|
sentencing
sorry if this is a dupe...
Va. Orchid Collector Sentenced for Bringing Rare Plant Into U.S. Updated: Tuesday, Nov. 2, 2004 - 8:05 AM TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - A Fauquier County man was sentenced to two years of probation and fined $1,000 for bringing a rare orchid from Peru to a Florida botanical garden. James Michael Kovach, of Goldvein, pleaded guilty earlier this year to two misdemeanor counts of violating the Endangered Species Act. He apologized Monday and told a federal judge that didn't intend to violate any laws. Kovach, 49, bought the large peach-and-purple ladyslipper orchid at a roadside flower stand in a Peruvian mountain village. He brought it to Sarasota's Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, and experts named it after him: Phragmipedium kovachii. The find was called the most significant in the orchid world in the last 100 years. Kovach originally faced a felony smuggling charge, but agreed to plead guilty to two counts of importing and possessing the orchid without a proper permit. Each count carried a penalty of up to a year in prison and a $100,000 fine. U.S. District Judge Steven Merryday said he didn't believe Kovach intentionally broke the laws. The garden pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of accepting and handling the flower and agreed in January to pay a $5,000 fine and submit to three years' probation. Selby horticulturist Wesley Higgins, head of the orchid identification center, entered a plea agreement specifying house arrest for six months, probation for a year and a $2,000 fine. (Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) --j_a |
Very interesting...... I remember reading about this & it just
shows to go, it's 'what' you don't know & 'who' you do know. This guy gets a slap on the wrist compared to what old George got! It all depends on the judge? Also I read back that when Kovach brought this paph in there was a big feud going about the naming of this plant,as someone else had one as well & wanted to name it something else? I wonder if they have seedlings of this huge paph & I bet they are selling for thousands! Just my twopence worth. -- Cheers Wendy Remove PETERPAN for email reply janet_a wrote: sorry if this is a dupe... Va. Orchid Collector Sentenced for Bringing Rare Plant Into U.S. Updated: Tuesday, Nov. 2, 2004 - 8:05 AM TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - A Fauquier County man was sentenced to two years of probation and fined $1,000 for bringing a rare orchid from Peru to a Florida botanical garden. James Michael Kovach, of Goldvein, pleaded guilty earlier this year to two misdemeanor counts of violating the Endangered Species Act. He apologized Monday and told a federal judge that didn't intend to violate any laws. Kovach, 49, bought the large peach-and-purple ladyslipper orchid at a roadside flower stand in a Peruvian mountain village. He brought it to Sarasota's Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, and experts named it after him: Phragmipedium kovachii. The find was called the most significant in the orchid world in the last 100 years. Kovach originally faced a felony smuggling charge, but agreed to plead guilty to two counts of importing and possessing the orchid without a proper permit. Each count carried a penalty of up to a year in prison and a $100,000 fine. U.S. District Judge Steven Merryday said he didn't believe Kovach intentionally broke the laws. The garden pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of accepting and handling the flower and agreed in January to pay a $5,000 fine and submit to three years' probation. Selby horticulturist Wesley Higgins, head of the orchid identification center, entered a plea agreement specifying house arrest for six months, probation for a year and a $2,000 fine. (Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) --j_a |
Very interesting...... I remember reading about this & it just
shows to go, it's 'what' you don't know & 'who' you do know. This guy gets a slap on the wrist compared to what old George got! It all depends on the judge? Also I read back that when Kovach brought this paph in there was a big feud going about the naming of this plant,as someone else had one as well & wanted to name it something else? I wonder if they have seedlings of this huge paph & I bet they are selling for thousands! Just my twopence worth. -- Cheers Wendy Remove PETERPAN for email reply janet_a wrote: sorry if this is a dupe... Va. Orchid Collector Sentenced for Bringing Rare Plant Into U.S. Updated: Tuesday, Nov. 2, 2004 - 8:05 AM TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - A Fauquier County man was sentenced to two years of probation and fined $1,000 for bringing a rare orchid from Peru to a Florida botanical garden. James Michael Kovach, of Goldvein, pleaded guilty earlier this year to two misdemeanor counts of violating the Endangered Species Act. He apologized Monday and told a federal judge that didn't intend to violate any laws. Kovach, 49, bought the large peach-and-purple ladyslipper orchid at a roadside flower stand in a Peruvian mountain village. He brought it to Sarasota's Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, and experts named it after him: Phragmipedium kovachii. The find was called the most significant in the orchid world in the last 100 years. Kovach originally faced a felony smuggling charge, but agreed to plead guilty to two counts of importing and possessing the orchid without a proper permit. Each count carried a penalty of up to a year in prison and a $100,000 fine. U.S. District Judge Steven Merryday said he didn't believe Kovach intentionally broke the laws. The garden pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of accepting and handling the flower and agreed in January to pay a $5,000 fine and submit to three years' probation. Selby horticulturist Wesley Higgins, head of the orchid identification center, entered a plea agreement specifying house arrest for six months, probation for a year and a $2,000 fine. (Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) --j_a |
On Wed, 03 Nov 2004 15:47:37 GMT, "K Barrett"
wrote: What are you, nuts? I want his lawyer if ever I'm in trouble! 2yrs probation and a fine you can put on your credit card? PRICELESS!! K Barrett Not only his lawyer, but his poker face. He got less then Selby and he certainly knew what he was doing. But he played it straight HA with this line about not intending to break laws. Give me a break. He would not have taken the plant to Selby if he did not KNOW it was unreported, unnamed and his chance at history. On the other hand, he did not go around screaming that it was a conspiracy against him and a miscarriage of justice and "I did nothing wrong" etc as others have. SuE http://orchids.legolas.org/gallery/albums.php |
Susan Erickson wrote:
On the other hand, he did not go around screaming that it was a conspiracy against him and a miscarriage of justice and "I did nothing wrong" etc as others have. rant So the trick is to stand up and take it like a man (or woman).? Yes officer, I know I was speeding with a truckfull of illegal ladyslippers, duty free cigarettes, and backyard moonshine towards a preschool... My bad... Maybe I'd only get three months probation and have to give up the cigarettes. Chances are very good that if a few dozen kovachii had been brought into this country (legally, please), I'd be buying flasks of seedlings as we speak. Or allow unlimited international transportation of plant material in sterile flask. It isn't like phrags are hard to grow from seed, you know. In 5 years the market would be glutted with the darn things. Now, of course, the plants are going to get into the US anyway (I am 120% certain they are already here, although I haven't seen one yet). None of the (in my opinion, moronic %#@!s) people who have kovachii in the country now are going to be raising any from seed time soon...and adult plants will be continue to be stripped out of the jungle to feed world demand. Dumbest way to 'conserve' things I've ever heard. And yes, if you could grow rhinocerous horn and tiger testicles and god knows whatever other animal part people just have to have in tissue culture, that should be legal too. Unfortunately animals are hard to propagate that way. We should take advantage of the fact that many of the most desirable plant species are quite easy to propagate... The system is broken. With politics the way it is, perhaps we have to start a PAC and start throwing millions of dollars at congress. That would fix the system in microseconds. A cheaper solution: For a few thousand bucks we could ship crates of viagra to China, that might alleviate the market for most of those animal parts. /rant Rob (a little bitter this morning, ain't he?) -- Rob's Rules: http://www.msu.edu/~halgren 1) There is always room for one more orchid 2) There is always room for two more orchids 2a. See rule 1 3) When one has insufficient credit to purchase more orchids, obtain more credit LittlefrogFarm is open - e-mail me for a list ) |
Susan Erickson wrote:
On the other hand, he did not go around screaming that it was a conspiracy against him and a miscarriage of justice and "I did nothing wrong" etc as others have. rant So the trick is to stand up and take it like a man (or woman).? Yes officer, I know I was speeding with a truckfull of illegal ladyslippers, duty free cigarettes, and backyard moonshine towards a preschool... My bad... Maybe I'd only get three months probation and have to give up the cigarettes. Chances are very good that if a few dozen kovachii had been brought into this country (legally, please), I'd be buying flasks of seedlings as we speak. Or allow unlimited international transportation of plant material in sterile flask. It isn't like phrags are hard to grow from seed, you know. In 5 years the market would be glutted with the darn things. Now, of course, the plants are going to get into the US anyway (I am 120% certain they are already here, although I haven't seen one yet). None of the (in my opinion, moronic %#@!s) people who have kovachii in the country now are going to be raising any from seed time soon...and adult plants will be continue to be stripped out of the jungle to feed world demand. Dumbest way to 'conserve' things I've ever heard. And yes, if you could grow rhinocerous horn and tiger testicles and god knows whatever other animal part people just have to have in tissue culture, that should be legal too. Unfortunately animals are hard to propagate that way. We should take advantage of the fact that many of the most desirable plant species are quite easy to propagate... The system is broken. With politics the way it is, perhaps we have to start a PAC and start throwing millions of dollars at congress. That would fix the system in microseconds. A cheaper solution: For a few thousand bucks we could ship crates of viagra to China, that might alleviate the market for most of those animal parts. /rant Rob (a little bitter this morning, ain't he?) -- Rob's Rules: http://www.msu.edu/~halgren 1) There is always room for one more orchid 2) There is always room for two more orchids 2a. See rule 1 3) When one has insufficient credit to purchase more orchids, obtain more credit LittlefrogFarm is open - e-mail me for a list ) |
You'll notice at the end of the newsarticle they say there still is a piece
of kovachii at the plant rescue center in Washington DC, so - a la Wellenstein - we shuold be able to have legal flasks available when/if it ever flowers. http://www.sptimes.com/2004/11/02/Ta...ced_in_o.shtml K Barrett "Rob Halgren" wrote in message ... Susan Erickson wrote: On the other hand, he did not go around screaming that it was a conspiracy against him and a miscarriage of justice and "I did nothing wrong" etc as others have. rant So the trick is to stand up and take it like a man (or woman).? Yes officer, I know I was speeding with a truckfull of illegal ladyslippers, duty free cigarettes, and backyard moonshine towards a preschool... My bad... Maybe I'd only get three months probation and have to give up the cigarettes. Chances are very good that if a few dozen kovachii had been brought into this country (legally, please), I'd be buying flasks of seedlings as we speak. Or allow unlimited international transportation of plant material in sterile flask. It isn't like phrags are hard to grow from seed, you know. In 5 years the market would be glutted with the darn things. Now, of course, the plants are going to get into the US anyway (I am 120% certain they are already here, although I haven't seen one yet). None of the (in my opinion, moronic %#@!s) people who have kovachii in the country now are going to be raising any from seed time soon...and adult plants will be continue to be stripped out of the jungle to feed world demand. Dumbest way to 'conserve' things I've ever heard. And yes, if you could grow rhinocerous horn and tiger testicles and god knows whatever other animal part people just have to have in tissue culture, that should be legal too. Unfortunately animals are hard to propagate that way. We should take advantage of the fact that many of the most desirable plant species are quite easy to propagate... The system is broken. With politics the way it is, perhaps we have to start a PAC and start throwing millions of dollars at congress. That would fix the system in microseconds. A cheaper solution: For a few thousand bucks we could ship crates of viagra to China, that might alleviate the market for most of those animal parts. /rant Rob (a little bitter this morning, ain't he?) -- Rob's Rules: http://www.msu.edu/~halgren 1) There is always room for one more orchid 2) There is always room for two more orchids 2a. See rule 1 3) When one has insufficient credit to purchase more orchids, obtain more credit LittlefrogFarm is open - e-mail me for a list ) |
Rob Halgren wrote in message ...
rant So the trick is to stand up and take it like a man (or woman).? Yes officer, I know I was speeding with a truckfull of illegal ladyslippers, duty free cigarettes, and backyard moonshine towards a preschool... My bad... Maybe I'd only get three months probation and have to give up the cigarettes. Just a guess, but the disparity of the sentences may have something to do with the number of plants imported/smuggled and whether or not the accused stood to gain financially from the illegal activity. Since all Phrags are appendix I, it probably doesn't matter legally that Kovach smuggled a spectacular new species, and Norris smuggled bog-standard phrags that are well known in cultivation. Kovach brought in one (or a few?) CITES I orchid, and used it for species identification. That may have been considered personal use or something similar. Norris is alleged to have brought in many plants and offered them for sale. |
Rob Halgren wrote in message ...
rant So the trick is to stand up and take it like a man (or woman).? Yes officer, I know I was speeding with a truckfull of illegal ladyslippers, duty free cigarettes, and backyard moonshine towards a preschool... My bad... Maybe I'd only get three months probation and have to give up the cigarettes. Just a guess, but the disparity of the sentences may have something to do with the number of plants imported/smuggled and whether or not the accused stood to gain financially from the illegal activity. Since all Phrags are appendix I, it probably doesn't matter legally that Kovach smuggled a spectacular new species, and Norris smuggled bog-standard phrags that are well known in cultivation. Kovach brought in one (or a few?) CITES I orchid, and used it for species identification. That may have been considered personal use or something similar. Norris is alleged to have brought in many plants and offered them for sale. |
| All times are GMT +1. The time now is 01:26 PM. |
Powered by vBulletin® Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
GardenBanter