security, too heavy to carry off, to tough to cut, fire proof, bomb > proof, report directly to police via satellite, radio wave and phone > box with bullet proof glass built for it open, there are only three > roads out of town and distances are big. (Four layers minimum of > electronic security, fences, outer walls, interior, and object > oriented systems to defeat). Strangers are immediately spotted in a > small town there is no where to hide once the deed is done. The side > walks are rolled up after 9PM too so any activity is going to be > really noticed. It would actually be much easier to steal in a big > city (let me rephrase that). It would be easier to get away from the > scene of the crime in a big city. There is nothing worse than a peed > off local posse member with a shotgun out here (yes there are still > posse's). It would in fact be pretty easy to entirely seal off the > whole county or for that fact the state within a few minutes. (The > county there is the size of some of some small states with a > population of a few thousand folks.) The distances are very big and > to get past a road block is a hard thing when the deputies/state > patrolmen all have hunting rifles in the trunk. (Most of them actually > use them regularly too!). Some of them wear safety glasses when they
Even after the bad guys get the (no doubt soon to be built) high >
involved. It certainly won't go anywhere then......do. Trust me on that issue.
Just list it as an endangered species and the government will get >
Frank (Rooster) Bliss MS Biostratigraphy Weston, Wyoming.
Thanks, Bill Wahl
Winter (785)628-4557 home. (785)628-5715 office (machine) Dept. of Geosciences Fort Hays State University Hays. Kans, 67601.
Summer 307-864-2997-or 2979 Wyoming Dinosaur Center 110 Carter Ranch Road Thermopolis, Wyoming 82443
"you are what you are and you ain't what you ain't" John Prine
-----Original Message----- From: frank bliss <frank@blissnet.com> To: dinosaur@usc.edu Sent: Sat, 03 Dec 2005 15:35:05 -0700 Subject: Fwd: News: Worries over display of Archaeopteryx No. 10
component of cuprolitic source material about. Especially the last > paragraph. I suppose Mark Goodwin does all his paleontologic work for > free like I do. It is interesting now that private museums that do > community outreach and valuable scientific research are being > diminished by some paid "professionals". How quaint! So if you are > not state funded, you can't do good paleontology. Do I hear a > consensus on that???? Anyone????
Interesting news story but there seems to be IMHO, an integral >
security, too heavy to carry off, to tough to cut, fire proof, bomb > proof, report directly to police via satellite, radio wave and phone > box with bullet proof glass built for it open, there are only three > roads out of town and distances are big. (Four layers minimum of > electronic security, fences, outer walls, interior, and object > oriented systems to defeat). Strangers are immediately spotted in a > small town there is no where to hide once the deed is done. The side > walks are rolled up after 9PM too so any activity is going to be > really noticed. It would actually be much easier to steal in a big > city (let me rephrase that). It would be easier to get away from the > scene of the crime in a big city. There is nothing worse than a peed > off local posse member with a shotgun out here (yes there are still > posse's). It would in fact be pretty easy to entirely seal off the > whole county or for that fact the state within a few minutes. (The > county there is the size of some of some small states with a > population of a few thousand folks.) The distances are very big and > to get past a road block is a hard thing when the deputies/state > patrolmen all have hunting rifles in the trunk. (Most of them actually > use them regularly too!). Some of them wear safety glasses when they
(I do not speak for the Dinosaur Center but.....)
Let's assume that someone wanted to steal the old dusty bird fossil.
Even after the bad guys get the (no doubt soon to be built) high >
do. Trust me on that issue.involved. It certainly won't go anywhere then......
Just list it as an endangered species and the government will get >
Frank (Rooster) Bliss MS Biostratigraphy Weston, Wyoming. On Dec 2, 2005, at 1:53 AM, bh480@scn.org wrote:From: Ben Creisler bh480@scn.org In case this news story has not been mentioned yet: http://rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN ; _15_4282668,00.html Museum draws flak over display Critics fear private facility can't properly care for rare fossil By Jim Erickson, Rocky Mountain News December 2, 2005 A plan to display one of the world's best-preserved specimens of Archaeopteryx - the earliest known birdlike animal - in a small, privately owned Wyoming museum is drawing fire from paleontologists. Some critics say the Wyoming Dinosaur Center in Thermopolis lacks an adequate security system as well as the skilled workers needed to properly care for the precious 150 million-year-old fossil. Others say there's no guarantee that the nearly complete skeleton will be preserved for posterity or be available for future study. "There's nothing preventing it from being sold again in the future and then being removed from the scientific arena," said Mark Goodwin, assistant director of the Museum of Paleontology at the University of California, Berkeley. "In the eyes of professional paleontologists, it's not a proper repository," Goodwin said. Only 10 of the feathered Archaeopteryx (ark-ee-op-tur-ix) specimens have been found. The Thermopolis fossil comes from limestone deposits in Bavaria, Germany. The magpie-size skeleton is described in today's edition of the journal Science. Features in its skull and feet add new evidence to the widely held idea that birds descended from carnivorous dinosaurs. The study's three authors include Burkhard Pohl, a former veterinarian who founded the Wyoming Dinosaur Center in 1995. The center's 12,000-square-foot exhibition area has more than 200 displays, including about two dozen full- size mounted dinosaur skeletons. Pohl brokered the deal that will bring the prized fossil to Thermopolis in a few months. The widow of a Swedish collector found the fossil after her husband died in the late 1970s, Pohl said Thursday in an e-mail message. Pohl located a donor willing to buy the limestone slab and put it on permanent display in Thermopolis. Pohl said Goodwin's concerns about the fossil's future are misplaced because the sale agreement includes a guarantee that the Archaeopteryx will remain in a museum forever. "In the event that the Wyoming Dinosaur Center should cease to exist, it is agreed that the specimen will be placed in another public collection," Pohl wrote. It took more than a year to seal the deal, and the new owner wishes to remain anonymous, said Scott Hartman, the center's science director. The Wyoming Dinosaur Center is not revealing the selling price, but a less-impressive Archaeopteryx fossil sold for $1.3 million in 1999, according to Science. Ken Carpenter, a paleontologist at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, said he knows Pohl and has visited the Thermopolis center. "The people in Thermopolis basically are gobbling it up because it gives tourists another reason to come to Thermopolis," Carpenter said of the center. The north- central Wyoming town, population 3,200, is best known for its hot springs. "I guess my only concern with the specimen going to Thermopolis is that the security is not all that great," Carpenter said. "And the chances of it being stolen, I think, are very high." Hartman said the center plans to "completely overhaul" its security system before the Archaeopteryx goes on display. "There are valid concerns that need to be addressed," he said. "We're going to do our best to address these concerns, and I hope our colleagues will see that." Berkeley's Goodwin, for one, remains skeptical. "There's a community of people who ride the coattails of paleontology for profit," he said. "And that definitely applies to Pohl."