Vandalism in any form is uncalled for!!!!

It will go a long way for the cave diving community to demonstrate responsibility when dealing with law enforcement and prosecutors. It will also not easily allow the vandal, when caught to say "sorry I didn't mean to do it." Without a surrender there can be no genuine remorse. We can make an argument to have a heavier fine and seize their dive gear, deny certifications and demand restoration and restitution. Keep in mind the "buddy" is equally guilty and there may come a day that a falling out will bring out the truth.

My comment on Manatee and other area is OW divers going into caves and causing damage reflects badly on the cave community. The Park Managers may have a saying that may be true "few divers, few problems, many divers many problems, no divers- NO problems." Cave divers need to take the high road in any public discussion and lets hope our access does not suffer.