Some people skip church to search at Mounds Park; Searchers seek help from God, medallion
Early Sunday morning, hundreds of people scoured Mounds Park for the Winter Carnival medallion.
"We should have gone to church this morning," Nancia Range told her friend Cherise Beard.
"He believes in us," Beard said. "As long as we believe in him, he believes in us. We'll find it if it's meant to happen."
Actually, even if God is on their side, hunters who have committed to Mounds are going against spirituality. And history. In 1987, a controversy erupted when the medallion was buried at Mounds, and the Indian community got upset with medallion hunters traipsing over the sacred burial grounds. Several veteran treasure hunters have eliminated Mounds.
But it didn't stop Tim Dubois, Otis Labronski and Dan Lindblad from sitting in Lindblad's car, smoking cigarettes and discussing the clues and the other hunters.
"Right now, we're watching everybody pick spots," Labronski said. "Mentally, we're X-ing 'em off. When they get done here, we're gonna get out and hit all the spots they haven't hit. We're just playing a little lean-back."
Down the road, Jeff and Laurie Larson pawed at the snow while their kids, Nathan and Brittany, slid down a nearby hill.
"This is high ground, there's a place for sliding, and 'Rosebud' is the name of a sled in 'Citizen Kane,' " said Jeff, ticking off the clues in his head. "We're confused on the 'three pyramids' thing, though. That (the airport beacon) is a 'large object,' and 'the motherlode' could be Sheely's down there -- where they load gravel and stuff."
"It's here somewhere," Laurie said. "Some are still saying Battle Creek. And I started the week at Phalen. But it's not at Phalen. It's got nothing to do with Phalen."
Copyright 1998 Pioneer Press.