|
|
 |
| Home | News |
News: March 5, 2008
Direct Threats from the Conservation and Preservation Committee
See below a threatening email from the Conservation and Preservation Committee. This type of mentality is what has kept Gordon's Panel secret from the public for so many years, when, in fact, the National Parks are owned by the public. People like this should be petitioning the Park Service to properly protect the site, instead of threatening others and keeping National Treasures hidden from the public.
This person also indicates that Gordon Smith is lying about his discovering the panel, when in fact there is documented evidence on the website proving that he was the first to discover the panel, bring it to the attention of the NPS, pack in the first Park Service archeologist, Jan Balsom, and later, Polly Schasma, a rock art specialist. None of these people had ever known about the site. If it had been discovered before, they would have known how to get there and look at it themselves.
It is up to the Park Service to protect this site, which they have failed to do for too many years. That's what this web site is about.
To: Gordon Smith
Sub: Shaman's Gallery
Date: March 2, 2008
From: Jack Sprague (ARARA) (wjsprague@sbcglobal.net)
CC: Gale Grasse Sprague (ggrassesprague@yahoo.com), Mavis Greer (mavis@GreerServices.com), Don Christensen (archaeoimage@ca.rr.com)
Dear Mr. Smith:
My name is Jack Sprague and I am the chairperson of the Conservation and Preservation Committee for the American Rock Art Research Association (ARARA). The reason that I am writing you is in regards to the rock art site named Shaman's Gallery.
It has been brought to my attention that you have blatantly posted a detailed map on your website of directions to this important and very fragile archaeological site. Further, you have totally misrepresented yourself on your website by stating that you discovered this site and therefore had the right to rename it after yourself. In fact, this site was first documented in1911, and lastly in 1986, when it was meticulously recorded by professional archaeologists Polly and Curt Schaafsma, a project that you were hired on to pack in supplies. But these misrepresentations are just the result of your misplaced ego, and not of true concern to the archaeological community.
What is of concern is the detailed map you have posted with directions to Shaman's Gallery. This action is wrong on so many levels I don't know where to begin. First, I know, it is not illegal for you to post that information on the website. It is morally and ethically wrong, but technically you are not breaking the law. However, there is definitely the potential that your posted directional information could fall into the hands of someone who would be inclined to vandalize this site, and therefore you could be liable as an accessory under an ARPA conviction.
Gordon, what you have done by posting this information on the Internet it to guarantee that this very fragile and extremely valuable archaeological site will be destroyed by the uneducated, or criminal visitor, and the knowledge contained within this site and those surrounding it will be lost forever. This is something that will impact you and future generations of Smith's because when this information is destroyed, we have lost a valuable piece of prehistory. If you love this site enough to rename it after yourself, Gordon's Panel, then please help us protect this site by taking all directional information to Shaman's Gallery off your web site, and by contacting the Grand Canyon National Park archaeologist and asking what you can do to help them maintain the integrity of this, and other archaeological sites, in the park. That would be a legacy your family would be proud of.
If I can be of any assistance to you, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Regards,
Jack Sprague
Chairperson, ARARA
Conservation and Preservation Committee
wjsprague@sbcglobal.net
|
|
|
