I like the divorce analogy. It has been both sad and funny watching the
judges trying to recruit (bring back into the fold) commercial growers.
Carlos is as good a person as you will find anywhere and the AOS has been
lucky to have him, but it has not been change, just more of the same. Over
the last year or so the 'NO AOS Judging' signs have started appearing on the
east coast and in the last year three different nonjudge members have told
me they would not be AOS members if they were not already lifetime members.
In the backrooms away from the public and the judges, vendors are bitching
about receiving awards. Seems some would rather take there spouse to dinner
than pay for an award. The committees tasked to fix this mess are made of
the very members that created it in the first place. I do not see real
change coming anytime soon and I am afraid that a decade is optimistic. I
wonder how long they are going to be able to carry that building.