Subject: Re. purple loostrife discussion

From: [email-masked] (Andy Nachbaur)
Date: Tue, 4 Jul 1995 14:49:00 GMT

*Not all the mail I get on this subject has been anti beekeeper.<G>
passed on with permission.
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From: [email-masked] (Jim Wagner)
To: [email-masked]
Date: Sun, 02 Jul 1995 20:18:46 -0500
Subject: Re. purple loostrife discussion

Dear Beefriend,

I am a brand new hobby beekeeper, only two hives started this spring.  So I
have very much to learn and almost nothing to contribute  in the way of bee
knowledge.

 I also have an honorable discharge from the U.S. Army and retired after 30
years of Federal Government service as a civilian.  For the past ten years I
have raised beef cattle and pecans.  I have served on the board of directors
of our state cattlemen's association, state farm bureau advisory committee
on pecans and extension advisory committee.  I am also a master gardener.
None of that is really relevant to this discussion, I just wanted to set the
background

I have been lurking on the Bee-L list for several months where I have been
following the many comments regarding purple loostrife. I always enjoy your
postings on any subject because I find your opinions seem to reflect some
common sense and are expressed very well.

In my opinion your reply to Dr. Blossey was 100 per cent on target.  I agree
with each and every statement you made.  The opinions you expressed in your
reply to Dr. Blossy were well thought out and well expressed.  If there was
any tirade it was in Dr. Blossey's reply to you.  I think you gored his
sacred ox.   There is no gurantee that biological controls of purple
loostrife will be restricted to purple loostrife.  Who knows what other
plants and crops will be affected?  Once these non-indigenous biological
controls are released there is no way to call them back if it is later
discovered that they are harming beneficial plants and crops.

Too often scientists and bureaucrats are quick to push some wonder cure on
the general public only to find out later that their cure is worse than the
bite.  Many of these scientists  and bureaucrats are driven solely by their
desire for recognition and justification for their employment.  It's a well
known fact that professors and researchers in most  universities must
publish or perish.  Perhaps this is one of the driving forces behind Dr.
Blossey's vitriolic attack on you and your opinions.

I support your opinion in this matter and believe you have explained your
beliefs in a most rational and logical way.  Keep up the good work.

Ask an enviornmentalist why a human couple can mate and raise a family in an
eight by ten room but it takes three square miles for a spotted owl to do
the same?

Jim Wagner
Illigitimi non carborundum