AUCRAP

AUCRAp

The Alabama Underwater Cultural Resources Act Page

As some of you may know, the Federal government & in particular the State Of Alabama Historical Commission passed legislation in 1999 that severely limits the rights of relic hunters, divers & outdoorsmen. While the Federal legislation applies mainly to Federal lands (and rightly so), the act that the State Of Alabama has passed applies to anything underwater anywhere in the state.....on public or private lands. While the need to protect our history and cultural resources is certainly important to everyone, we feel that this law is overly restrictive in limiting the rights of the regular citizen from pursuing an innocent hobby. As it is currently written, you could be charged with a felony for gold panning, or for picking up an arrowhead or a discarded 1953 or older Coke bottle from any creek bank anywhere in the state. In addition, while explaining all the penalties involved (felonies), there are no provisions indicated in which the state intends to preserve or excavate the artifacts themselves.

They don't have the resources or plans to do anything, they just know that they don't want you to!

Below is a description of this act, what we think about it, and our proposal for rewording this act. In addition, as we have continued to work toward publicizing the unconstitutionality of this act, we have accumulated a great deal of documentation, press, mail, etc. I encourage you to look over everything that we have here, and to get involved by notifying your legislator of your displeasure with this act as it is currently written. Contact your Alabama state legislators regarding this issue via their Email address which can be found at http://www.legislature.state.al.us/

We have scanned in most of these documents in an Adobe Acrobat format. If you need the Acrobat Reader, you can download & install it free from here first.

The Latest Information & Changes

February 18, 2006 & April 13, 2006 press release ====> SUCCESS

The Bill & The Law

Original House Bill by Representative Turner - page1 page2 page3 page4

Alabama Underwater Cultural Resources Act that was passed - page1 page2 page3

Alabama Underwater Cultural Resources Act Regulations - page1 page2 page3 page4 page5 page6 page7

Alabama Historical Commission Administrative Code - page1 page2 page3 page4 page5 page6 page7 page8 page9

Newspaper Articles about the State Law - June 21, 1999 article about law - page1

Montgomery Advertiser Article About The Law - page1

The Letters We Wrote At This Point

Proposed Diver Friendly Version of the Act and Relevant Letters - page1 page2 page3

April 21, 2000 Letter to Tim Parker from Steve Phillips page1 page2

April 12, 2000 Proposed Draft Letter to Jim Bennett - page1 April 12, 2000 Proposed Draft Letter to all - page1

April 27, 2000 Representative Tim Parker's Suggestion - page1 January 15, 2001 Letter to Steve Phillips from Tim Parker - page1

January 3, 2001 Letter For Proposed Draft - page1 January 3, 2001 Letter to Legislators - page1

January 3, 2001 Letter to Tim Parker from Steve Phillips - page1 March 13, 2001 Letter to Greg Rhinehart - page1

November 13, 2000 Letter to Tim Parker from Steve Phillips - page1

Background & Definitions

Definitions - archaeologist historian salvage salvor deaccession

Alabama Recognized Historical Sites page1 National Register Criteria page1

Employee List for the Alabama Historical Commission - page1 page2 page3 page4

Environmental Working Group Pollution Report for the Alabama River page1 page2 Alabama Environmental Facts page1

Letters Protesting the Underwater Cultural Resources Act

April 14, 2000 Protest Letter to State Legislators - page1 August 26, 1999 Letter to Elizabeth Brown - page1

August 26, 1999 Letter to Elizabeth Brown November 13,2000 Protest Letter to Lee Warner - page1 page2

October 14, 1999 Protest Letter - page1

Permit request Letters October 7, 1999 Permit Request Letter mailed to Elizabeth Brown - page1

October 7, 1999 Permit Request Letter #2 faxed to Elizabeth Brown - page1

January 5, 2000 Permit Request Letter #3 mailed to Lee Warner - page1

Correspondence with Gov. Don Siegelman

April 20, 2000 Letter to Gov. Siegelman - page1

April 28, 2000 Letter from Gov. Siegelman - page1 page2

Correspondence with Lee Warner

November 4, 1999 Letter - page1 page2 April 12, 2000 Letter - page1 page2

Correspondence with Representative Chris Pringle

May 2, 2000 Letter to Elizabeth Brown - page1 May 2, 2000 Letter to Steve Phillips - page1

June 23, 2000 Letter from Lee Warner - page1 August 16, 2000 Letter from Steve Phillips - page1

November 13, 2000 Letter from Steve Phillips - page1 January 3, 2001 Letter from Steve Phillips - page1

January 24, 2001 Letter to Steve Phillips - page1

December 5, 2000 Letter to Dr. Angelo Mancuso page1 page2 March 8, 2001 Greg Rhinehart email page1

October 20, 2004 Letter from Bob Cox of Gulf Coast Divers Letter

Related Info

1981 Historical Commission Letter to the Alabama Gun Collectors Association page1

Article on Historical Commission Budget Cuts October 17, 2003 page1 page2

Indian Burial Ground Watch page1 page2 page3 Florida Isolated Finds page1 page2 page3

Georgia Museum of Natural History page1 page2 page3 page4

Confederate Memorial Park Museum Layout page1 page2 Steve Phillips' Section of Confederate Memorial Park page3

Arrest Records & News Articles

Police Report page1 page2 List of Artifacts Found and Then Stolen by Tom Mayer page1

List of Personal Property Stolen By The State of Alabama page1 Arraignment Date Notice page1

News Articles About the Arrest

Birmingham News article page1 Divenews.com article page1 WSFA Channel 12 page1

Alabama Archives page1 Tuscaloosa News Article page1 page2

Selma Times Newspaper Article page1 page2 AL.com Article page1 page2

A January 11 '04 article from The Birmingham News Sent Up The River

Associated Press article of 4/30/04 page1

Perry Massie's Inc.com Article page1 Outdoor Channel OTC Report page1

CableWorld.com article page1 page2 page3 BackChannelMedia.com Article page1 page2

December '04 article about Steve locating a murder weapon al.com

Copy of the charges to the jury court1 court2 court3

Alabama Historical Association Related News Articles

State Of Alabama Board Of Examiners Report (AUDIT) on the AHC report Associated Press Article On The Audit article

The Birmingham News Editorial on the audit 3/23/05 page1 Mobile Register Article 3/20/05 page1

"The notion that a radical is one who hates his country is naïve and usually idiotic. He is, more likely, one who likes his country more than the rest of us, and is thus more disturbed than the rest of us when he sees it debauched. He is not a bad citizen turning to crime; he is a good citizen driven to despair." H. L. Mencken

Here are some links to Federal government regulations & guidelines relating to this issue.

Abandoned Shipwreck Act Guidelines Cultural Resources Laws, Regulations & Standards

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