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I may lose all my plants

  • #121
Hey Oz,

I have some real concerns about what a potential ruling will mean to public CP displays around the country. If they rule against you, what will prevent an irate parent from claiming that my public cp display is dangerous to a child?

I have written a formal letter on our Botanical Garden letterhead that outlines the essential role in education these plants play. I have also outlined the morphology and ecology that makes these plants not unlike many other non-cp plant collections, and not any more dangerous. I had this letter notarized (we have a notary public on staff) and I am sending it out to you today. Let me know if you need anything else from me.

Steve LaWarre
 
  • #122
Thank you Steve, How can they argue with that?
Thank you so very much.

[b said:
Quote[/b] ]if they say they don't know what plants you have, then they'll look like idiots. If they do know what plants you have, they'll have to do all the work and you just have to fight the arguments they make instead of going through every single plant and animal you have and explaining how there is no possible way they could be dangerous.

It is a court order that I list ALL the plants and animals I have. If I don't do it or even leave one out by mistake, I can go to jail for contempt of court. They made that very clear.
 
  • #123
gee. well, you can list them but just leave it up to them to prove that they're dangerous. You shouldn't be the one proving your innosence. they should be proving your guilt.
 
  • #124
That's part of my plan, But I also have an chance to spread the love of CP's. I plan educate the importance of saving cp's. I'll have all kinds of pics of CP's. and info. By law they are forced to listen to every word.
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  • #125
Now there's taking lemons and making lemonade!

Good luck, and I hope you make CPers out of all involved.

[b said:
Quote[/b] (0zzy @ Mar. 23 2005,5:55)]That's part of my plan, But I also have an chance to spread the love of CP's. I plan educate the importance of saving cp's. I'll have all kinds of pics of CP's. and info. By law they are forced to listen to every word.
smile.gif
 
  • #126
Careful with the neps and sarrs with their drugged nectar. Try not to mention them too much. Zongyi
 
  • #127
tried it. alot of it. zilch..
 
  • #128
Well, for what I've learned from school, Drugs have different affects on people
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, and it may not be too good for the judge. Zongyi
 
  • #129
Bical necter is yummy.
 
  • #130
Whenever i explain that, i include the disclaimer: "You'd have to drink about a gallon of it before you felt anything though, and i doubt you'd have the patience to harvest it all given the rate it produces it at."
 
  • #131
hey wat gives? someone deleted my post
 
  • #132
I sent you a PM to find out about your deleted post.
 
  • #133
The real truth of the matter is that Ozzy must do all that he is told. Even if it is technically their burden. The judge can and will enforce whatever he feels like. He/She can hold him in contempt with jail time for "telling" the court how the law works or what his (Ozzy) responsibility is to the court, whether its right or wrong. These days you ARE guilty until you can prove yourself innocent. If he doesn't prove his innocence it will cost him in some way (fines/plants or both).

Joe
 
  • #134
[b said:
Quote[/b] (SarraceniaScott @ Mar. 23 2005,6:45)]Now there's taking lemons and making lemonade!

Good luck, and I hope you make CPers out of all involved.

[b said:
Quote[/b] (0zzy @ Mar. 23 2005,5:55)]That's part of my plan, But I also have an chance to spread the love of CP's. I plan educate the importance of saving cp's. I'll have all kinds of pics of CP's. and info. By law they are forced to listen to every word.
smile.gif
Hmmm, the judge becoming a cper?
smile_n_32.gif


That would be very interesting, very interesting indeed...
smile_l_32.gif
 
  • #135
[b said:
Quote[/b] (herenorthere @ Mar. 23 2005,5:49)]I'd contact not just distant university types, but also local high school science teachers or nature center directors or a nature-savvy reporter for a nearby newspaper and describe what's happening.  Point out your conservation credentials (NASC, ICPS, and whatever) and hope to create some public interest in your case.
I can't believe this didn't come up sooner! Very good, herenorthere; the press really could have a field day with this kind of thing. I can just imagine Ozzy up there on TV with his hamsters and dog... "Well, the dog just barks sometimes, but the hamsters are a real danger to old newspapers..."
Ozzy, if you're too busy, I'd be glad to write a few letters to your local media. Let me know.
~Joe
 
  • #136
So...do we have an outcome? I scanned the posts but the thread has ballooned to 14 pages worth, so I'm not sure if I missed it. I assumed the court date was Tuesday the 22nd, but I've seen no victory posts as of yet.

Keep us updated, Ozzy!
 
  • #137
Hey Ozzy GOOD LUCK tomorrow
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Tell us all about it ok!*Niki*
 
  • #138
Yeah, and don't forget to throw out the philodendrons...
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they are slightly toxic.
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  • #139
Good luck, Ozzy!

Keep us posted, please, on the outcome.

I'm sure you'll find many people here to steward your plants as long as you need if need be.

Let me know if any of your plants need a temporary home.
 
  • #140
I'm going to make this short because I really don't feel much like sitting in front of a PC typing.

Court was at 9:30 this morning. I showed up with some pics of my plants, the letters form Barry Rice and Steve Lawarre. I had ny copies of "The Savage Garden" and "CP's of the US and Canada". I had numerous issues of the CPN. I also brought info on almost every plant I had and a vft and a sundew.
The DA started out with my animals. The only animals that he brought up was my snakes. He siad that I had two deadly snakes. One was venomous and the other was a deadly constrictor. I laughed when he said this, I couldn't help it.
It was clear that he did an internet search on them. He brought out info he found that says the hognose snake is venomous and is backfanged just like the deadly boomslang. He then said that the hognose snake produces venom with it's Duvernoy gland. He then said the town ordinace is clear that no venomous animals are allowed to be kept within the city limits.
Then he said I had a potentialy dangeous contstictor, a king snake. He said that a king snake kills in the same way that man eating pythons and anacondas. The king snake can grow as big a six feet. Constrictors are illegal in the town and he qouted the ordinace.

He started to move on to the plants but the judge stopped him and asked me if I wanted to reply to why I had these snakes. I said yes. I said that the burdon of proof is on the proscution and the proscution had failed to even show one case where either the king or hognose snake had ever caused any injury, and that's becuase neither snake has ever caused a single serious injury to a human. The hognose snake is only toxic to reptiles and poses no threat to humans. I said that I would even try to get my snake to bite me to show that they are not dangeous. I probably can't even get the snake to bite me because it is so nonaggressive.

The prosecuter then started on the plants. He said that carnivorous plants by nature are designed to trap, kill, and consume insects, reptiles, mammals, pets or anything that it can trap. They are nondescimante killers that will kill and consume anything that is unlucky enough to find itself within it's deadly graps. He then showed where he had found reports of monkeys huge rats, birds have been found in these plants. He went on for a long time using words like deadly, dangerous ect.
I finaly got my chance to speak.
I said "I want to say again that the burdon of proof is on the prosicution and again he failed to show where any of the plants are dangeous to humans or pets. Again he failed to show a single case where a plant that I owned has ever caused a single injury to human or pet. I am asking that this case be dismissed because there is no real law against me keeping any plant, because as you can see in the noticed I was served "plants" were written in by hand. Therefore there is no law in the towns books that makes owning a plants is illegal."

The jugde said the prosicution has proved that these plants pose a potential danger, so the request for the case to be dismissed is denied.

I knew at that point the judge had bought all the nonsense the proscution had said, and I knew that I had to prove that the plants are not dangerous. So I took out a pic of a bladderwort trap that was blown up many times. I said this is the trap of a Utricularia. This is the fastest, most aggresive CP there is. It can snatch up a victim that is relatively close to it within a milisecond. The victim never even knows what hit it. I then took out a pic of one of my bladderworts and said this is the actual size of the traps. The reason you can't see any traps are because they are microscopic. There is no way that they can pose a threat to human or pet. It's just not logicly possiable. Utricularia are the only plant that has the capability to actully trap a victim without it crawling into the plant.
Then I brought out a pic of a Drosera. I explaind how sundews work and I said that the biggest sundew is olny about two inches across. So the biggest insect that a sundew will catch may be a moth.
I did the same with vft's and pings.
Because of thier size I knew I had to be careful with Sarracenias and nepenthes.
I showed some pics of Sarracenias and explained how they worked and said that the biggest animal to ever been found in a Sarracenia was a frog.
I then showed them pics of some of my nepenthes. The pics were of them hanging on my front porch. I went through all the details about them.
I brought out the letters that I had, read them to the court. I took out the two books and read form the books. Read some things I got from the internet. I said that all cp's only lure insects. Sometimes a bigger animal like a frog may become trapped. But there has never been a case where a pet of human had been harmed by them. I took out a vft and a sundew and showed them to the court, I placed it in on the the table in front of the prosecuter and asked "How in the world can these plants ever pose a threat to anybody?"

The judge asked the prosecuter if he had anything else to say. He stood up and said that I have admitted that the plants posses the ablity to lure, trap and kill. He said that I proved his case better then he ever could.
The judge asked if I had anything futher. I said no.

The judge said that it has been proven that the snakes were in violation of town ordances, ordered that they be confiscated immediatly. She then said that I proved my case with the Utricularia, but all the other cp's do have a potential to harm some pets. She also said that I showed pictures of my plants on my porch which is less than 30 feet from the road. And said that there was no barrier like a fence between the public and my plants and that showed there is a potential for somebodies pets being capured by the plants. She ordered that all of the carnivorous plants execpt for the Utricularia be confisacted and destroyed. She ordered two of the baliffs to escort me to my house and I have to give them the plants and my snakes.
The balliffs had the list that I gave the court of all my plants and they marked of every plant untill they had them all. I asked what would happen to the snakes and plants. They said they will be heald for 30 day to give me a chance to appeal. Then they will see if they can place the snakes with a reptile rescue group. They plants will be destroyed after 30 days.
I know that the plants are gone. There is no was that they will care for them. I had to dig some up from my bog outside, so they are bareroot. So even if I appeal and win all the plants will still be dead. I also have to pay court cost and a fine of $200.

I don't know what I'm going to do yet. There's no use in any of you sending me plants as a replacement. They'll just end up the same as my other plants.
 
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