Going Postal in Murphy Traditional Geocache
Vertighost: Since there has been no response by the cache owner within the time frame requested in the last reviewer note, I have archived this cache. Please note that caches that have been archived for maintenance issues or lack of cache owner communication are not eligible to be unarchived.
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Item from recent news…..Murphy Messenger (local newspaper)
SUSPICIOUS DEVICE FOUND IN MURPHY
On Friday, December 15, 2006 at approximately 12:12 P.M., the Murphy Police Department was notified by a U.S. Postal Service employee of a suspicious device that had been attached to a U.S. Postal Service mail depository box located on the corner of the old City Hall property at 205 North Murphy Road.
Officers from the Murphy Police Department were dispatched to the scene and made a visual observation of a white colored device of unknown origin that had been attached to the mail box. The postal service employee, who was still on the scene, reported to officers that he had been at that drop location earlier in the morning and the device was not there at that time. Unaware of what the device was or of its capabilities, on-scene personnel immediately called for the Murphy Fire/Rescue and Police command staff.
Once the situation had been assessed, calls were made for assistance from the U.S. Postal Inspector Service, the FBI and the Plano Police Department’s Bomb Squad. Those personnel arrived on scene and a collective decision was made to deploy a robot equipped with a disruptor unit and accompanied by a certified Bomb Technician.
When the necessary equipment was in place, a round was discharged from the disruptor unit which then rendered the device inoperable. A closer examination of that device found the item to be part of a Geocaching game which had apparently been placed on the mail receptacle by either a participant or an operator. Geocaching is an outdoor treasure-hunting game in which the participants use a Global Positioning System receiver or other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers.
In today’s event, North Murphy Road had to be closed and traffic re-routed for almost four (4) hours to ensure that innocent persons were not put into harms way. Murphy Police Chief said that when these types of events occur, these THRILL SEEKERS (????) do not think about the fact that they are actually putting entire communities at risk. Public safety resources, including personnel and equipment, are committed to an avoidable event and not available to respond to other public emergencies. Because so many resources have to be called in from other agencies who are equipped to handle such matters, these people’s actions put multiple communities at risk. After destruction of the device, Federal Agents from the United States Postal Inspector’s Service took possession of the remaining evidence and will send those materials to an appropriate laboratory for analysis.
So now the cache “Off to See the World” GCZPY8 only exists in the world as a collection of small pieces… Conclusion of this exercise is: Geocacher makes huge mistake on first cache placement and trying to be cute isn’t always cool…. As a warning to other cachers and to honor the memory of the fateful cache… we dedicate this “safe” (we hope) cache. Please look in the gallery images to see just “what’s left” after the bomb squad finished with the cache. The US Postal inspector kindly returned the pieces to cache owners after meeting in Fort Worth office to explain the game and that there was no intent to cause harm.
Special thanks to kd&prettierhalf for the unique cache container and suggested title for the cache.
****************CONGRATULATIONS TO TIZOM ON FTF**********
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Ab Jurer Arne n Znvyobk