I sent the following email in response to the misleading story
in the Republic today.  I don't expect to hear anything back,
but if I do, I'll foward along.

Rob
Team CHUMP

>  -----Original Message-----
> From: 	Bell, Robert  
> Sent:	Wednesday, August 07, 2002 10:46
> To:	'christina.leonard@arizonarepublic.com'
> Subject:	Archeaological Damage
> 
> 
> Ms. Leonard,
>     As an avid geocacher, I read with interest your article this morning
> regarding damage to the Lake Pleasant area.  Geocachers are 
> typically responsible outdoor enthusiasts,  with a great
> respect for the environment.  One of the fundamental rules of the
> game is to place containers in areas that are public and will not
> damage the area in any way.  The fact that vandalism occurred in
> an area where a geocache was located seems to be circumstantial,
> There are hundreds of geocaches all over the state.  One
> could make the claim that any vandalism may be near a geocache, 
> however obviously most if not all other geocaches have not had any
> vandalism in those areas, as evidenced by the lack of any other agency 
> reporting a similiar problem.   If the steward feels the cache is making 
> people aware of a site they don't want people to visit, they should 
> contact the person via the website with their concerns and the cache 
> would be removed.  
> 
> By reading your article, is appears the site is not marked in any way
> to indicate the area is not open for public use.  If the area is to be 
> restricted, it seems reasonable to expect that the area have a fence
> or no trespassing signs indicating such.  Since most outdoor
> recreationists
> are not geocachers, the presence or not of a geocache will not effect
> vandalism, which as your article suggests, has always occurred.
> 
> The motto of geocaching is "cache in, trash out".  Far from destroying
> areas, geocachers will often clean up areas where we go.  We aware
> that our activity could cause damage to areas and use existing trails
> and roads.  Most of our members are well educated responsible people
> and we enjoy our beautiful country and strive to maintain it.  Geocaching
> is a wonderful educational game that has taken me and my son to areas 
> in my state and country I had never seen, and taught me things I hadn't
> known.
> I know my peers feel the same way.
> 
> 
> I would also like to submit this letter for editorial page consideration.
> 
> Regards,
> Robert Bell
>