----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, May 04, 2003 11:33
AM
Subject: [Az-Geocaching] Cache Pirate
on the loose: Here is how I will protect my caches
To Arizona Geocachers,
It's sad to see that there apparently is a
cache pirate
on the loose. I thought his entries were a joke, because he
stated that he was at two caches on Saturday that I visited in the morning
(neither one was plundered at that time), but when I checked the log for
Pushing
Tin near Sky Harbor International Airport, I read that
Azcachmeister
had visited the cache this morning and reported that it indeed had
been plundered.
I am heading out to the Diamondbacks game in a short time, so on the
way there I will stop at a cache that I visit frequently,
Have
Bug, Will Travel. I stopped there Saturday morning to get the
only travel bug in it and I moved the travel bug to another cache in Pinal
County later that day. Fortunately, if the pirate did clean out this
cache, there were no travel bugs in it.
In order to protect my traditional caches, I have made them all
Members Only. This is to protect my own caches from
plundering, as it appears the Cache Pirate is not a Geocaching.com Premium
Member. I recommend that all cachers make your caches
Members Only (and become a Premium
Member if you are not a member) now to protect them from
plundering. (Virtual caches cannot be plundered, so those are open
to all).
Since there are some new cachers who perhaps aren't sure if they want
to pay the $30 annual fee to become a Premium Member, here is
what I will do for you. If you want to find one of my Members Only
caches, and you are not yet a Premium Member and have been an active
geocacher for less than three months with fewer than 50 cache
findings, then you could find one of my caches without becoming a
Premium Member. To do this, send me an e-mail explaining what cache
you would like to find, and I will respond with an e-mail listing the
coordinates and a brief description. You could find the cache and
sign the logbook in the cache, but you won't be able to log your finding
on Geocaching.com until you become a Premium Member.
This is available to new geocachers only (and obviously does not
apply to the Cache Pirate). I hope this new personal policy is
agreeable to all, and in my opinion will encourage Geocachers to become
Premium Members without restricting access to geocaching by
newcomers.
Ken Akerman (a.k.a.
Highpointer)