Phil Levy writes:
        "(T)he majority of enthusiasts (for lack of a better term) obey
those laws".
and
        "Most pothunting is legal and I don't see how people involved in a
legal activity can be outlaws."

        I don't know where you're living, but a great many "pothunters"
start the slippery slope to crime with trespass and move on from there. When
I worked in Denver there were two cases of "pothunters" killed during their
"avocation" while trespassing under somone else's building looking for
goodies.

        I concur that "pothunters" are our competitors in the sense that
they trash scientific information for the sake of a few "good" pieces. I
have historic refuse sites here on federal land that look like Slack's Farm,
where "enthusiasts" have lined up tens of historic bottles on the sides of
their looter's pits only to select two or three for re-sale. Worse yet,
there are people always trying to find the location of known sites so that
they can help themselves to artifacts.

        But, I think the saddest state of a "pothunter" is the addictive
one. These are the people that have oil drums full of arrowheads on their
porches. They can't keep from picking up things. Eventually, they start
picking up bones, pots, whatever. It's cool stuff! No mystic
connections....No spiritual communing.....Just grab it. Try working with one
of them some time.

        Finally, I think you're all being a bit naive about the level of
criminality involved in pothunting. Many of these people are armed and
dangerous and know damn well that they're breaking the law.

        John Dendy