----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, April 06, 2003 10:39
AM
Subject: [meteorite-list] Park Forest -
Round Two
Dear List,
Here we go again! I am personally glad
to be home after spending five intense days in the so-called "Urban
Strewnfield". For those of you who were not able to go you did not miss
much. The weather was horrible, most of the neighborhood was rough and
the greed was amazing.
My brother, Greg arrived yesterday and met up
with Al Lang to pick up an entire bedroom that had been hammered by one
of these stones. We will reconstruct the bedroom with the ceiling
that had two holes punched in it, the venetian blinds that were
split down the center, a metal windowsill with a huge impact crater and a
mirror that was shattered, all hit by the same meteorite that thankfully
missed a boy by inches as he was sleeping. This collection will be
displayed proudly next to the Peekskill car in a private museum. We plan
on possibly displaying the collection at the Tucson show next year if there is
enough interest. We acquired several other impacted items from all over
the strewn field and will integrate them into another interpretive
display. This represents the world's largest collection of man-made
objects impacted by meteorites. We feel it is important to
preserve these historical items for future generations to
enjoy.
On another note:
Why couldn't the meteorite have landed somewhere
in a rural area?, maybe next time. I do not believe the prices would
have been so high if the stones where recovered by farmers and
ranch-hands. Word spread like wild fire in the Park Forest neighborhood
about prices being realized for stones that hit things. These
street-smart finders then played a lot of dealers and collectors in the field
for as much money as they could get and now everybody is paying the
price. You can blame dealers who lacked the patience to negotiate
better prices and manage the situation in a professional manner for these high
prices. Instead money was thrown around exciting the neighborhood
into a feeding frenzy. I owned up to my part in this whole thing
with a post called "Park Forest - the pulling of teeth". If I
contributed in anyway to the high prices, I apologize. I admit there
were a few times when we paid more than we should
have.
Wishing everybody well,
Adam Hupe
IMCA 2185
