Randy Sharp
Newbie
- Joined
- Dec 4, 2008
- Messages
- 21
Your cell phone rings and the person on the other end tells you he found a disc with your name and number on it. It's your favorite "go to" driver that hit the heavy brush two days ago. You couldn't be happier. "You can have it back for $5.00," he says.
Somewhere else, a local player regularly drags the lakes at your local courses. He makes it very clear to everyone. If you want your lost disc returned to you, he expects a $2.00 reward for his trouble. His motto is, "If you don't want to pay me, fine. I can return it back into the lake…waaay back into the lake."
These people usually don't mince their words and will let you know right away the disc now belongs to them. In other words, their motto is "Finders keepers, losers weepers."
So…whose disc is it?
Ethically, it is still your disc. You bought it. It's got your name and number on it. Your buddies can verify that you've been throwing that very disc for months. You knew the general area it is lost in. You searched till dark without success, and you were planning to look for it again next weekend.
Morally, it is still your disc. It should be returned with no strings attached. After all, who can blame you for not wading waste deep into water in the middle of a tournament or deciding to wait until the weather is more accommodating?
When possession is nine-tenths of the law
Legally, it is no longer your disc. Once you leave the general vicinity of the lost disc, or are no longer making a legitimate attempt to locate it, the law considers it abandoned by the owner.
Any legal scholar will assert the person who lost the disc had the opportunity to continue to "beat the bushes" after nightfall, or to "go fishing" for it in the lake. Walking away constituted your decision that the disc was no longer worth the effort. Therefore, you gave up any legal claim to it.
Although of unsavory ethical merit, a person who finds an abandoned disc has standing to claim ownership, and the loser has no right to it. In the eyes of the law, the new owner can require payment (a reward) in exchange for "your" disc or he may sell it to someone else.
A sporting chance
My daughter and I rake the local lakes regularly. We have pulled well over 100 wet plastics from a watery grave in the past year alone. It is our belief that returning discs to their rightful owners is the right thing to do. It is yours, and we want you to have it back.
If we cannot locate the owner, we sell them at local tournaments for half their retail price. However, if someone finds a long lost disc in our "For Sale" box with their name on it, we are more than happy for them to take it.
After all, in our eyes, it is their disc.
Randy Sharp, PDGA # 38266
Tupelo, MS
Somewhere else, a local player regularly drags the lakes at your local courses. He makes it very clear to everyone. If you want your lost disc returned to you, he expects a $2.00 reward for his trouble. His motto is, "If you don't want to pay me, fine. I can return it back into the lake…waaay back into the lake."
These people usually don't mince their words and will let you know right away the disc now belongs to them. In other words, their motto is "Finders keepers, losers weepers."
So…whose disc is it?
Ethically, it is still your disc. You bought it. It's got your name and number on it. Your buddies can verify that you've been throwing that very disc for months. You knew the general area it is lost in. You searched till dark without success, and you were planning to look for it again next weekend.
Morally, it is still your disc. It should be returned with no strings attached. After all, who can blame you for not wading waste deep into water in the middle of a tournament or deciding to wait until the weather is more accommodating?
When possession is nine-tenths of the law
Legally, it is no longer your disc. Once you leave the general vicinity of the lost disc, or are no longer making a legitimate attempt to locate it, the law considers it abandoned by the owner.
Any legal scholar will assert the person who lost the disc had the opportunity to continue to "beat the bushes" after nightfall, or to "go fishing" for it in the lake. Walking away constituted your decision that the disc was no longer worth the effort. Therefore, you gave up any legal claim to it.
Although of unsavory ethical merit, a person who finds an abandoned disc has standing to claim ownership, and the loser has no right to it. In the eyes of the law, the new owner can require payment (a reward) in exchange for "your" disc or he may sell it to someone else.
A sporting chance
My daughter and I rake the local lakes regularly. We have pulled well over 100 wet plastics from a watery grave in the past year alone. It is our belief that returning discs to their rightful owners is the right thing to do. It is yours, and we want you to have it back.
If we cannot locate the owner, we sell them at local tournaments for half their retail price. However, if someone finds a long lost disc in our "For Sale" box with their name on it, we are more than happy for them to take it.
After all, in our eyes, it is their disc.
Randy Sharp, PDGA # 38266
Tupelo, MS
