Be Aware! In February of this year, there was an attempt to break into my office where the minerals shown on the pages of this web site were kept. Contingent to that, the police visited my office the following day, and discovered that I had a library that covered many subjects with military applications, in particular, explosive engineering, electronic warfare, secure communications and weapons of mass destruction. These, and other, fields I have worked in at the professional level in the past, both in and out of the military. The police seized my computers to see who I was communicating with. They became curious about my collection of minerals, and on discovering that many were uranium and thorium minerals, panicked at the perceived threat of a hazardous radiation exposure. The most radioactive specimen, Becquerelite, would need to be carried in ones' pocket for several weeks to receive a dose of medical interest to the area next to the specimen. I tried to explain that the background count in my office went from 1.8 mSv, or 0.18 milliRADs per hour before the collection, to 2.3 mSv, or 0.23 milliRADs per hour afterward. All that did was confirm their fear that the office was radioactive, and a hazard. It did no good to show them that I was a certified radiation technologist, their fear ruled their reactions. That fear of radiation, together with my knowledge of military technology and engineering, elevated the potential threat I posed to very high levels, and I was brought in for questioning. While being questioned, the police brought in their HAZMAT personnel to take care of the radioactive hazard they felt my minerals created. On my return, all I found were the empty cotton-lined boxes that I had kept the minerals in. The police HAZMAT team had collected everything, including gold and platinum nuggets and crystals, pyrite, sulfur, graphite, garnet and two fossil fish. The fossil fish being the only possible 'hazardous' item in the entire collection, as fish left out become toxic to eat, and these had been left out about 20 million years. As this had been declared hazardous material, there was no inventory or any receipt for any of the minerals. In the subsequent months, there was no word about the mineral collection nor the computers from either the county or state agencies involved, other than that the minerals had been shipped to the state capitol for 'analysis.' The Radiation Safety Officers for the three HAZMAT teams (Fire, police and board of health) that I and my lawyers contacted disclaimed any knowledge or responsibility. The judge in my case (I was charged with having a 'strong discussion' with the individual I caught ten feet from the door to my office a minute after the attempted break-in) ordered the return of my computers and a show cause on my mineral collection (why it was taken, what its status and location were). After a month and a half, there was no compliance with his orders, and a month and a half extension was granted the county. On the 25th of September, and before court, the county admitted to 'finding' my computers, and still refused to discuss the mineral collection. In private discussion in court, I refused to accept a plea bargain of a simple violation for yelling at an individual I believe to be a failed thief, as the county had failed to comply with the judge's orders. It was then that the mineral collection was also 'discovered' to be in the hands of one of the county's radiation safety officers, and being prepared for shipment for disposition. If I agreed to a plea bargain, they would order the release of my computers and the mineral collection back to me. While no threat was made, the hidden threat of their destruction was there if I did not cooperate. I agreed. A week after accepting the plea, my mineral collection was returned, badly damaged - it was simply dumped into three plastic bags. Part of the condition of the minerals being returned, and placed on them after the court agreement, is that I may not transfer ownership to anyone else, but may give them away to a museum or other institution. As of now, the end of October 2008, the county has to fulfill its promise to return my computers, dispite my lawyer having interceeded several times to get them released. My next step is to go back to court and as the jusdge to take action to force the prosecutor to obey the court's orders. Fortunately, I made certain all of the above became a part of the court record. I will update this as events unfold. As an outcome to all this, I am moving up my plans to donate these minerals to a museum. Instead of upon my death, I will be contacting a museum of good repute to help re-catalog the specimens, and have them placed into the hands of the museum. This collection is too important to be mishandled and used as a legal bargaining chip. The Threat I have heard from museum curators that they fear for their collections as well due to the excessive fear of terrorism. Their specimens could be declared a public hazard and confiscated and destroyed. The fear is that the mob mentality within government will result in the 'burning of the Museum (Library) of Alexandria' around the nation to 'protect' the public. The threat to all mineral collections comes from the fact that many interesting minerals contain heavy metals, and could potentially be declared a health threat and be taken by a HAZMAT team with no accountability or compensation. This becomes much simpler if some of the specimens are of uranium or thorium minerals. There is little protection against this form of confiscation by the government. In various sections and subsections of Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (The federal laws of the United States) the collection and shipment of specimens of uranium minerals is exempt from many regulatory requirements. In particular, specimens used for prospecting, scientific research and education are mentioned in Title 10's sections as being exempt. Exemption from regulation is not protection from ignorance and overzealous bureaucrats. As in my case, seized property was used as leverage to gain my compliance with the desires of a prosecutor who wanted to clear their case load - they failed to appear in court half the time due to other court demands. A Further Threat In my journey to recover this collection of uranium and thorium minerals, I discovered that the three separate HAZMAT teams within the county are independent of each other. Each is trained to different standards in different things that their departments feel they will likely encounter. There appears to be no coordinated standard or control of their operations, and little cooperation between them. In my case, it appears that the individual detective who declared the minerals to be a radiation hazard had no training in hazardous materials or in radiation. This would be expected, as few people will encounter radioactive material in their lives. However, the HAZMAT team, if they had followed standard procedures that I had been taught, would not have taken the word of an untrained individual as to the nature of the hazard. A simple check with a calibrated radiac meter, such as a Geiger counter, would have told them that no hazard existed. The method of seizing the collection, dumping everything into one cardboard box found on the site, would have resulted in a major spread of contamination if the material had been a radioactive hazard. It also is unlikely that the radiation levels at the surface of the box (for shipment, 5 mSv, or 0.5 milliRADs per hour with a wipe test no greater than 1 mSv, or 0.1 milliRADs per hour) were checked. In short, my county's preparedness for a radioactive hazard is likely worse than inadequate, potentially amplifying a radiation hazard by their very actions to contain it. A Caution to Intellectuals In these times, to know 'Forbidden Knowledge' is to be perceived as having the intension to cause harm. It used to be one had to perform some activity to show intent. This is no longer true. If you have knowledge that is felt by the government to be sensitive in any way, to protect yourself, keep it to yourself. It used to be that being public about ones' knowledge showed that one did not intend to misuse that knowledge. Those days disappeared with the Twin Towers at the World Trade Center. If you do not believe this, look at a college level chemistry textbook, and look up 'Lewisite,' the WWI blister agent, or its counter-agents, BAL and chloramine B. A modern textbook will not contain anything on any of them, but one published prior to 1960 very likely will. Even the counter-agents to chemical warfare agents have become 'Forbidden Knowledge.' In New York City, biological, chemical and radiological survey equipment must be registered with the city. There are only two explainations for these ordnances to have been passed: a ready source of detection equipment, and possibly trained operators as well, during a CBR emergency; and that the population must be kept under control during an emergency by limiting its source of information to only those approved sources within the government. Fear and ignorance are ruling the day. Those with a lamp of knowledge and wisdom must hide that lamp until better times, or suffer the possibility of being thrown into the pyre of Alexandria's Library. In every land whose government stoked the flames of fear and ignorance to control their population, among the first into the camps were the intellectuals. How long until libraries such as mine are declared a hazard to the public well being and destroyed? Fahrenheit 451 is a work of fiction. So was being stopped and searched without probable cause. This is happening today, with the approval of the Supreme Court, in New York City. Few dare to complain for fear of being marked as a non-conforming potential sympathizer of terrorism. Be Forewarned!