I'm so envious of our retired treasure hunters who have the time to spend cold winter days absorbed in the latest novel. 

In this issue of the newsletter, we feature four newly released treasure related books. Between the four titles, there's surely something eye catching for most every type of  treasure hunter.

Reading garners increased knowledge about the hobby, thus improving the skills necessary to hunt effectively this spring.

Better hurry though--the official first day of Spring is only 90 days away. That doesn't leave a whole lot of time for research.

We would like to remind you that this year the Texas Council of Treasure Clubs will be having a "Silent Auction" both days of the Treasure Show as our organizations annual fundraiser. If there is anything you wish to donate to this cause, please do. It is not necessary for the item or items to be associated with the hobby.

Such donations help the Texas Council of Treasure Clubs to carry out a number of special activities each year in support of our hobby and in it's good name. Such projects as the Lions Camp for Handicap Children annual visit, plaques and markers we donate to historic places within the state, the only Treasure Hunters Museum in Cisco, TX. and many more. Please consider supporting us this year. Many sincere thanks to you for your years of support thus far.

Sincerely, 

Keith R. Wills, Vice President, kwills@worldnet.att.net 

Years later, bracelet is returned: 

Husband died in WWII with ID tag

By GRANT BOXLEITNER
Courtesy of the News-Press

Virginia “Ginny” Moore tried to hold back emotions that had been building nearly 60 years.

Virginia “Ginny" Moore and Lorenzo Maierna in Moore’s North Fort Myers home. Maierna, a police officer from Belgium, found a bracelet owned by Moore’s husband, who died during World War II in the Battle of the Bulge. MARC BEAUDIN/news-press.com

She couldn’t.

For Moore, a North Fort Myers resident, seeing the silver object again — something that didn’t seem possible five months ago — induced tears and instant memories.

Belgium police officer Lorenzo Maierna reacquainted her with the bracelet Friday night at Southwest Florida International Airport. She hadn’t seen the piece of silver since husband Marcus L. Comer left to fight in World War II in late 1944.

“I was speechless,” Moore said. “I kissed it. It was wonderful.”

Moore gave the bracelet to her husband before he was shipped into combat overseas. He was killed Jan. 14, 1945, in the Battle of the Bulge near Villers-la-Bonne-Eau, Belgium.

Maierna found the bracelet last year while searching for World War II artifacts on a battle site. Comer’s name and his serial number is engraved on one side, with “Love, Ginny” inscribed on the other. Maierna wasn’t sure what he had when his metal detector first beeped inside the shallow foxhole.

“I kicked the dirt the first time and saw nothing,” said Maierna, who lives in Arlon, Belgium. “The second time, it came out.”

Maierna said he made about 20 phone calls before he found Moore in August, including one to Comer’s brother, Kermit Comer, an 87-year-old World War II veteran who lives in New Lebanon, Ohio.

“You can’t explain it,” Maierna said of his feelings upon returning the bracelet, which is missing most of its links.

Maierna and his wife, Dolores, decided to visit Florida and present Moore with the bracelet in person. In exchange, Moore has amended her will to return the bracelet to Maierna upon her death. Maierna hopes to open a World War II museum in Belgium to commemorate American veterans.

Since the bracelet surfaced, Moore has become the toast of Horizon Village, the mobile home park where she lives.

Horizon Village residents are throwing Moore and the Maiernas a party Thursday to celebrate the bracelet’s return. Moore also was the featured guest during the park’s Veterans Day ceremonies.

Moore is hosting the Maiernas during their weeklong stay in Southwest Florida. She plans to take them on an Everglades day trip and “whatever they want to see.”

She pins the bracelet on her blouse for now, but plans to convert the piece into a necklace.

“It’s not like she had a crystal ball and knew it was coming,” said Moore’s son, Marcus Comer Jr., 60, of North Fort Myers.

“Hooray. I’m happy for her.”

Vicksburg National Military Park (MS) Relic Hunting Conviction and Sentencing

Taken from the Park Service morning Report

On the evening of January 4, 2003, ranger Bob Irish was closing the park when he came upon a white pickup parked on an isolated road at the Great Redoubt adjacent to a private cemetery. Irish contacted James Meachum of Eight Mile, Alabama, who had an open can of beer on top of the truck’s cab. Meachum told Irish that he was relic hunting, but only admitted to digging near the cemetery grounds – not on park property. Irish saw a metal detector, trenching tools, maps and related relic hunting items in plain sight. He called ranger Patricia Montague and Vicksburg PD for backup. Montague surveyed the area and found numerous holes on both cemetery and park property. Meachum was cited for resource protection, closed area and other violations. Dr. Bennie Keel of the Southeast Archeological Center conducted an archeological assessment with the rangers’ assistance. Last August, Meachum pled guilty to resource violations covered under 16 USC. He has been sentenced to two years’ supervised probation, banned from NPS sites for the duration of his probation, ordered to attend a drug and alcohol program, and fined $500 and court costs.

Two Fantastic Detecting Finds

Courtesy of Archaeology Today

A remarkable ancient souvenir has been discovered by a metal detectorist in west-central England, according to the Portable Antiquities Scheme, a British organization that records archaeological finds made by the public. The brightly enameled second-century A.D. bowl is only the third example with an inscription recording forts located along Hadrian's Wall. (The previous two were found in Wiltshire in 1725 and Amiens in 1949.) Four western forts are named on the bowl, including Drumburgh for the first time, confirming its ancient spelling, COGGABATA. Thought to be a souvenir of the wall, it also records the name of its owner, Aelius Draco. Perhaps a retiring veteran of the Roman army stationed on the wall, Draco may have commissioned this bowl upon his retirement from that most remote of Roman frontiers. On a related note, for the first time in 1,600 years, the entire length of Hadrian's Wall is opened to walkers who want to travel in Aelius Draco's footsteps.

   Another detectorist searching a beach on the Isle of Wight has found an important seventh-century Anglo-Saxon gold sword belt fitting, the most elaborate piece of metalwork to be found on the island in more than a hundred years. Although early reports suggested that the belt may have belonged to the legendary Saxon king Caedwalla, experts agree that it is not possible to identify the owner of the once-lavish belt except to say that he was certainly of high status and wealth. The belt has been declared Treasure Trove and will be purchased by the government.--JARRETT A. LOBELL

Source: Archaeological Institute of America

Florida Land Transaction Could Affect Metal Detecting

City eyes protection of Rappahannock

Land owned by Fredericksburg on the Rappahannock and Rapidan rivers would be forever protected under a conservation easement.

Fredericksburg could have easement protection for its riverfront land as early as this spring

By Rusty Dennen Courtesy of the Free Lance-Star

Date published: 1/14/2004

Efforts to create a conservation easement to protect Fredericksburg's nearly 5,000 acres of riverfront land are moving along.

Barring any last-minute obstacles, officials say, an easement could be in place by early spring along a scenic, white water stretch of the Rappahannock and Rapidan rivers.

Representatives of the city, Nature Conservancy and Virginia Outdoors Foundation have been meeting over the past few months to hammer out the details.

"We're hoping to have a proposal in final form" in time for the VOF's March meeting, said Ridge Schuyler, director of the Nature Conservancy's Piedmont Program. "We still have a lot of work to do, but we've gotten good guidance from [City] Council about their desire to protect these areas."

The fact that Fredericksburg already has a management plan, adopted in 1994, has helped move the process along.

About 135 parcels, ranging in size from less than an acre to 266 acres, make up the 4,945 acres owned by the city along the Rappahannock and Rapidan. Fredericksburg acquired the land from Virginia Electric & Power Co. in the 1960s. The property runs for miles upstream into Stafford, Spotsylvania, Culpeper, Orange and Fauquier counties.

Schuyler said that not all the land would be included in an easement. Each parcel was examined to determine whether it would benefit the river ecosystem.

A couple of smaller ones, totaling a few acres, may not be needed. He said those may be useful for the city in the future to trade with other landowners for more valuable land closer to the river, or to sell.

Under the plan, the Nature Conservancy and the VOF would jointly hold the easement. The city would retain ownership, but development rights would be transferred to the two agencies to conserve the site in perpetuity. Conservation easements go with the deed if the property is sold. Easements typically involve protection of forest cover, limitations on motor-vehicle access and protection of scenic areas.

"Our expertise is habitat protection and restoration," Schuyler said. VOF specializes in protecting open spaces and conservation areas around the state. The foundation is the largest easement holder in Virginia, with 247,125 acres under protection as of Jan. 1.

In exchange for the easement, the city will receive a $400,000 endowment to fund a permanent river steward position. Friends of the Rappahannock, a local river protection group, was instrumental in getting the parties together last year to consider an easement. For years, FOR has pushed for the city to appoint a steward, who would responsible for day-to-day management of the property.

City Councilman Scott Howson, who has been involved in all the discussions, said yesterday that the council expects to review the final draft prepared by VOF.

"As long as it's fairly close to the draft we looked at several weeks agoI imagine the council will be eager to get this done," Howson said. The public will also have a chance to comment.

An easement could be in place before city elections in May.

"There are no real sticky issues here," Howson said. "But we want to make sure we consider all the various options and long-term effects. We are taking this very seriously. We are locking the city in forever."

Howson said some concerns have been expressed by the Virginia Department of Transportation, in that conservation easements could complicate area road planning. A proposed Outer Connector around Fredericksburg, if it is ever built, would cross the city's riverfront land.

Efforts to better protect the property have gained momentum over the past year.

Last July, city officials took a canoe trip to see the land. During that excursion, tree-cutting, illegal structures and damage from all-terrain vehicles were observed.

Over the years, several adjacent landowners have been ordered to stop cutting trees on the city's river property. The damage is usually spotted by paddlers who report it to FOR, which then relays the information to the city.