Obscure Ore. Law: Don't Dig for Artifacts
An Oregon bottle collector had no idea that his seemingly innocent hobby of looking for old glass around outhouses could violate state law. But then local media featured him in news reports.
Soon afterward, 44-year-old Dale Mlasko received a letter from the Oregon State Preservation Office, reports the Mail Tribune, a southern Oregon newspaper. The missive informed him that digging up artifacts more than 75 years old, even if done with the owner’s permission on private property, violates a statute that can require, among other things, that an archaeologist be present at the dig.
“I try to do everything in an ethical and legal way,” says Mlasko. “Nobody needs to desecrate sacred ground. But these are outhouses.”
Replies a spokesperson for the preservation office: “We’re more interested in education, rather than punishment.”
