tinman694
Guest
I was recently forwarded this from a friend--Sounds strange, so I thought I would post and see if anyone else has heard of similar lunacy? The Site included is http://www.ssdsupply.com/aucra.htm I wonder now if they want us going into the river here to do any rescue diving?
December 18, 2003
Alabama's Unfriendly Diving Rules
This is important to the scuba divers of Alabama and Georgia and
extremely important to those in the scuba diving business. The game wardens
of Alabama and Georgia are fining people for scuba diving. Please forward
this to your suppliers, divers, and anyone interested in continuing to dive
in Georgia and Alabama.
Friends, divers, and all interested parties, In 1999 the Alabama
State Legislature passed a new law to control the salvage of sunken ships in
the public waters of Alabama. This law was passed without any input from the
100,000 divers in the state of Alabama. After the law was passed we divers
were made aware of the law. The Alabama Historical Commission was granted
permission to write the regulations that control the shipwrecks and diving
on them. Don't confuse the Historical Commission with the State Department
of Archives and History. The State Department of Archives and History is
interested in history and do a great job in the preservation of history. The
Historical Commission has overstepped their boundaries and is attempting to
control all the relic hunting, gold dredging and diving in general in our
state. Southern Skin Divers Supply and many other divers have been trying to
work with the Historical Commission with no success. They told us that the
law would not affect recreational divers, relic hunters, or gold
prospecting. This was not true. We are being mistreated and put upon by the
Historical Commission employees. The Legislature did not want these
unfriendly regulations but that is what we got.
Alabama has 77,000 miles of inland waterways. We have more than any
other state in the lower 48. Florida has 11,000. Most of our public waters
have never been dived. The Historical Commission does not have divers or
historians. They are archaeologists who know nothing about diving or
history. Archaeologists study prehistory and how to apply for grants. Money
is their main interest, history and diving are not what they care about.
In October of this year I was arrested along with Perry Massie who
is the head of the Outdoor Channel on TV. He was going to make a TV show
about diving in Alabama similar to the one he made of us diving for fossils
and relics in South Carolina last year. We were diving at Selma where I have
dived for 30 years. We were not diving on a sunken ship. There are no sunken
ships at Selma. This site has been dived by hundreds of divers, even before
my time. My boat was confiscated and Perry and I were charged with a felony.
We had to post bond and Perry's 8 year old daughter had to see her father
arrested. We did not commit any crime. We violated no laws and were diving
within the regulations of the Historical Commission.
We were arrested anyway. It's all about money. The Historical
Commission wants my Civil War Collection so they can sell it and pay their
salary with the proceeds. According to the regulations that they wrote the
Historical Commission gets to keep whatever they can steal from divers. I
know that it is hard to understand but it is true. I had already agreed to
loan my entire collection to the state to be put on display. They had to
insure and display the collection but they could not sell it. It's all about
money.
The charges against Perry and I should soon be dropped because we
have not done anything wrong. What I worry about is the other divers who
will be harassed under these thugs at the Historical Commission. I do not
want my sons, or any other divers bothered by these people. If you want to
dive in a swimming hole and find a coin or bottle, that's just fine. I don't
want you to feel threatened by your own state employees. I want you to take
an interest in your own freedoms and the future divers that will come along.
We need to get our Legislature to fix this bad law and even worse
regulations. We can do this in court if we have to but it would be better if
our own representatives would fix the problems they created. Bad laws can be
fixed. Please write your state legislators. We have made a big file of
correspondences since 1999 with the Historical Commission, State
Legislators, the Governor and others concerning our problems with the
Alabama Historical Commission.Click Go to http://www.ssdsupply.com/aucra.htm to
learn more. Remember you have a dog in this fight. You are a free American
citizen, you are not a subject. You do not have rulers, in fact you make the
rules. Our Federal and State government is good, not bad. It is us. We have
to keep an eye on our employees in our government to make sure they do for
us, not to us. Please take charge, write your Legislators.
Thanks,
Steve Phillips
Southern Skin Divers Supply
Birmingham, Alabama
December 18, 2003
Alabama's Unfriendly Diving Rules
This is important to the scuba divers of Alabama and Georgia and
extremely important to those in the scuba diving business. The game wardens
of Alabama and Georgia are fining people for scuba diving. Please forward
this to your suppliers, divers, and anyone interested in continuing to dive
in Georgia and Alabama.
Friends, divers, and all interested parties, In 1999 the Alabama
State Legislature passed a new law to control the salvage of sunken ships in
the public waters of Alabama. This law was passed without any input from the
100,000 divers in the state of Alabama. After the law was passed we divers
were made aware of the law. The Alabama Historical Commission was granted
permission to write the regulations that control the shipwrecks and diving
on them. Don't confuse the Historical Commission with the State Department
of Archives and History. The State Department of Archives and History is
interested in history and do a great job in the preservation of history. The
Historical Commission has overstepped their boundaries and is attempting to
control all the relic hunting, gold dredging and diving in general in our
state. Southern Skin Divers Supply and many other divers have been trying to
work with the Historical Commission with no success. They told us that the
law would not affect recreational divers, relic hunters, or gold
prospecting. This was not true. We are being mistreated and put upon by the
Historical Commission employees. The Legislature did not want these
unfriendly regulations but that is what we got.
Alabama has 77,000 miles of inland waterways. We have more than any
other state in the lower 48. Florida has 11,000. Most of our public waters
have never been dived. The Historical Commission does not have divers or
historians. They are archaeologists who know nothing about diving or
history. Archaeologists study prehistory and how to apply for grants. Money
is their main interest, history and diving are not what they care about.
In October of this year I was arrested along with Perry Massie who
is the head of the Outdoor Channel on TV. He was going to make a TV show
about diving in Alabama similar to the one he made of us diving for fossils
and relics in South Carolina last year. We were diving at Selma where I have
dived for 30 years. We were not diving on a sunken ship. There are no sunken
ships at Selma. This site has been dived by hundreds of divers, even before
my time. My boat was confiscated and Perry and I were charged with a felony.
We had to post bond and Perry's 8 year old daughter had to see her father
arrested. We did not commit any crime. We violated no laws and were diving
within the regulations of the Historical Commission.
We were arrested anyway. It's all about money. The Historical
Commission wants my Civil War Collection so they can sell it and pay their
salary with the proceeds. According to the regulations that they wrote the
Historical Commission gets to keep whatever they can steal from divers. I
know that it is hard to understand but it is true. I had already agreed to
loan my entire collection to the state to be put on display. They had to
insure and display the collection but they could not sell it. It's all about
money.
The charges against Perry and I should soon be dropped because we
have not done anything wrong. What I worry about is the other divers who
will be harassed under these thugs at the Historical Commission. I do not
want my sons, or any other divers bothered by these people. If you want to
dive in a swimming hole and find a coin or bottle, that's just fine. I don't
want you to feel threatened by your own state employees. I want you to take
an interest in your own freedoms and the future divers that will come along.
We need to get our Legislature to fix this bad law and even worse
regulations. We can do this in court if we have to but it would be better if
our own representatives would fix the problems they created. Bad laws can be
fixed. Please write your state legislators. We have made a big file of
correspondences since 1999 with the Historical Commission, State
Legislators, the Governor and others concerning our problems with the
Alabama Historical Commission.Click Go to http://www.ssdsupply.com/aucra.htm to
learn more. Remember you have a dog in this fight. You are a free American
citizen, you are not a subject. You do not have rulers, in fact you make the
rules. Our Federal and State government is good, not bad. It is us. We have
to keep an eye on our employees in our government to make sure they do for
us, not to us. Please take charge, write your Legislators.
Thanks,
Steve Phillips
Southern Skin Divers Supply
Birmingham, Alabama
