I had to register my apiaries every year. I don't know who in Albany didn't know what about which Apiary Inspectors. I have come to see what was described as a conflict of interest as just that. Somehow that conflict of interest had been on going since the beginning of the program. Apiary Inspectors had always been beekeepers. Why grandfathering could not have been the way things were done until those Apiary Inspectors w/ bees retired was never discussed or offered.

The way I see it, the uncertainty of employment the next season was a big deterent to employment of qualified persons. I never got any assurance that the job was going to be there the next Spring.

Nine out of 38 Apiary Inspection positions? Highly suspicious that a Reporter misunderstood something there. I have never heard of there being any more than 18 or 19 Inspectors and many years we were told that there were only as many positions as those filled by those employed that season. And these were seasonal positions. Towards the end, after 2006, if one were employed as an Apiary Inspector in NY one could not work for a beekeeper during the off season. A stipulation for further employment. So one was encouraged to live off of Unemployment Compensation half the year.  Unemployment Compensation was a way to secure a work force. Not what Unemployment Compensation was designed for.

Officials in Albany knew who owned hives and who applied for Unemployment Compensation. They had to sign the forms acknowledging that they did.

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