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From:
B Farmer <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Tue, 16 Jul 2013 23:21:41 -0400
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>States certainly do enforce FIFRA.  Here's a very clear example from 2005,
where both state and federal laws were violated, and both the state of ND
and the feds fined various parties who thought that sodium cyanide(!) was a
good comb fumigant.

Where's the clear example?  North Dakota did not enforce FIFRA.  North Dakota enforced violations of ND law.  FIFRA is not a ND law, so ND can't enforce it.

>So, the EPA enforces the "interstate" violations, while the states enforce
the in-state violations.  Misuse would be a state issue.

The difference is that the feds enforce under FIFRA, and the states enforce under state laws.  It's a jurisdictional issue.  The feds can't enforce a state law, and a state can't enforce FIFRA.

>This is not the forum for a discussion of this sort, but beekeeper beware
that book:  The very long and very sad tale of the author can be read here:

The wiki propaganda you cited is so full of misinformation that I'm not sure where to start, and it would take me all day to correct the errors.  Pete Hendrickson put a smoke bomb in a postal drop box years ago on tax day as a protest.  That was the incendiary device charge.  The DoJ brought criminal charges against him 3 times for tax fraud.  All 3 times they dropped charges for lack of evidence.  A few years the feds sued him in civil court (you can be sued for anything) alleging that if he was not legally required to pay taxes on his earnings, then he was somehow harming the treasury.  I think anyone reading the court documents from that case would agree that it was nothing more than a kangaroo court, and rulings from higher courts were ignored or the judge refused to allow them to be introduced.  (Similar happenings in trials of the handful of other defendants)  I believe it is only a matter of time before it gets overturned on appeal.

To give you an idea of how the kangaroo courts are proceeding, Pete wife is currently facing charges.  The court has ordered her to commit perjury.  She is required to sign an affidavit testifying to things she believes are false.  If she refuses to commit perjury, the court will hold her in contempt of court.  That speaks volumes as to the court's willingness to follow the rule of law.

>I don't know why Ohio is the focus here, but Ohio law is clear, and goes far
further than "the label" in specific regard to "drift", which is very
encouraging,

As stated before, I live in Ohio, so I am most familiar with Ohio's laws.

The laws aren't enforced, and they can't be challenged until they are enforced.  Even though there is legislation on the books, when it isn't enforced, some people voluntarily comply, even if there is no legitimate reason to do so.

A few years ago, Ohio's State Apiarist Barb Bloetscher gave a talk that I attended.  In her own words, she said that Ohio's laws were very weak.  They didn't have any teeth.  She even mentioned pesticide kills.

According to her, in order for a beekeeper to lodge an action because of pesticide kills, the beekeeper has to have the apiary identified with signs at the roadway alerting everyone about the apiary, with contact information of the beekeeper, and the signage needed to state the exact location of the apiary.

She said that beekeepers weren't willing to comply with the sign requirements, so the state's hands were tied.  (I imagine beekeepers would suffer higher losses due to vandalism than pesticide kills.)

It also helps to keep in mind that Barb is the only person at the state level, and she works part-time (every other day) as the state apiarist.  She doesn't have the manpower to deal with enforcement, and from what I understand, inspectors at the county level have never received any training for the law enforcement aspects of their job.  (The state has previously testified in court that county inspectors don't receive any training for inspections either - the county inspectors just inspect using their own methods.  That was in the Allinder v Ohio case that found the mandatory inspections to be unconstitutional.)

>That's quite a bit of honey bee protection there, 

No, that's just words on paper.  Who is going to enforce these words?  County inspectors who don't have any law enforcement training?  A part-time State Apiarist who got the job as the State Apiarist because she was going to lose her job at OSU in the plant lab, and somehow strings got pulled and she was able to keep a job working part-time for the Dept of Ag as the State Apiarist, and still part-time in the plant lab at OSU?  (She is a hobby beekeeper, and she has an entomology degree, and that met the requirements to become the State Apiarist.)  A program that has never given a citation in its 109 year history?  And even if they wanted to start enforcing laws now, how do they do it and be consistent?  The first case would appear harassment, and even if they wanted to enforce apiary laws, there is no way for the law to be applied to everyone equally.

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