collecting permission

[John Grehan]

Two commentators stressed the responsibility of collectors to know where
they are with respect to areas not posted along highways, and to know the 
law no matter where they are and no matter what there doing. The converse 
could also be argued, that authorities have the responsibility of posting 
areas properly and making the laws accessible. Neither is absolute in the 
real world, so the solution would seem to be the implementation of common 
sense by authorities. It's the lack of a common sense response to legal 
situations that may be responsible for creating many problems - certainly 
evident in the situation described by Doug Yanega.

I have had the fortunate experience of common sense when I and a colleague 
were once cruising down the main street of a small town late at night 
looking at the store windows for ghost moths in New Zealand. A police car 
approached us and the officer asked us what we were doing. Apparently 
someone reported our activity as it appeared we might be attempting a 
burglary. We had a university sign on the van and we were able to show him 
some moths etc. and he was quite happy and allowed us to continue the activity.

John Grehan