We're becoming a society of terrified wusses.
"who is described as a white male in his 60s, "
obvious terrorist!
A few years back one of our crew chiefs was walking down a suburban street with a machete in it's sheath on his belt. Police car flys up out jumps a woman cop with gun drawn.
We can all sleep better at night.
The Hack
I was standing outside a 7-11 couple years back with one sheathed on my belt, lady behind the counter locked thw doors and called the cops on me. Two officers showed up and laughed when I explained my profession and the situation. Hollywood has people scared of their own shadows nowadays.
I was finding some corners at one of our local schools last Monday and decided not to use the machete for this reason. Used the shovel to fight the brush instead.
Another Machete Story
few years back, we were running topo on an old a superfund site...
we were in our white hazmat jumpsuits...
my rodman was African-American...
he wore a machete...
you know where this is going, LOL...
business nearby saw him and call the cops to report an escaped convict with a machete roaming the area...
cops were sent out, they immediately recognized us as Surveyors...
Apparently, everyone in town knew of the site and the hazards... except the business next door, LOL.....
I can explain it to you, but I can't understand it for you...
I read that Dan! +o( I'm speechless! Then again before fire arms that was the way killing was done!
Another Machete Story
Shortly after I began my civilian surveying career in 1978, I was the tail rodman on a 4 man crew that was surveying a line thru some thick brush. A woman called the police because the man doing most of the cutting was a tall and quite rough looking (he resembled Charles Manson). By the time I got there, the police had left without an incident. I did hear the woman say she saw "a big ole man with a big ole knife" and he scared her because "there's so much meanness in the world."
Jeff Lucas, if you're reading this, he was a pretty good surveyor and later worked for you!;-)
Back when my daughter was in college ....
she had a project to inventory invasive plat species on an old colonial governor's plantation. Knowing how dad used machetes she thought it might be kind of nice to have one while tromping through the woods and brush. Went to a local hardware store in Williamsburg and boy did they give her some strange looks and some serious questioning about why, she, a college student needed a machete. Once they concluded she was on the up-and-up they sold her one. They were concerned that she was going to take it back to campus and go wacko.
I thought it was funny!
Back when my daughter was in college ....
Thanks for the chuckle. Once a surveyor, always a surveyor.
"she had a project to inventory invasive plat species on an old colonial governor's plantation"
Another (similar to a) Machete Story
Use to be a "lifer" rodman that worked for one of the firms in OKC, he went by the name "Stretch". Stretch was an old hippy looking fella; tall and lanky with a beard and lotsa hair. He had the deep set eyes "Bigfoot" poker-face look. but a real nice guy and a hard worker.
This outfit was doing some work for the City in a not-so-nice part of town, right around the corner from the Jesus House. Stretch was slowly walking circles in an intersection, staring down looking for a nail & shiner....shaking a can of paint the whole time! Something that you and I would recognize what was going on immediately.
But apparently not the prowl car in the alley watching him. They called for back-up..he was the biggest and scariest "paint head" they had seen all day. After a brief discussion with the PC everything was smoothed over. 😛
Back when my daughter was in college ....
Would the paper delivered by the guy in the other thread who was surveying in the wrong state qualify as an "invasive plat species" ? 😛
Good catch
Never have claimed to be able to type or spell.