FYI (from a news item published in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) :
"Two years ago, Shawn Farr ... took a job running a renowned botanical garden, and things seemed right with the world, at least until the federal investigation into Peruvian orchid smuggling surfaced.
...
He ... moved to Sarasota, Fla., to help run the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens. "It's one of the best orchid gardens in the country," he said.
But he was there for less than a year.
"It just didn't work out," he said, making a reference to "internal politics." Whatever political head-butting went on mostly arose from a bizarre federal indictment involving a smuggled Peruvian orchid. The man who smuggled the rare orchid gave it to the Selby garden before Farr arrived in 2003, and his indictment came after Farr had quit.
"They were less than honest with me" about the ongoing smuggling investigation, Farr said. "They told me before I was hired, 'we just wanted to let you know, there's this little issue -- but it won't be a problem.' "
... The smuggler, James Michael Kovach, bought a peach and purple orchid at a roadside stand in a Peruvian mountain village, then gave it to the Selby garden. As a thank-you, they named the flower after him, Phragmipedium kovachii.
The smuggler avoided jail by eventually pleading guilty to violating the U.S. endangered species act. It sounds surreal, but it all makes sense to Farr. "In the orchid world," he said, "people have been killed. It's the equivalent of drug smuggling."
Because of Selby's role in the mess, donor support waned and its public image suffered."
source and complete news story : http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05136/505212.stm
*********** Regards,
Viateur
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