[meteorite-list] - "witness" to July 6 Fireball PA

[drtanuki]

Dear Steve and List,
  Your answer points to the need of an advance-prepared press release so that reporters get their facts straight and so that there is less chance of a mis-quote.  Reporters are infamous for making headlines and ignoring the facts.
  Good use of the reporter and news to get the word out for video evidence.
  Have a great day in your hunt!  Best, Dirk Ross...Tokyo

--- On Thu, 7/9/09, MeteorHntr at aol.com <MeteorHntr at aol.com> wrote:

> From: MeteorHntr at aol.com <MeteorHntr at aol.com>
> Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] - "witness" to July 6 Fireball PA
> To: drtanuki at yahoo.com, meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
> Date: Thursday, July 9, 2009, 10:23 PM
> In a message dated 7/9/2009 4:46:27
> A.M. Central  Daylight Time, 
> drtanuki at yahoo.com
> writes:
> Regarding what a meteorite is  worth.... it is worth
> what you or someone is 
> willing to pay, so I suggest that  you re-phrase the
> question to the 
> reporter when asked, and reply that "I am  willing to
> pay up to... (or a realistic 
> price) range".   
> 
> Dirk,
> 
> The problem is that I am not willing to pay anything for
> a  meteorite, at 
> least not now. I didn't come here to buy a meteorite. And
> as such,  I didn't 
> talk to the media about buying one.  I was asking for
> people to  check their 
> video and to come forward if they had any footage with the
> fireball.  
> 
> The reporters didn't ask me what I was willing to
> pay.  They asked  me 
> somewhere in the context of "All this effort,spent time and
> money, to come up  
> here and do all this work, are meteorites worth it?" 
> Which I answered with  
> the normal response of how they can be valuable to science,
> bla, bla, bla, 
> and  that museums and researchers and private
> collectors are interested, bla, 
> bla,  bla.  And then I was asked "Well, what are
> meteorites worth?" 
> 
> And,  even if I was wanting to buy a meteorite, I
> still would not quote a 
> price,  because I don't give quotes for purchase when
> I don't know how big it 
> is, what  condition it is in, or the supply and demand
> factors involved at 
> the moment of  making the offer.  All that can
> change, and about the only 
> thing certain,  is that when the time might come to
> make a real offer on a 
> real meteorite, I  would most likely be willing to pay
> more or less, maybe far 
> more or far less  than any quote I would give back in
> the hypothetical 
> stage.    
> 
> Again, the question to me wasn't what I was willing to pay,
> but what  
> meteorites are worth.  
> 
> Now, I have some work to do, and some rocks  to go
> find.
> 
> Have a nice day.
> 
> Steve Arnold
> of "Meteorite Men"  
> 
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