[meteorite-list] Lorton, Smithsonian and "cool" scientists thinking

[MeteorHntr at aol.com]

Hey List,

It was my understanding that a local news station was  called to the Lorton 
doctor's office, and then that TV news crew  actually drove the meteorite 
to the Smithsonian for verification. At  that time, it became obvious that it 
was a genuine meteorite and then efforts by  the museum personnel were 
started to acquire this specimen for the  museum.

In any case, when I arrived at the fall site the next day after  the story 
broke, with a Meteorite Men camera crew on my heels, Smithsonian  personnel 
were there at the fall site, which I thought was great.  You  can't blame 
them for wanting to obtain the rock.  In fact, there would be  something wrong 
if they didn't want to acquire it.

I will say that our  Meteorite Men producers made extensive attempts to 
gain permission from the  Smithsonian for me to come to the U.S. National 
Collection with a camera crew  and shoot footage of Earth's newest alien visitor 
to appear in one of our  upcoming February episodes.  If the Lorton story 
would have played out big  enough, it could have become its own episode, most 
likely running at the end of  February or in March of this year.   

We were willing to pay  the $1,000 shooting fee that the Smithsonian 
normally charges, but we were  flatly denied ANY access to the Lorton specimen for 
our TV show.  I am not  sure of all of the reasons, and who made the actual 
decision to deny us and our  audience the opportunity to see it first hand, 
but it seems that because the  Smithsonian now has their own new cable TV 
network, and as such it is  now their policy to not give any competing TV 
networks any access to shooting  any of their stuff in their collections.  

We also wanted to film  the actual Tucson Ring specimen, that is the 
centerpiece in the National  Collection's public display, for this next 
Wednesday's episode of Meteorite Men,  but we were flatly denied access a few months 
ago to shoot that as well.   The February 3rd episode of Meteorite Men goes 
into the historical story of the  Tucson Ring and of course, as the center 
piece to our National Collection now on  display in Washington D.C., it's 
final resting place is an important part of the  story of the greatest legend in 
all of meteorites.  

However, I was  told that the "powers that be" at the Smithsonian did offer 
to sell us a black  and white still photo of the Ring for $400 to use on 
the show.  Nice of  them, wasn't it?  So, I don't think the problems we had 
this last week were  related to the Lorton fall in particular, but seems to be 
a bigger bureaucratic  problem elsewhere.

Apparently, other networks have had severe access  challenges lately in 
wanting to get footage of other national treasures since  the Smithsonian cable 
network was formed.  In our case it seems to be a  real shame as it would 
have generated great PR for both our TV show and for the  Smithsonian and for 
meteorites in general.  

Well, maybe one day, a  few years down the road, we can look forward to the 
Smithsonian Cable TV Network  running their own TV show about meteorites in 
general and maybe the Lorton  specifically and we will all get to see it 
again.

It is not my intention  to paint the meteorite professionals at the 
National Collection in a bad  light.  In fact, I would invite them to respond here 
to give their side of  the story.  I have traded with the Smithsonian in the 
past and I even sold  the Smithsonian some West specimens this last year.  
While the process was  complicated and took a very long time, the people I 
worked with were great, and  I consider them friends and colleagues in our 
celestial quest.  I get the  feeling that the challenges we face are in other 
departments other than  theirs.  

I do know there is still some prejudice against the  collecting community 
among some in governmental employed academia.  There  are those that still 
think all meteorites should be owned by governments and  that there should be 
no private hunting for, collecting and owning of  meteorites.   There seems 
to be a few dinosaurs holding onto the idea  that if someone earns a buck, 
or God forbid -- a living, in the meteorite  business, it is a bad thing.  
(Ironically, I am still looking for the list  of scientists and curators that 
donate 100% of their paychecks each week back to  the institutions that 
employ them, because they really believe it is wrong for  anyone to earn any 
money from working with meteorites.)  And what is really  ironic, is that 
people like Dr. Art Ehlmann at T.C.U., who really does all his  meteorite work 
gratis, is on the top of the list of people who do their  meteorite work for 
no pay AND he is also on the top of the list of scientists  that support our 
collecting communities efforts. 

It is possible that there is an underlying fear that being associated  with 
a TV show that features non-governmental collecting of meteorites could  
somehow cast them in a negative light, especially among a handful of archaic  
thinking colleagues that might scorn them at the Meteoritical Society  
meetings.  Remember in junior high school, when a cool kid would talk with  a 
non-cool kid, and all the other cool kids would shun their ill-acting  member?  
Yea, I kind of think that "we are better than they are" thinking  might 
still happen at some level amongst the "cool" scientists in the field. 
 
I am not sure who all still feels that way in the research community (maybe 
 someone can make a list of them online?) as I have noticed a much more  
enlightened view from more and more scientists as the years pass.   Hopefully 
that haughty bias will eventually dissolve away as people realize the  
positive contributions the private collector community makes to the science and  
that we are all in this great and healthy symbiotic relationship  together.

Steve Arnold
of Meteorite Men