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Being a relative newbie, I'd like to get the groups opinion on whether
or not to claim a find I made today. Here's the situation.
I searched out a geocache in a popular St. Louis park this afternoon. I
found the cache. I saw it from where I was standing, but I did not
approach it closely, or do anything to reveal its existence. As I got
to this point (way down inside an enclosed area - with no easy escape
route), I was approached by a guy who I saw follow me to this location.
I was by myself, and he got way too close for my liking, so I
immediately got out of there. This other guy went back to a pavilion
that he had come from, that was close by.
As I was leaving, I observed a couple of other guys go to the same
location. Being curious, I watched to see if they were heading for the
geocache. They did not, but they did go into the same remote, enclosed
area. Not being that curious, I didn't stick around any more to see
what they were up to. I had a pretty good idea.
This evening, I asked my brother (a St. Louis City P.D. sex crimes
detective) about this cache site, and he confirmed that this is a very
popular meeting place for some members of the gay community. He said
the guy who followed me was probably looking for a date.
Now my dilemma. I need the group to let me know if I can properly log
this as a find or not. I did find the cache, which is what the whole
point is all about, but I did not open it, or log an entry in the cache
log. I feel I should be able to claim this as a find, but not unless
you all approve. I really don't want to go back there, and I think that
the cache owner probably ought to move it to another, less popular
location. I'll contact that person separately with this information.
At the very least, this is not a comfortable location to be alone in,
and in fact it could be dangerous.
Now, a quick disclaimer. I'm certainly NOT gay bashing, and I'm not
trying to imply that gays are someone to be afraid of. Quite the
contrary. A very close member of our family was gay, and died of AIDS.
I just think that this is not a very safe location for a geocache.
Thank you very much for your opinion on this, Leanman
