Mark Berninghausen wrote: > ESHPA membership have never supported the idea of mandatory registration of apiaries and a fee. Well, less than true. Circa 2006 a NYS Farm Bureau proposal mandating apiary registration came from a Western New York regional meeting and with little fanfare, some may opine surreptitiously, passed into law in June 2007. The law passed some 3 weeks before the state filled the State Apiarist position, the announcement of which was made at the Summer Picnic in July 2007. The newly anointed State Apiarist made no mention of the new law, and it wasn't until the fall newsletter was published in October that the State's beekeepers became aware of the new law, which was a contentious topic of discussion at the fall meeting in November. So contentious was this law that the Farm Bureau sent a representative to do damage control at a specially scheduled Saturday afternoon session at the 2-day meeting. The new law was unpopular for many reasons. As indicated in the newspaper articles linked earlier this afternoon by Jim, the apiary inspection program has not always been popular for reasons such as alleged site poaching, favors for friends, search and seizure without due process and on and on. But I digress from Mark's statement, which is at least part true. Indeed, ESHPA membership has never supported the idea of mandatory registration of apiaries and I won't go near the distaste of fees. To this day I pity the Farm Bureau Rep who stood staunchly while the shit hit the fan. I have never seen the minutes of the originating Farm Bureau regional meeting and was told that the granularity of the minutes would not reflect who moved the action in the first place. Rumor was the suggestion emanated from the nether regions of Western New York introduced into the bureaucratic machinery by an ESHPA member claiming backing of the state organization. So, although it is true that mandatory apiary registration legislation was never supported by ESHPA membership, the origination of the legislation remains cloaked in rumor and innuendo of ESHPA membership and organizational support. Rumor and innuendo aside, the three year campaign to overturn the legislation is well documented. All the while the State Apiarist attempted to convince beekeepers they wanted the law, Farm Bureau continued to defend its instrumental action to get the legislation passed, the chair of the Apiary Industry Advisory Committee lectured on why NY beekeepers should embrace the law (the law passed, we might as well make the best of it), the AIAC continued to report to the Commissioner of Agriculture support for the legislation, and NY beekeepers vociferously objected! In June 2010 the law was repealed. The debacle fostered bad feelings, left egg on many faces, left State legislators scratching their heads wondering about those crazy beekeepers, and served no one. I guess it can be said that ESHPA stepped up to protect the interests of New York Beekeepers, but in truth it was a 3 ring circus. It took the efforts of individual beekeepers to contact their legislators to get the unpopular law repealed. Aaron Morris - thinking beekeepers are political buffoons! *********************************************** The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html