AVOID Pepper Joe's AT ALL COSTS!

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by baileyj

The tone of this thread, from both sides, is what disturbs me.

I also believe all have the right to express their opinion, however it is the accusatory language and non-objective manner and tone used by both sides here that I think is concerning.

I do believe some of the info presented in this thread is helpful and informative, but why does the tone from the administrator have to be so hostile. I thought the moderators and administrators were to be objective and guide the threads.

As I said earlier, I think most following this thread are either involved, or have developed their opinion....I have and do not intend to use the sites mentioned...

Speaking as a Global Moderator here I'd like to make a few comments.

In a screenshot above it was said that it didn't seem that the letters threatening to sue were being delivered. I'm the one they tested that on and received a registered letter and had to sign two forms to be given it.

I opened it and couldn't believe what I was reading. I had made one small post in this thread. So I called Angie, Joe's lawyer, ASAP, and she called me back the same day and we talked for quite a while. She agreed that there were others whose posts were much worse than mine, which wasn't bad at all since everything I said was the truth and I told her that when she asked me if I would consider removing my post to which I said no.

I don't have caller ID so answer the phone when it rings. And yes Joe also called me. He called me a ringleader and recited several vendor sites where he said he'd been told that I was..... I don't remember his exact words, but not good. What he didn't know is that I knew the owners of all of those sites, and knew them well.

Just one example. He mentioned Marianne Jones, but when I told Joe I'd known her since 1990 and we'd always been friends, there was silence and then he said, well, it must be Dean then. I said yes, it must have been,

I think I remember Mischka saying in a post above that he too had a lawyer, and if he didn't, I know he does, and certain issues are being discussed with this lawyer. Is he doing this for himself personally, NO, he's doing it on behalf of all of us here at Tville, and paying for it himself.

This site opened in Jan of 2006 and M had asked both Craig H ( nctomatoman) and myself to be Global Moderators, we both accepted, so have been here longer than anyone else. and now I'm speakkng to Bailey's comments about admins and Mods keeping the Peace.

I have never known M to lie to me or anyone else as far as that goes. Do I always agree with what he says and does? Of course not for I'm Carolyn and he's M, and we both have our own opinions and neither of us are shy retiring type individuals.

TV has become a haven for many since no threads or posts about partisan politics or religion have been allowed. And membership has increased tremendously from year to year b'c many have found a home here and have interacted with others to the benefit of both.I know that I, for one, have made many new friends here.

Have there been other contentious threads here in the past, of course. Some have been closed and some have been deleted, for various reasons, but I do approve of M trying to warn folks, especially in this thread, about how their names, addresses and phone numbers are being obtained.

I haven't bought tomato seeds since 1998 when I had to buy seeds for the variety Dr. Carolyn, ahem,, from Linda Sapp at TGS for growout for pictures for my tomato book but my information that allowed me to be sent the letter comes directly from my prior interaction with Dean where he sent me seeds a few years back and needed my address, also has my phone number and Marianne has always had my phone number and address since the early 90's since she used to make huge SSE requests from me. Lots of folks have my address from my seed offers here, where they have to e-mail me to get it to participate in my seed offers and I give the link right on the first page of the seed offer.

Once someone has your address it's easy to find your phone number at several online sites.

Summary? I feel terrible that so many have been sent the letters, and not all have indicated so publicly, that Joe has invaded the privacy of individuals homes with his phone calls and sometimes accusatory e-mails. I would not have known that Dean and Joe , together, have vowed to shut this site down without the screenshots shown here to prove that to all.Finally, there were several other links given that showed that Joe does not have the best of reputations in the pepper seed arena and I wouldn't have known that either without the screen shots since I've never been to his pepper site and only know him via his letter to me from his lawyer, and his phone call saying he'd meet me in Myrtle Beach, SC for a deposition,etc.

I could have written this last night but decided to sleep on it until this morning and just wanted to let others know that I too have been a part of the picture here, not as a ringleader as Joe accused me of being, but one who joins the others bearing the brunt of unwanted, unneccesary and malevolent verbiage sent our way.

Carolyn, and now back to packing tomato seeds for her offer and it's going very slowly and part of the reason is the number of phone calls and e-mails tangential to this thread that have come her way this past week. And she doesn't know how this upcoming week with the brutal cold is going to impact her ability to pack seeds in the backroom, we'll see.

[FILMNET]

Again! very sorry to hear this over and over, we are growers, they are sellers. Its a hobby for me!

[baileyj]

Carolyn,
Thank you so much for your thorough and thoughtful explanation of the circumstances.
My comments and reaction were fueled by the comments made by LBchilihead about suicide together with the 3 Pigs...

I understand the force now behind the comments and perhaps I am too new here to understand why the comments seem so hostile.

Bullying, threatening and harrasing others is very serious and this does need to be dealt with seriously. I appreciate the warnings posted here, my comments were perhaps naive as I did not fully appreciate the scope of this issue.
Thanks

[Calcat36]

Not sorry to revive this thread, because peperschmo has convinced Ed Currie to sue anyone that grows his peppers without permission and a contract! Ed isn't a jerk like that. The real jerk is pepperschmo. In the last day or two, the term "Carolina Reaper" has, been granted trademark status, which means NOTHING when it comes to growing the crappy pepper. Everyone should know that PVP is protection against "illegal propagation" which is not the case here. And Guinness STILL does not recognize the South Cackalacki Creeper! What does that tell the public? Yeah, I made the South Cackalacki name up, and I am in a rush to trademark it and sell the seeds for 5 dollars a pop! NOT. And the whole bull crap hype about Guinness was a lie, and pepperschmo should be held accountable for false advertising!

The question remains, why such hostility to the paying base? Is that the art of a masterful sales arse, I mean sales schmoe?

This idiot threatened another GARDEN site on the WEB, saying that I had personally attacked him by calling him pepperschmo. If I wanted to personally attack the bloated pimp, I would have done so with other words that would cut deep into his aluminum siding fraudulent selling skills!

But then again, I iz so stoopid...

If only the jerk knew what is said behind his back. He would go sue crazy and out of his genius mind!

[roper2008]

You can grow them, but I think you can't sell them. It's very unstable anyway. I
have 3 different pod variations. Hey, but you can give them away, which I plan on
doing. Just spreading the heat.

[Raffles]

Originally Posted by Calcat36

Not sorry to revive this thread, because peperschmo has convinced Ed Currie to sue anyone that grows his peppers without permission and a contract! Ed isn't a jerk like that. The real jerk is pepperschmo. In the last day or two, the term "Carolina Reaper" has, been granted trademark status, which means NOTHING when it comes to growing the crappy pepper. Everyone should know that PVP is protection against "illegal propagation" which is not the case here. And Guinness STILL does not recognize the South Cackalacki Creeper! What does that tell the public? Yeah, I made the South Cackalacki name up, and I am in a rush to trademark it and sell the seeds for 5 dollars a pop! NOT. And the whole bull crap hype about Guinness was a lie, and pepperschmo should be held accountable for false advertising!

The question remains, why such hostility to the paying base? Is that the art of a masterful sales arse, I mean sales schmoe?

This idiot threatened another GARDEN site on the WEB, saying that I had personally attacked him by calling him pepperschmo. If I wanted to personally attack the bloated pimp, I would have done so with other words that would cut deep into his aluminum siding fraudulent selling skills!

But then again, I iz so stoopid...

If only the jerk knew what is said behind his back. He would go sue crazy and out of his genius mind!

I think it's fairly obvious what the guy and his cohort are. A post like this they are going to use to paint themselves as heroic victims though.

I'm dealing with vermin that are trying to force me out of my home. I've had no water for 19 months thanks to them and their backers within the USDA, Vermont's Congressional delegation, Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Department of Health and Agency of Natural Resources. The icing on the cake is that these heroic victims stole my father's name for their business.

As much hell as this has been for me I don't have to look far to find people much worse off than me. Half a dozen or so fighting cancer. several with partners in early stage dementia, two with advanced AIDS, several with developmental disabilities being maltreated and a bus load of folks with pasts of horrific abuse that haunt their lives every day.

By comparison my life is a walk in the park. It's just hard to remember that when some half wit petty bureaucrat from DC is giving me freshly produced organic fertilizer.

How much weight do these two really deserve?

I do feel for the people whose intellectual property has been stolen. I'd be livid in the same situation.

The facts, not the emotions will hang these two.

Now will someone please convince me of the same about the lads next door and their backers?

[travis]

Originally Posted by roper2008

You can grow them, but I think you can't sell them. It's very unstable anyway. I
have 3 different pod variations. Hey, but you can give them away, which I plan on
doing.

I think you are correct. PVP only prevents commercial sale without license, etc., but does not prevent home use, non-commercial hobby use, etc.

Also, if the variety is an unstable open pollinated version, I don't see how it is PVP applicable. I'm under the impression that an open pollinated variety has to be unique and specific to be PVP applicable ... or a hybrid of two unique and specific breeding lines.

Lastly, I'd not put much stock in threats of lawsuits from a person who routinely threatens lawsuits, but never follows through. Big Bad Wolf syndrome ... or is it the Cry Wolf Syndrome. I may be mixing my mythical metaphors here.

[Sun City Linda]

LOL Big Bad Wolf, reminds me of the artwork Mischka posted, I think it might have been earlier on this thread. Some of his better work

[Worth1]

This is the part of this forum that really puts me off.

Worth

[Mischka]

Pay no attention to Joe Arditi's blowhard threats. There's no legal merit to them, whatsoever. He uses his attorney lady friend to send form letters via certified mail that quote statutes that aren't applicable nor enforceable. To those unfamiliar with legal proceedings, they may seem very intimidating and he's counting on that to bully people.

Receiving a letter through certified mail scares a lot of folks, although anyone can do it as easy as pie - and cheap, too. Under 3 dollars.

His dirty tactics didn't work on me. After the law firm that represents my family offered a countersuit that actually has teeth in it, Joe Arditi and his ambulance chaser lawyer crawled back under the rocks from whence they came.

Don't waste another moment of your time on him or his antics.

[neoguy]

Bravo! Thank You, he instills fear but it seems his bark is far greater than his wallet, oops bite.!

Originally Posted by Mischka

Pay no attention to Joe Arditi's blowhard threats. There's no legal merit to them, whatsoever. He uses his attorney lady friend to send form letters via certified mail that quote statutes that aren't applicable nor enforceable. To those unfamiliar with legal proceedings, they may seem very intimidating and he's counting on that to bully people.

Receiving a letter through certified mail scares a lot of folks, although anyone can do it as easy as pie - and cheap, too. Under 3 dollars.

His dirty tactics didn't work on me. After the law firm that represents my family offered a countersuit that actually has teeth in it, Joe Arditi and his ambulance chaser lawyer crawled back under the rocks from whence they came.

Don't waste another moment of your time on him or his antics.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by Mischka

Pay no attention to Joe Arditi's blowhard threats. There's no legal merit to them, whatsoever. He uses his attorney lady friend to send form letters via certified mail that quote statutes that aren't applicable nor enforceable. To those unfamiliar with legal proceedings, they may seem very intimidating and he's counting on that to bully people.

Receiving a letter through certified mail scares a lot of folks, although anyone can do it as easy as pie - and cheap, too. Under 3 dollars.

His dirty tactics didn't work on me. After the law firm that represents my family offered a countersuit that actually has teeth in it, Joe Arditi and his ambulance chaser lawyer crawled back under the rocks from whence they came.

Don't waste another moment of your time on him or his antics.

Just noting that there were several of us who received those threatening legal letters from Joe's attorney.

Mischka went to bat for all of us and countersued, which was not cheap, and paid all of the legal costs to help protect us and himself from any more harassing letters.

And won.

Thank you again Mischka.

Carolyn

[Calcat36]

Please do not get me wrong, Ed Currie had a great reputation until the dark side entered his life and he is too gullible to see through it all, which may cause him to lose all he has endeavored to build, and schmo will have to leech another cash cow.

That is the point of contention for me, and I happen to believe that being silent, is acceptance. First they came for them, and I was not one of them...

If this needs editing, please do so. I was threatened, as I typed, on gardenweb for merely typing pepperschmo! Antagonistic? Yes. Am I better than that? Absolutely. Sometimes though, one has to fight a slug where it resides, such as the gutter.

I stressed out about hitting the post button for fear of negativity that this site would suffer for my objections. My point was that a good man, Ed, is being deceived and led around by a blow hard who couldn't sell a NEW car, much less a used one.

Thank you again Mischka, for allowing the truth to be told.

[Mischka]

Joe and his girlfriend Penny Mohney have joined forces with the few rejects that I've banned from here, in an attempt to smear this place on the web. Misery loves company and they're definitely a miserable group, if there ever was one.

Here's just one example of them attempting to ruin our reputation on Webutation's site: http://www.webutation.net/go/review/tomatoville.com

Despite their lies, our reputation remains at 100%

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by Mischka

Joe and his girlfriend Penny Mohney have joined forces with the few rejects that I've banned from here, in an attempt to smear this place on the web. Misery loves company and they're definitely a miserable group, if there ever was one.

Here's just one example of them attempting to ruin our reputation on Webutation's site: http://www.webutation.net/go/review/tomatoville.com

Despite their lies, our reputation remains at 100%

It was interesting to read that you have, apparently monetary investments in other seeds sites, so sayeth Mr. Slater.

Carolyn