[OGD] Request for E-mail Address of CEO at Selby

In last night's issue of orchids Digest (V2 #205) , K Barrett asked for an
address for the CEO at Selby. The e-mail address is: tbuchter@xxxxxxxxx (as
was mentioned in Orchids Digest V2 #192).  Butcher would probably read mail
from orchid lovers who understand the importance of the research program at
Selby, but the reality is that he answers to Selby's Board of Directors
which is stacked with real estate developers, not "plant people". In
general, real estate developers are not interested in orchid research. If
the Board tells the CEO to terminate staff members, he does it if he wants
to keep his job. So far Butcher has tried to "spin" the firings by calling
them "lay offs" and "cuts", but for diehard orchidists, the "spin" hasn't
worked. (In one article that appeared in the Sarasota Tribune, Butcher said
that he himself grows orchids. That comment appeased NO volunteers and NO
supporters of Selby as a research institution.)  It's unfortunate that the
Board doesn't realize the importance of the OIC, research department, and
the library. Or maybe they do, but they just don't care. They appear to be
changing Selby into something akin to just another garden. The Board might
want to keep in mind that in this economy, gardens can also fail to thrive.
Selby Gardens was important BECAUSE of the OIC, the research department, and
the library. If Marie Selby were alive, she would be extremely disappointed
with the unfortunate path the Board has taken. Without the scientific
orientation, Selby Gardens is just another somewhat pretty garden to attract
tourists to Sarasota.

Orchid Society of Arizona, of which I am a member, donated quite a few big
ticket items to the OIC. But most of the items were donated when John Atwood
was the Director of the OIC. After John retired, OSA provided the funds for
a color laser printer because Wes Higgins, who succeeded John Atwood as the
Director of the OIC, said that the OIC needed a color duplex printer. (That
was when color laser printers were still expensive.) I personally donated
both pressed and "pickled" specimens to the herbarium.

I was a supporter of Selby as a scientific organization and am horrified at
the closure of the OIC and the firings of Wes Higgins and Stig Dalstrom. I
wrote letters to two reporters - one to the Sarasota Tribune and the other
to the Observer, and although I didn't expect a response, I felt obligated
to voice my concerns. Real estate developers advertise in the Sarasota
Tribune, so it comes as no surprise to me that the newspaper would not print
anything conceivably derogatory to their advertisers. 

If anyone would like to read the letter I wrote to the reporters, please
contact me off list. I would be happy to send you a copy of my letters.

Wilella Stimmell
Scottsdale, Arizona

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