Jim_Alaska

Jim Foley Update. Over the last few months before Jim had his surgery - in my grief now - I had forgotten. In Jim's prayers, that I heard, he often dwelled on his home in heaven and distinguished it from his home in heaven and his home on earth. To most people that may not mean anything, but for me, it told a lot. He had never really done that before a few months ago. Now that he is not waking up, the doctors have their reasons why. His brain is severely damaged by the stroke. If he did wake up it is likely that he wouldn’t be able to see, speak, feed himself, or breathe on his own. He has also developed an infection (Pneumonia) in his lungs. But I think there is an added reason - he doesn't want to wake up. He really has nothing to look forward to, he hated what the neuropathy was doing to him and it was getting worse, to the point that at some point he wouldn't have been able to do anything but sit in his chair and wait to die, which he felt he was already doing. I really think he was ready to go months ago, long before he knew about his heart problem. Even though he did have great hope that he would recover from his surgery and feel better and have more energy. I also feel he was torn between the desire to die and leaving me a widow. But there is also that he felt trapped in his body. So I have decided that I will let him die peacefully. I think he has a few more days before he has to have the stomach feeding portal installed. I have told them not to. It will also be at that time I will have them remove his ventilator so he can pass peacefully. There really is no hope he will recover, but even if there was - recover to what? To continue his neuropathy deterioration? I really think he doesn't want that, and is one reason he hasn't woke up. I am sorry, so very sorry. Not just for me, but for him, his family, and his close friends. I don't know the exact date they will do this, but it will happen soon. I will go and see him one last time tomorrow and say my goodbyes. I cannot bear to watch him die. This is the hardest thing I have ever had to do. But he would not want to live like this, and I am abiding by his wishes. Please know, my heart goes out to you. Linda, Jim's wife

Just a note to let folks know that I will not be online for an unknown period of time. I am scheduled for triple bypass heart surgery on July 14rh. They have not told me how long I will be hospitalized, so, I'll let folks know when I am back online.

You got good information @Cord, no need for me to repeat it.

Panning is the ONLY method of mining you are allowed to do in California. All motorized mining is prohibited.

I live in Northern Calif. There is not all that much snow here. Some places farther south may have got more snow, but I don't think it will affect much. It's usually flooding produced by rain that moves gold, and even then it has to be something like a 500 year flood event.

Its nonsense, there cannot be any goldrush if you are not allowed to prospect or mine.

I have to admit it....you got me! That was a riot, I needed a good laugh.

The easy way is to take it to the geology department of any large university and ask them to identify it. In my experience they usually will not charge you for this.

Just my experience, but I have tried a paid membership on my forums years ago. It was more than a dollar, but I don't remember how much more. Not really expensive. Like Steve, i did it to eliminate SPAMMERS, as well as some very pernicious and vulgar hackers. My result was that it just about brought my forums to screeching halt, lost most of the membership. In my case it was not just new membership, it had to be all members because I had "sleepers" that had signing up sometimes months before. I ended up having to use law enforcement to take care of these problems. Law enforcement doesn't consider spamming important enough to deal with; but the hacker part they get serious about. I hope no one here has never had the experience of innocently opening a forum and seeing vivid, raw porn on the index page. It is even more disturbing if the porn has you photoshopped into the porn.

Thanks for your diligence in taking care of this Steve. I was up early the other day and saw and reported the SPAM, I figured you weren't awake yet. I had to go to "registration approval" on my forums because of this very thing. Some of these people live in places that are so backward that this may be the only income they can get. It makes you wonder how they can afford a computer.

Clay, your argument is not with me. I post the information I have and state my personal experiences in this 13 year fight with authorities. Like I said, 13 years has passed; this is not new stuff just because it is new to you personally. It has effectively shut down mining in CA for that length of time. You asked me to point you to where the law can be read and I did that. I am sorry for being so abrupt, but I have nothing to prove here. You are free to take this up with the appropriate authorities and pose your arguments to them. We did, all the way to the supreme court.

Clay, the following is a copy and paste of the response to a miners inquiry to CFW about this situation. Notice that the response includes the Fish & G. Code numbers. I have boldened the part about prohibition near the end of CFW reply. ___________________________________________________________ "Thank you for your questions. You ask, for example, about what you refer to as the 300-foot rule and how it relates to motorized mining equipment. You also ask if it would be lawful to “use a water pump to pump water from the river to a highbanker more than 300 feet from the river.” Further, you ask if use of the pump is the problem or the water returning to the river. Finally, you mention you have a place to set up your highbanker more than 300 feet from the river where the pumped water would not run directly back to the river. We hope the following information is helpful. Use of vacuum or suction dredge equipment is currently prohibited by statute in California rivers, streams, and lakes. (Fish & G. Code, § 5653.1, subd. (b); see also Id., § 5653, subds. (a), (b).) Use of any such equipment is also currently defined by statute in much broader terms than traditional suction dredging. Current California law defines use of vacuum or suction dredge equipment to mean the “use of a mechanized or motorized system for removing or assisting in the removal of, or the processing of, material from the bed, bank, or channel of a river, stream, or lake in order to recover minerals.” (Id., § 5653, subd. (g).) This definition, importantly, and the two code sections just mentioned “do not apply to, prohibit, or otherwise restrict nonmotorized recreational mining activities, including panning for gold.” (Ibid.) Finally, section 5653 of the Fish and Game Code states, “It is unlawful to possess a vacuum or suction dredge in areas, or in or within 100 yards of waters, that are closed to the use of vacuum or suction dredges.” (Id., § 5653, subd. (e).) We assume your mention of a 300-foot rule is a reference to this latter prohibition. Turning to your questions, possession of your highbanker more than 100 yards from a California river, stream, or lake would not be a violation per se of Fish and Game Code section 5653, subdivision (e). As to the use of a motorized pump to pump river water to the highbanker more than 100 yards from the river, the principal issue relevant in the first instance under the two controlling sections of the Fish and Game Code is not use of the pump or the water returning to the river. The relevant issue is the source of the materials you would process in the highbanker and the purpose. This issue is highlighted in the portion of the definition quoted above. That definition speaks, in relevant part, to the use of motorized or mechanized equipment to remove or assist in the removal of, or the processing of, “material from the bed, bank, or channel of a river, stream, or lake in order to recover minerals.” (Fish & G. Code, 5653, subd. (g).) To the extent you propose to remove and process material from the bed, bank, or channel of the river to recover minerals, including gold, and to use a motorized water pump and highbanker as part of that operation, that activity is currently prohibited and subject to citation under section 5653 of the Fish and Game Code. That the highbanker would be used as part of the mining operation more than 100 yards from the river would not make overall operation lawful.” Chief David Bess Law Enforcement Division California Department of Fish and Wildlife

Why the "confused" emoticons? The ban on using mechanical devices to recover gold is in place and has been for quite some time. Miners, myself included, have fought against this regulation and spent millions through various organizations since the beginning. We took it all the way the The Supreme Court, with the help of The Pacific Legal Foundation. But at that level the court refused to hear it; which is not uncommon given their case load. Just because someone got away with whatever means they used doesn't mean you won't get cited, or that the regulation is not in effect.

I know you said; "You only need to do this if you have never posted on this website before." I have posted previously, but want to make sure I don't get deleted. I visit several times per day.

This is true, it is waterboards. They have been under orders to implement a plan for permitting for all of this time, they just don't do it. It is also true that Federal law, in the form of the 1866 mining law should supersede the state's ban, but the state simply ignores it. We fought this at the legislative level and even in court. It went all the way to the Supreme Court, but they refused to hear it. These are public facts, not a personal rant. I hope this post is not seen as a political rant, which Steve doesn't want done; if it is seen as one Steve, feel free to delete.