On 7 Jun 2003 at 23:17, James Fischer wrote:

> Offhand, I'd say that the level of professionalism is thereby
> proven to be superior in bee inspection as compared to other
> "professional services", such as doctors, plumbers, mechanics,
> lawyers, and engineers,

    Generally I agree with you, having received the services of a
multitude of bee inspectors. There are both types, but the good
ones are in the majority. And it's a pretty tough job to even get to
the brood chamber when it's 95 degrees F, and the hives are
stacked up taller than your head.

    Probably the worst offender I've ever had was a bee inspector
who used his job to scout for new locations for his own bees, and
moved into one of my yards in the spring before my bees came
back north. That's not incompetence; that's an ethics violation.

   In South Carolina, one cannot own bees and be an inspector, as
it is considered a conflict of interest. This rule would prevent such
an ethics violation, but also means bee inspectors are amateurs at
handling hives. All our inspectors have always bundled up like
spacemen.

   But most inspectors are doing the best they can and some are
real princes.  We have only one inspector now for all of South
Carolina, Fred Singleton, and, when the afrobeetles were
discovered, was a major source of information for all the
beekeepers. He went above and beyond the call of duty, in sharing
videos and assistance to those of us with questions. Fred is one of
the princes.

   But I still want to be present when the bees are inspected.

Dave Green
The Pollination Home Page:  http://pollinator.com

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