Economic Meltdown (seconda parte)

[kandrathe]

It's obvious that the other stories will turn out to be very similar, if you go looking for more information.

Right. Here is another rose colored lens for you. She knew it was wrong, but everybody does it. That is... until someone decides to crack down on you because of the way you look.

But someone working with orchids for 20 years would not make that mistake. Phragmipedium are quite easily recognized, and grow, unlike other orchid types, in normal soil. Maxillaria have a distinct way of flowering, and might be mistaken for Lycaste, but never for a slipper orchid. Not surprisingly, both Mr. Norris and his accomplice confessed to all charges brought up against them.

Be that as it may... The guy went to federal prison for growing flowers, while others get a fine. The "rare" orchids were probably grown in a greenhouse in Peru, and not in the wild. They were taken of the endangered list before the trial.

I've written extensively here about the drama surrounding George Norris and Manuel Arias Silva's troubles with the law. Both are elderly and in ill health, and from what I can gather from those "in the know", they are not big bad orchid smugglers guilty of stripping the wild of rare orchids species, but victims of a complicated web of petty politics, egos, and treachery. Oh, and of their own frustration with nonsensical CITES laws. Apparently, the orchids they "smuggled" were not rare, and were removed from the list of prohibited trade species after their shenanigans. The question remains as to whether the plants in question were collected from the wild, or cultivated at Jose's nursery in Peru.

How about felony selling of raw milk and eggs?