Good! I am a firm believer of voting with my wallet. I am
not naive enough to think that the pittance I contribute to
any company will make any real difference, but the pittance
that then goes to a smaller mom and pop shop, or small
vendor could make a difference. Funny... smaller outlets
actually seem to want my money, rather than expect it.
Perhaps this will allow a smaller outlet to make a larger
contribution when it comes to conservation they might not
have otherwise had the chance for due to funding
automatically going to the AOS. FWIW, I really have no
beef with the AOS, but generally see a lot of unhappy
people talking about them. When there is only one game
in town, they have no incentive to listen to the very people
who fund them.

Crystal

--
http://home.comcast.net/~xtals/orchid.htm
"Kenni Judd" wrote in message
. ..
This post was sent to me by a friend and former employee, Sandy Greeman,
who
is having "technical difficulties" posting here directly, and so asked me
to
post it on her behalf:

"fwiw - I am not renewing my AOS membership this year. The magazine has
amazingly shrunk but carries many more ads than it used to. I'm sick of
their attitude towards the novice grower in general, especially because
they
are supposed to be a non-profit educational organization. Did you catch
their tax return for last year?? Salaries are outrageous. Grants are
miniscule compared to their expenses for awards and shows - where only a
vendor will attempt to honestly answer a newbie's question. Judges just
act
like pompous snobs. I believe the AOS only exists to
promote_themselves_and
the_large_growers. I would love to see the percentage of hobbyist awards
against the total awards granted.

I grow orchids for my own amusement and to share with other hobbyists. The
AOS no longer offers me any benefit for the amount of my dues. I can get
more information about growing orchids from the internet than I can from
their slick monthly advertisement publication. The behavior of their
officers in this most recent controversy assures me that I have made the
correct decision to discontinue my contribution to their salaries."

Sandy Greeman


--
Posted for Sandy by Kenni Judd
Juno Beach Orchids

http://www.jborchids.com

"Larry Dighera" wrote in message
...
On 13 Oct 2003 06:36:13 -0700, (William Hill)
wrote in Message-Id:
:

... so far the "Powers that be" seem to be thumbing
their noses at us "Little Folks" who are so dumb--that ...

You know what they say: It starts at the top. That attitude seems to
perfectly mirror junior Bush's administration's attitude.


--

Irrational beliefs ultimately lead to irrational acts.
-- Larry Dighera,