Hi to all:

Today our Hunt Master Bernard Grabowski has asked me to alert our members that he has received from the State of Nevada a questionnaire that we must answer and they must approve before we are given the OK to hold Laughlin 2009 on Clark County property. We believe, because of the dire straits that several states are having with declining revenues, they want to input and enforce new requirements such as requiring land permits, fees, business licenses, etc., on most groups that use facilities in the State of Nevada.

Ten years ago Bernard and I held the first treasure weekend at Laughlin -- since then he has on occasion run into similar requirements as I discussed above, to ensure that the State received all tax revenue, if vendors were brought in and raffle tickets/metal detectors, etc. were sold while we were holding hunts. Being a small organization that wants to hold hunts and not have to deal with collecting taxes, we abided by the rule that we wouldn't sell anything where taxes would be required, collected, and reported. Let's us just say, we want to have "fun" using our detectors without all of the red tape to go through. He has contacted several state agencies, left either an email or a voice mail and was promised that within 3 working days, they would return his call or respond with an appropriate response and not to contact them again, as it only delays the process.

WELL, as you can guess, no response as yet, and if he hears nothing by this coming Saturday, being retired, next Monday morning he will drive to Reno and talk "in person" with someone responsibile who has the authority to say "aye" -- we can have our hunts over the proposed weekend of October 23, 24, and 25, 2009, in Laughlin, or "nay" we have to follow some additional rules, that we may find difficult to do. Therefore, I want to alert as many of our members and their friends in our detecting community, to NOT make airline reservations as yet, until we have more definitive information. Hopefully, that will be no later than next week.

Meanwhile, I will have our webmaster post this ALERT to our web page, and the follow-up decision when we receive it. Believe us, we want to hold our hunts on the same field in Laughlin as in years past, but we have also discussed talking to the AVI Indian Casino Management, 20 miles south of Laughlin, for permission to hold our event there the same weekend in October. If you have any questions, feel free to contact Bernard at BGG589@aol.com, 916-635-6854 or myself at CGARRETT71@HUGHES.NET, 719-749-0134. I have held up sending out a newsletter in hopes that the hunt flyer would be ready and I could attach it. We will stay positive and hope that our plans for Laughlin 2009 go well. Carolyn Garrett, Chairperson American Metal Detecting Association (AMDA)