ULTIMATE  BETRAYALS

     Father, Father, why has thou forsaken me? It was on the first day of March 2000 that I had received a most disturbing letter from my own council, Tony Romo that had felt too much like multiple stabs in the heart. I had just returned from a trip to Phoenix, where I had hoped to recover from four days of that grueling deposition of which I was the sole subject of a malicious and maligned Defense. Though I was not at all surprised by this most typical and despicable strategy employed by defense teams in name of that ennoble American postulate of offering the accused the very best defense 'that money can buy,' I was appalled that our American judicial system's rules of law permitted a victim/plaintiff to undergo such relentless and unnecessary attacks in the revered name of justice. In these instances of justice? I fear that Justice herself becomes a despicable whore that unquestionably prostituted the very heart of what should be a system of equal justice under the law.  The whole process of discovery should be a relentless effort at uncovering the truth, instead, it has become an opened playing-field for either side to address any issue that might discredit the opposition without addressing the substantive issues of the case itself. I had brought this action against the American Orchid Society specifically because I had been so mentally and emotionally brutalized by the relentless defamation, discrimination, and the broad disbursement of private facts in disclosing of my HIV/AIDS status. This devastating letter was faxed to me and was totally unexpected. It sent me into such a dark depression that it totally immobilized me from accomplishing anything for almost an entire week. The one exception was my having finished the previous book on that most sad note of my last will and testament.
     The tone of the letter raised serious questions as to whether I could continue to have trusted even Tony Rome with the very execution of this case. There were thankfully five very loyal and trusted confidants that with great concern for my very survival, arose to caringly address my deep depression and together with their moral support I composed the following letter to Mr. Romo:

(JLW,PhD Letterhead)

Most Depressingly & Despairingly,

    Joe
Joseph L. Walker Jr.

     
                         A WOMAN SCORNED

     Thy shall not bear false witness against thy neighbor. I'm not fully convinced that in this present world of ours this profound postulate and one of the Ten Commandments is always adhered to in an environment where truth itself seems an increasingly rare commodity. I had certainly continued to encounter the incessant betrayal of others throughout this whole legal ordeal. Most of my bad experiences were more akin to simply being abandoned as though I had developed some hideous form of the plague. That's not too far from the truth since I did actually acquire full-blown AIDS in the later part of 1995. It was within a month of my rueful diagnosis that I had first met Pete and Lee McAnena. Don and Nona Church, members of the then newly formed orchid group known as the Zia Orchid Growers, called me and said that they had wanted to bring a couple out to San Damiano to have a look at the orchids. This first meeting with Pete and Lee eventually took place on the last Sunday of October.
     I had just recovered from over a month of ill health that had felt to me like a very debilitating case of the common flu. I remember having been very anxiously concerned that the severity of that exhausting encounter with this illness was probably related to my compromised immune system due to the HIV virus that I knew I had had since sometime in 1986. I felt then that with having had some ten years of survival and living pretty much of a normal life without anyone having any actual knowledge that I might have been one of those victims of this outrageous Twentieth Century plague was rather miraculous. I had imagined that it was finally my appointed time to have squarely faced the despairing music. I'm sure that my less than usually bubbly demeanor and drab appearance still showed some slight signs of my having been seriously ill, but the enthusiasm of meeting new people interested in orchids gave me the strength to putting on a good show for the McAnena's benefit. We had dinner that evening at a local cafe and pretty much bonded at that very first meeting. Lee in particular was very warm and she instantly connected with me at a level that I later came to understand was our mutual experience with having to face the possibility of a premature death.
        Despite my usual suspicions associated with chiropractors in general and their all-too-oftentimes identity with that questionable practice of ambulance chasing and possibly even insurance fraud, I found Lee McAnena's vivacious personality quite alluring.  It is sometimes amazing that we can so easily set aside our misgiving apprehensions when we so easily choose to do so.  Lee routinely assisted her husband in his chiropractic practice and she reminded me so much of my own mother whom very willingly and effectively handled the finances of my stepfather's personal counseling practice.  High on Lee's list of daily duties was the dealing with lawyers, settlement claims and insurance companies.  This constant involvement with lawyers and lawsuits had given rise to Lee's having enrolled in some paralegal courses that helped her have a better grip on guiding the various insurance claims of many of their chiropractic patients.  
      Lee had apparently checked out the local orchid society and wasn't very impressed.  I might add, for good reason!  She liked what she had learned from Nona Church about the people in the Zia Orchid Growers and our own mutual ease at hitting it off at that initial dinner combined to getting her deeply involved.  It was only a couple months before I was hitting on Lee and her husband to consider the American Orchid Society's judging program.  Lee had been growing orchids in her own greenhouse for a considerable number of years and it was quite obvious that she had a real zest for the hobby.  I had explained how the judging program had been most helpful in networking with the orchid community and besides the very good education, it offered the opportunity of a privileged access to orchids that was not always made readily available to the public at large.  My other most pressing motive for having gotten any number of local growers involved was the hope of eventually having an AOS judging center right here in New Mexico.  It is such a long-term and costly commitment that it usually requires people of some means to be able to accomplish the task.  Pete and Lee McAnena had what I considered to being just the right qualifications and temperament to be a part of that orchid future in New Mexico.  
      In February of 1966 I had convinced Pete and Lee to pay a visit to the Great Plains Judging Region in Oklahoma City and get a firsthand impression of what the student-judging program was really all about.  I made the usual Friday trip over on that third Weekend with only Lee aboard, as Pete had to work that Friday.  The trip over gave us the chance to really get to know one another.  I was very encouraging of Lee to get involved despite the fact that I had recently withdrawn from the program because of all the nasty happenings.  I explained most of the problem as simply being more associated with the group in Denver and that the judges in Great Plains had appeared to being a little more tolerant of my life-style and certainly more supportive at this time.  I deliberately avoided sharing any of my health problems with Lee on this trip over to OKC.  To that specific point in time I actually hadn't had any good reason to suspect that anyone outside of my immediate family and only a very few selected friends had any knowledge of my having HIV/AIDS status.  
      That Friday night Lee and I shared a motel room just as I had on so many other orchid occasions with Diann O'Neill.  There was never any appearance of or suspicion of any impropriety with any female companion since my gay orientation was not considered conducive to any sexual misconduct with the opposite sex.  It was, however, apparently something of a new experience for Lee since I remember her specifically requesting that I not tell Pete that we had actually shared a room.  I felt like this was a bit of a risqué adventure for Lee and I believe it only added to our enjoyment of one another and one of those little private intimacies that only helps cement a good relationship.  Lee McAnena was always fun to be with and displayed an exceptionally good sense of humor.  She also kept everything very quite equitable and more than contributed to the shared expenses of these trips to Oklahoma City.  
      Pete flew to Oklahoma City on that Saturday morning and joined us at the Oklahoma State University’s OKC agricultural center where the monthly judging meetings were held.  Both Pete and Lee were each hospitably invited to join one of the judging teams and were instructed to participate as though they were regular students in the program.  This gave them a real taste of the program and Pete and Lee both expressed just how much they really enjoyed the people and were made to feel very much like family.  They both enjoyed participating in the judging despite their having had no previous experience.  The entire meeting turned out to being a good first impression on both sides and Lee began at that point to give serious consideration to getting fully involved.  Pete on the other hand was very interested but realized the difficulty of being at work all day on Friday and being able to be in Oklahoma City the next day in good time for the full program.  The activities started with the student program at 11:00 A.M. and the earliest flight didn't arrive until the noon hour.  
      On the way home that Saturday night from this judging, I felt comfortable enough to have shared with the McAnena's, my delicate health situation.  Their being health professionals, I was sure that they would be sympathetic to my situation and ever more importantly, Lee had most comfortably shared on the way to OKC that she was recovering from cancer.  She confessed that she had had the distinct impression that something serious was going on with me when we had first met.  Lee said that her own close encounter with the imminent possibility of dying gave her a natural instinct of identifying others with similar conditions.  This intimate exchange and sharing of our near-death experiences gave us a particular close connection and understanding of each other's zest for life on a day-to-day basis.  We mutually and with our tongues in cheek coined ourselves "The class of forty-two."
      It was this very immediate Sunday that I had had that most disturbing and fateful of all calls from Bill Heath that eventually led to my overly distressed knowledge that "everyone in the AOS" knew that I had been diagnosed with AIDS.  That was a shocker considering that I had only told immediate family and two other people in the whole world.  We had had a Zia Orchid Growers' meeting that Sunday afternoon, which was very stressful since I had just had that distressful call from Bill Heath that very morning.  Lee with her own health-cross to bear was so exhausted from the OKC quick turnaround trip that only Pete had attended the ZIA meeting.  I should have been home myself except that I didn't want to let on that anything had become rather “rotten in Denmark.”  It was that night that the shit really hit the fan when I finally learned that it was Lois Dauelsberg that had actually let that damn proverbial cat out of the tightly-closed bag and that she was apparently not the only person to have related this once privately held information to Bill Heath.  I didn't share any hint of these very stressful phone calls with Lee until a few weeks later.  
      The next month Lee attended a joint meeting of the Zia Orchid Growers and Escalante Orchid Society in Santa Fe.  This is where Lee got her first bad taste of the local conflict with the Denver judging center.  There were two orchid-judging students from Los Alamos that had recently gotten into the Rocky Mountain judging program and they had obviously been well misinformed and coached on the then non-AOS status of the newly formed Zia Orchid Growers.  They were particularly rude with some of their misinformed comments and Lee found the rather cool atmosphere and reception by some of the Santa Fe snobs that were in attendance so objectionable that she had emphatically suggested to me that ZIA simply have no further association with either the Santa Fe or the Los Alamos individuals.  I had explained that the unusual tensions were not necessarily related to nor shared by the general membership of either group, but most of the stirred-up controversy was certainly attributable to Lois Dauelsberg.  It was shortly after this joint meeting that Lee had related to me that Lorri Ericksen, the only commercial grower in our area, must have likewise had knowledge of my AIDS as Lorri had specifically inquired of Lee as to "how is he doing?" in reference to my health.  Lorri having had such a long relationship with Lois Dauelsberg, it was rationally assumed that Lois Dauelsberg had probably conveyed my HIV/AIDS to Lori in the same contriving and condescending manner as she had related to Bill Heath.  Lee and I continued to make several additional trips to the monthly judgings in OKC for the remainder of the year.  
      In July of that same year 1996, I finally made a trip to Salt Lake City hoping to have learned just who had also informed Jean Schroder of my having AIDS.  I learned that Jean had knowledge on that same fateful Sunday when Bill Heath related that Lois wasn’t the only person that had related their knowing.  It was the very next month following what turned out to being an unsuccessful effort at information gathering that I had acquired the devastating knowledge that Jean Schroder had subsequently and unconscionably communicated my HIVAIDS status to the Oakeleys of England.  Jean had sort of justified her most flippant actions to me by telephone by telling me that after all "everybody in the AOS knows about this" and that "the Oakeleys have a right to know!"  I found this added sarcastic statement of the supposed Oakeley's rights quite objectionable in light of the fact that I had specifically communicated to Jean Schroder on that July trip of my gross objections to the American Orchid Society having violated my specific rights of maintaining the privacy of my HIV/AIDS status.  Jean Schroder had apparently totally disregarded my stated objections and proceeded to tell any number of other people in the orchid world.  Upon hearing of this egregious breech of my private information, Lee McAnena began suggesting that the rising problems with American Orchid Society's deliberate refusal to appropriately address the situation might need to be approached in a serious legal fashion.  This was, of course, Lee's particular area of extensive experience.  It was then that I had assembled all of my saved paperwork to that point at Lee's strong urging and started taking immaculate notes on everything associated with the problem.  I never did throw anything away, but it was specifically Lee McAnena that had gotten me in the habit of making extensive notes to myself on a regular basis.  That note taking was eventually the very groundwork of the first book that I had subsequently written.  Lee became my most attentive confidant and I kept her posted on every little bit of related information that subsequently arose from the dastardly situation.  
      It was in large part due to my relentlessly encouraging Lee to get involved with the judging program despite all the increasing turmoil that gave rise to my own re-involvement with the AOS.  What was good for the gander was certainly appropriate for the goose!  In October I had received a rather intriguing call from Mr. Lee Cooke, the executive director of the American Orchid Society and upon sharing the provocative contents of this communication with Lee McAnena, she had suggested that I immediately put into writing the jest of the entire conversation.  That exercise helped me to better understand the most likely plausible but totally unexpressed covert motives of Mr. Cooke and later led to my writing a rather rightfully caustic letter to the man.  That letter, no doubt was the central reason that this misguided Executive of the AOS later made it his own business to “deal rather harshly” with this thorn in the side of the AOS hierarchy.  It was just a week later that Lee McAnena was along for another of those monthly trips to OKC for what had to be my greatest award triumph in the American Orchid Society.  One of my better specimen plants, Odontoglossum Rawdon Jester 'San Damiano' received the highest quality award available, a First Class Certificate (FCC/AOS) for mounting up more than ninety points from the judging team that was assigned the plant.  At that same monthly judging this plant also scored more than ninety points for a Certificate of Cultural Merit (CCM/AOS).  This award gave me that one-up position on the only other judge in the program with whom I had any friendly ongoing competition.  Max Thompson had probably received more awards at the Great Plains Center than any of the other judges and it was Diann and I who encouraged Max to participate individually in display competition where he began to rank up the same kind of consistent winning that we had experienced.  
      The next month, November was full of excitement.  I had that infamous encounter with the Trustees in Baltimore and at the business meeting of Great Plains on the third Saturday I was officially reinstated as a student judge in the AOS judging program.  Lee had also been officially accepted into the student-judging program.  I had thought that maybe we were possibly on our way to becoming judges and hopefully fulfilling that aspiration of establishing an orchid-judging center in New Mexico.  Boy, was I ever wrong!  I should have had some clue that things weren't going to come out OK, but it is only hindsight that is generally 20-20.  
      When Lee and I had been initially interviewed several month prior for student status that had been finalized officially that November, there had already been a tail-tail sign of things to come.  Berneice Miller had been assembling the three-party teams to be conducting the routine interviews.  Lee had been standing next to a certified judge and the then Treasurer of Great Plains, Kenneth Fielder.  When Berneice had queried Mr. Fielder as to serving on the team to interview “Dr. Walker, he offered a rather negative reply in his refusing to consider "someone like that!"  Lee McAnena had reported this rather snide comment to me and I explained that it wasn't at all unexpected as Kenneth regularly traveled to Oklahoma City from Tulsa with the infamous Dr. John Kramer, the very judge that turned out to being that consummate bigot.  They seemed to have shared pretty common attitudes about nearly everything including their shared negative opinion about me and I would have strongly suspected that Kenneth Fielder was as big of a bigot as his bosom-buddy, Dr. John Kramer.  
      In the meantime, Pete McAnena had decided to get himself more involve with orchids and planned on setting up a laboratory for the flasking of seeds.  He converted a portion of his garage into a state-of-the-art laboratory and approached the whole project like an excited wide-eyed kid.  Pete viewed this project of his as a very significant contribution to our plans of having New Mexico become a thriving orchid center.  Pete had offered to do all the lab work that would have been such an integral part of the San Damiano orchid business.  I had even arranged for Pete to meet R. J. Rands of Malibu, California and take a look at his own lab setup.  Ray Rands is an excellent orchid grower and hybridizer that does all his own flasking.  His particular specialty is Paphiopedilums.  Lee McAnena was excited about her husband's projected contribution and sad that this lab work was right up his alley being that it is so science based.  Even though it appeared that Pete wasn't apt to have engaged himself in the student-judging program, this was his way of adding something significantly needed for the growth of orchids in the Southwest.  
      By the time the first of the year had rolled around, Lee had pretty much influenced me to seek council and initiate some form of legal action.  I ended up engaging a lawyer that had been suggested by Ray Gabaldon.  Because lawyers typically suggest that clients cease talking to anyone that might be at all involved with any potential litigation, I had cooled a great deal of my usual attentions with others associated with the American Orchid Society, Lee McAnena included, but certainly to some lesser degree since she was such a close associate and the very person that had encouraged me to pursue the matter further.  Of course, Lee still remained my closest confidant in most all of those various and sundry matters involving the American Orchid Society's most questionable misconduct, and particularly since Diann O'Neill was still residing in Texas.  
      It was as things began to deteriorate that summer with those first floundering lawyers that Lee starting hinting and strongly suggesting that I might want to pursue the lawsuit as a Pro Se litigant.  She had suggested that I might explore that possibility with a then good friend of hers and lawyer, Judith Finfrock.  I sort of put the whole situation on the proverbial back burner and had once again hoped that I might have gotten the matter settled without the further employment of any lawyers at all or even the involvement of litigation.  The potential of my finally being elevated from student to probationary judge was finally being addressed towards the end of 1998 and I had pretty much turned my attentions in that more positive direction.  Lee had suffered sort of an unexpected setback with her own health situation and her attendance to monthly judgings became rather sporadic.  It was sometime during this period of time that I had shared with Lee just how lucky I had been to have been introduced to the State of New Mexico medication programs specifically designed for people living with AIDS.  I was likewise fortunate to have had the Ryan White program that paid some of my medical bills that I couldn’t have possibly met because I had no medical insurance to cover the high costs of the HIV/AIDS medication.
      When I had first met with Dr. Koster in January of 1996, I had not wanted to start any of the medication regimens for my HIV.  I had previously shared the psychological care of some of my own clients with the medical care of some of Dr. Koster's AIDS patients while I was working as a volunteer therapist at the New Mexico Aids Services.  This was back in the early 1980's when AIDS victims were dying almost daily that I had made up my mind that I didn't want to endure the awful side effects of medications and the often-false hopes usually associated with many of the earlier treatments.  Dr. Koster had insisted that I at least try the newest proposed regimen that had just been approved, which was soon to be designated as the cocktail.  I conceded to his convincing urging with the specific understanding that I would only take the medications, if in doing so, it might actually benefit some future recipient.  When I related that I had no insurance or other viable means of meeting the high costs, Dr. Koster said that there were some great programs available to people with full-blown AIDS.  The next thing I knew, I was meeting with the University of New Mexico Health Center's resident social worker and filling out all kinds of paperwork.  It was ironic that UNM, was now going to be aiding me, where I had once unselfishly given them more than a year of my professional time as a volunteer some ten years prior.  Our good deeds and charities that go around just sometimes thankfully come around!  Good karma?
      I later shared this unsolicited blessing with Lee McAnena and told her that I was so lucky to have rearranged my personal holdings and finances some years previous because I had then seriously thought that I was going to be dead.  People were routinely dying from this awful disease!  My sister had never taken any action on the transfers of my interest in some of my real estate holdings, including that of my personal residence, with that compassionate consideration of my enjoying the appearance of living a normal life until I had expected to die.  I kept living way beyond any of the then reasonable expectations and the previously executed deeds had gotten trustfully filed away until they were to be deemed as necessary.  So much time had past that I wasn't even sure who had the deeds or where they had been placed.  I shared all of this rather personal information and my concerns with Lee McAnena, trusting that she was the kind of confidant one could confide in.  Having wanted to be most sincere and honest about the accurate reporting my holdings as being in my sister's name, I suggested that I may have had the need to execute newer documents that clearly indicated just what had been my previously earnest intentions.  I don’t like to be in the situation of having any appearance of impropriety.  
      Well, all of this confidentiality concerning my having done the right thing with Lee came back to unjustly haunt me with her later suggesting to the Defense that I had asked her to falsify some "affidavit" about my financial status or holdings.  What was so ridiculous about her maliciously contrived accusations was the fact that I hadn't even know her long enough for my supposedly solicited  "false statement" to have had any legal credibility.  If I had really needed to solicit some false statement, I would have rightfully engaged the help from someone who actually knew of the original transactions that had been fully executed in the late 1980's or at the very least, someone who knew me back then.  I have many very close and trusted friends that I would have more likely engaged in such an uncouth and certainly unexpected behavior for me, had I really needed someone.  Lee had spitefully implied that I had made false statements in order to get "free medication" from the State of New Mexico.  The truth of the matter is that I had actually forgotten this whole scenario because I was later quite self-assured that the documentation was somewhere to be found.  
      It was December 16, 1999 that Lee had called the house as a follow-up to a letter that she had composed on the 15^th and sent to me.  She had gotten John on the phone in my absence.  She spent almost an hour trying to get John to agree with her biased and contrived take on this totally fabricated story of hers.  She had absolutely no luck with him as none of her bullshit held up under the truth and facts of the matter and when I had returned later that evening and returned her call; Lee once again attempted to indict me with the same bit of crap.  She was so doggedly persistent that it soon became all too obvious that she was on some sort of devious mission.  I remember having the very distinct feeling that she was probably on a fishing expedition specifically for the Defense.  I willingly played along just to see where she was attempting to carry the story while never giving in to her unfounded flights of contrived fantasy.  I immediately shared this misguided woman's attempted indictment of me with Tony, and he only responded with the flippant suggestion that it was probably only the verbal rattling of some aging idiot.  It was so out in left-field that he suggested that I not pay any attention to her and simply avoid any further contact with the bitch.  In any case, I decided to retort her accusations in her letter as well as this bizarre telephone call by immediately writing the following letter:

December 18, 1999

Lee McAnena  
….  
Placitas, New Mexico 87043-34

Re:  Your letter of December 15, 1999

Dear Lee:

      I wish to be clear on some of your "facts."  You said that I had asked you to "falsify an affidavit a couple of years ago regarding all of your assets so that you could continue receiving your meds from taxpayer dollars while I have to pay all of my expenses."  Not so!  I had made a statement that the home I live in belonged to my sister.  I could not find any evidence (an executed deed) of that fact and related this to you in confidence saying that I may needed to execute a deed and date it so that it would support my thought to be false statement.  I don't like to lie, and I had made the claim in good faith.  I was very disturbed that I couldn't support the fact.  I believe you said that you wouldn't be willing to do that, even though I was only trying to create what I thought was already in existence.  I had actually executed deeds for ALL properties of any value to my sister many years ago when I thought I was going to be dead.  If you had brought the subject to my attention again/later, you would have learned that the reason I did not have any actual documentation in hand was because my sister had retained the deed that had been executed sometime in 1991.   It was at about that same time that I also singed over my apartments.  
      I realize that you NOW don't support what I am now attempting in Court, BUT it was you that encouraged me to file a lawsuit Pro Se with the help of your friend Judith Finfrock.  You may remember our first gathering at Applewood's on the West Side of town—Coors Road.  Judith agreed that there was a case, and it was at that very meeting, in your presence, that I asked whether it was necessary to include Max Thompson since he admitted being the AOS person to disclose my HIV/AIDS condition to Dr. John Kramer.  You didn't seem to object to Judith's insistence that he be counted as one of the defendants.  If you may recall, I said that I would not make the choice myself because of my close friendship with Max.  Personally I would have left him out of the pleadings, BUT it was the advice of your close friend the lawyer that indicated the legal reasons that he was to be named in the suit.  Of course, his participation was not with the maliciousness displayed by the others!  
      I wish I were as rich as too many people think I am.  I'm only too generous!  You may recall my telling you of my initial statement when I discovered this property many years ago; "I will never own this land, but I will be the caretaker."  Like Saint Francis!  Its material appearance is largely due to the decorating ability of John, not the actual value of its contents.  A matter that has no legal bearing on this case.

Very Truly yours

Dear Joe,

As promised in our conversation a quick response to your letter. I think you had a senior moment in regards to Max. Applewood Restaurant is in OKC. Yes, I encouraged you to go pro se after your first attorneys dropped the case. I was at your home going through reams of legal paper and eating Chinese food when I found out that Max was to be included in the suit. I expressed my upset about Max being included in the action. You told me you did not have a choice.

The meeting you referred to occurred at Applebees’ when you met my friend Judith Finfrock. Judith covered many aspects of the action from research, costs, legal strategies, and defendants. The conversation did not center around Max. As I recall the main event was how much money could be had from the AOS and if there was a basis for the lawsuit under ADA as well as other tort possibilities. You also covered your reasons for wanting to bring the claim which was counter to the money issue. As I recall Judith was answering a lot of questions that you had regarding the entire matter. I was not involved in any of the decision making between you and Judith at that meeting or at any other time.

You know how many times I have expressed to you that I am heartsick that Max was included in the lawsuit. I know you have stated that you did not have a choice, and you are trying to rectify the situation in the legal area; that is a major chore. I hope it is resolved in Max’s best interest.

Lastly, I want to clarify the matter of the affidavit. You specifically asked me to back date an affidavit regarding your property. I told you that I could not do and would not.

Let’s keep the communication lines open and save some trees by using the invention of Alexander Graham Bell.

October 27, 1999                                                   

Max Thompson  
Winfield, KS XXXXX

Max,

I am pleased to learn that another national award has been granted to a New Mexico grower.

I do not have any problem with the award or the recipient.  There is, however, a slight problem with the clonal name.  As the copy of the enclosed letter to Orchid of Waianae indicates, there was an order placed, and when it arrived it contained several clones of Blc. Erin Kobayashi 'Amy Chen.'  Amy Chen is Masa Chen's daughter.  I distinctly remember these clones being amongst the order and suggesting to the other participants that they might want to take one for its superior quality—I already possessed one on the originals from a previous order as a gift from Masa.

The original clone was the result of a selfing of the originally awarded Erin Kobayashi.  I had received in the earliest part of this decade several siblings from the same selfing and one of them had this darker lip.  I had hoped to enter it for judging, but after Masa bloomed this superior one (much darker lip), I abandoned any hope of mine ever being considered an improvement.

I do not recall any of the original Erin Kobayashi selfings being included in this shipment.  Masa has always been extremely generous with me as you may know and his having included several "expensive" clones would not be uncommon.  I shared these plants with Lee and Karl because I already had them in my own collection.

I'm confident that Lee must have simply failed to transfer the proper clonal name to her own tags.  Once again, the clone had never received an AOS award, and I fully concur with its having received the national Cattleya award—rightfully belonging to Lee as the grower, but there might be a serious consideration of correcting the clonal name rightfully to 'Amy Chen.'

       JUDGE NOT, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.   I am quite sure that most of us are guilty of sometimes jumping blindly to judgment without really considering the unique juxtaposition of the person we are judging.  Buddha had proclaimed that before a judge be supposed to pronounce any judgment on an accused, he should make an earnest attempt to stand in the sandals of the defendant.  San Damiano is the name that I had given this bit of earth and the residence where I presently reside and would hope to spend whatever time I have left on this planet.  It is indeed a most stunning and beautiful home in a grand setting with views that some proclaim are “to die for.”  To the uninitiated and those whom have no idea as to the whole story behind this modest estate, San Damiano could be perceived as an ostentatious display of wealth.  I have often, in a modestly defensive manner, suggested that such a holding is only relative to some unseen bigger picture.  The home is certainly attractive and spacious, but if I were to tell you that it belonged to the Rockefellers, you would very likely judge the residence as something considerably below your instantaneous expectation considering their reputation for immense wealth.  I had once abandoned my beloved San Damiano and left for California because this house's outward physical appearance had too grossly overshadowed its actual and intended inner spiritual nature.  Even in this ferocious battle with the American Orchid Society the presence of this lovely home has been maliciously targeted by the Defense as physical evidence of a flagrantly negative and materialistic portraiture of its actually sensitive occupant.  Just to get the record straight, I had decided to take a brief pause from expounding the chronicle of the legal proceeding of this lawsuit and share the rest of the story of this San Damiano.  All of this, just to insure that the truth be known to all!  
     It was sometime around the end of the year of 1983 that I had had a call from a friend of mine who lived on the east side of the Sandia Mountains opposite Albuquerque, New Mexico.  This friend, Ken Stegemiller, was looking at some vacant land in a subdivision just south of where he was presently living.  Ken wanted me to take a look at this prospective piece of property and give him my professional opinion as to whether it might be a desirable location for a new residence for he and his partner.  On the next Monday morning I went to the real estate office of Dick Holben, the realtor who was in charge of the sales at that time.  I inquired as to the availability of a plat so that I could view this particular lot for my good friend.  While I had Dick’s attention I inquired whether there were any lots available in the range of five acres and he said that there was one lot that was about 4.6 acres located at the lower end of the subdivision.  Most of the available lots were about 2 acres on the average.  I proceeded to survey the lot my friend had inquired about and found it quite acceptable for his own intentions.  I’m sure that his principal concern had to do with the existing rough terrain, as this area is rather severe in places being in the immediate foothills of the Sandia Mountains.  
     I next visited the lot suggested by Dick as being close to five acres.  As soon as I had walked on the property I got the most unexpected chilling feeling that I was somehow walking on sacred ground and immediately proclaimed this bit of land as “a place of healing.”  I proceeded to the rear of the property and discovered the most majestic views that rather took me by surprised since this lot was not only at the end of the subdivision, but most notably at possibly its lowest of elevations.  I suspect that this exceptional location had been unintentionally overlooked because it wasn’t amongst those “top-of-the-pile” lots that occupied the highest elevations and that were situated along a rather dramatic ridge of brightly-colored lichen-infested rocks all of which have a rather spectacular view of the southern portion of the Sandia Mountains as well as an exceptional view of the Tijeras Canyon where Interstate 40 runs east and west and divides the Sandia Mountains from the Manzano Mountains.  As I continued exploring to the end of the property, as I could estimate it from the plat, I encountered a most interesting rock formation that was essentially flat on top and partially exposed from beneath.  It was larger than a standard-sized card table and had a distinctive indentation close to its center where I could easily ascertain that water had collected during periods of precipitation.  The instant feeling that I had was that this rock had probably been sat upon in the past, probably by a native American and had with little doubt been a place where deep contemplation had been repeatedly encountered.  I readily and without any cognitive thought or hesitation designated this rather unique site as “Meditation Rock.”  
     Returning from this lower portion of the land, I had the strangest thought that “I will never own this place, but I will certainly become its most consummate and constant caretaker.”  This whole experience was definitely mystical in nature and I had decided right then and there that I was going to be living on this sacred land for the rest of my life.  Just to confirm the veracity of these unanticipated feelings that I had experienced, I immediately called my niece, Julie Good, who had moved to Albuquerque to attend the University of New Mexico.  She inspected the property with me the very next day and warmly confirmed my unusual feelings about the spiritual nature of this land.  That Tuesday evening I approached Dick Holben with an offer that was some five thousand less than the asking price of that particular lot and got his firm assurance that the developers would not accept any offers below their established asking prices.  I instructed Dick to make the offer in any case and was confidant that if this land was truly to be part of my future, that they would accept the offer.  It was the very next day that Dick gave me a call and with a surprisingly astonished tone, informed me that the developers had indeed accepted my initial offer and did so without any hesitation.  Was I surprised?  We closed on the property that very Friday and the die was duly cast as to the intriguing future of San Damiano.  
     It was just a few years before the purchase of this land that a friend had brought a video movie to my apartment on Chelwood Park for our mutual viewing.  It was a film directed by Franco Zeffirelli entitled, Brother Sun, Sister Moon.  The film focused on the early years of Francis of Assisi, who sought communion with the natural world by renouncing his family’s riches to seek his own destiny unencumbered by material possessions.  Francis was, in a sense, history’s first “Drop-out”; he left a life of comfort to seek a spiritual union with the world.  It was somewhere in the middle of this film that some of Francis’ friends inquires as to where he had disappeared to following his untimely return from the Crusades and the answer given was, “San Damiano.”  This San Damiano was a church that had been abandoned and was in serious ruin.  San Damiano is the Italian name for Saint Damian, who along with his twin brother, Saint Cosmos, were both canonized as patron saints of physicians.  They had been crucified around the third century for having given away (in the spirit of Christian charity-agape) their medical services, which apparently offended the officials of the eastern Roman Empire.  I was so taken with the melodic sound of San Damiano that I instantly proclaimed at that moment that if I were ever to have a home of my own, it would be lovingly called San Damiano!  Little did I know at that time that the land I would eventually discover would in like manner impress me as “a place of healing.”  And so what was my vocation at the time I located this sacred ground?  I was volunteering as the first openly gay therapist at the Student Heath Services at the University of New Mexico.  
     For almost two years following the purchase, I meditated on this land, planted some fruit trees and tulip bulbs and just waited patiently for the land to speak to me and instructed me as to its particular needs.  I knew that when the time was right I would be inspired as to what kind of structure this land would dictate and support.  During the end of my short tenure with the University I had a week’s vacation, which I had planned on using to visit a good friend of mine that had recently moved to Colorado Springs, Farron Hurst.  We had met at the University of Oklahoma while we were both enrolled as doctoral students.  I had taken with me a pad of paper to scratch on should I have any ideas pop into my head about the future of San Damiano.  It was upon retiring the second night of my visit that I instantaneously set up in bed and within seconds roughed out the basic structural design that now exists and known as San Damiano.  I got up the next morning and cheerfully announced to Farron and his partner that I was immediately returning home to Albuquerque to see if this bit of instantaneous inspiration was going to actually fit and just where it would be situated on the bit of land that I had been meditating on for so many months.   I left Colorado Springs first thing that morning and drove straight to Cedar Crest and walked off my initial measurements.  It was almost perfect with one except; the proposed side entrance to the garages was an obvious impossibility since there was an estimated 23-foot drop in the land from the northwestern corner of the house to the southeastern corner.  These proposed garage entrances on the eastern side of the house would have required the construction of a bridge to be reach.  The rest of the proposed structure and internal designed remained entirely in tact as it had been so designed in those few seconds of pure inspiration.  
      Within just a few months I had located a draftsperson, Laura Sanchez of Las Lunas, New Mexico, to actually draw the working plans as I had too little time to do the details myself.  I had in the past drawn a number of residential plans for customers when I was active as a general contractor.  The kind lady that I had located was very excited about this unusual project and within just a few weeks I had the working drawings completed and was beginning to get excited about initiating the start of construction.  At just about this time I voluntarily departed my psychotherapy position with the University mostly due to some political matters that seemed less severe with the exciting prospects of San Damiano on the near horizon.  With the job out of the picture, I focused my attentions on the future of San Damiano.  The permit for the construction of the residence was for some 7200 square feet of roofed construction.  This sounded like a project that was far beyond my financial scope at that time, but I was quite confident that there was some good reason that the universe had handed me this unforeseen project.  
      It was February 20, 1985 that I had obtained the County of Bernalillo building permit for this monumental project that I was about to undertake with the greatest of disguised confidence that I would somehow be able to eventually complete the project.  If someone had taken the time to seriously question me on just how I thought that I was going to be able to afford such an undertaking, I’m confident I would have simply said something in a rather confidant tone to the effect, “This project is simply meant to be....”  I have always maintained this rather adamant sentiment that if plans are thoughtfully laid out with the specific input and intentions of that invisible universe, the execution to fruition is an immutable given.  My mother had always proclaimed in the context of her own brand of Christian upbringing “The Lord will provide....”  I would possibly add to my mother’s contention that “the Lord helps those who helps themselves.”  I had usually achieved most anything that I had set my mind to and even though I didn’t have all the apparent financial means for such an extensive undertaking, I was confident that I could easily employ my own labor and skills to make up any differences.  
      There was hardly any stage of this project that wasn’t accompanied by some significant degree of unsolicited abatement and this repeated as well as indispensable phenomena manifested itself from the very beginning with that considerably lower than originally established/fixed asking price for the land itself.  San Damiano today has that grand appearance and all those necessary amenities that would aptly qualify it as one of those featured homes in design magazine like Architectural Digest, except that the home wasn’t actually designed by an excessively expensive and certainly exclusive AIA-registered architect.  Even the physical placement of the residence on the property closely reflects a recognized Frank Lloyd Wright credo of creating a pleasingly and complimentary interplay between the environment and the actual structure.  The design is entirely unique unto itself.  For a lack of any specifically recognized scheme to the design I usually retort with the word “eclectic” when friends query as to its architectural theme.  It certainly reflects my own spiritual and personal nature of trust and openness to all peoples and ideas.  Most noticeable of the residence inner design features; there are intentionally no doors in the interior that would in any way interfere with the free flow of human activity except where absolutely necessary, as for example; the dark-room and the sauna for obvious reasons.  Most storage areas like-wise have the necessary closures simply to hide the usual clutter, as these rooms are not designed for human habitation!  I did intentionally added a door to one toilet-room in the guest powder room off of the main entrance to the residence for those rightfully sensitive day-guests that aren’t expected to share my own liberal degree of openness.  As to that poignant question of privacy, I consistently suggest and kindly offer to my visitors the repartee that “privacy, after all is said and done, is really just a matter of respect.”  On the more personal/romantic level I further suggest that, “I will never lock you out nor ever hope to lock you in.  You are free to come and go as you will....”  I point out to visitors that the intentional design of entries and hallways to those designated private areas provide what I consider to be more than sufficient privacy without those traditional placements of securable physical barriers—doors being the most noticeable implement of choice.  
     One of my mother’s three sisters, Vivian Little was my grand-patron aunt who lived in Washington, D.C. and who had a notable influence on my personal life as well as the physical existence of San Damiano.  Vivian had earned her Ph.D. from John Hopkins University in Baltimore in the area of romance languages and ended up working for the government cataloguing the contents of foreign medical journals for the Department of Health by writing (translating into English) synopsis of current medical-research articles.  In the late seventies I made two trips to D.C. to visit Vivian.  The occasion of the first trip was a heart attack that my aunt had suffered and it was on this trip that she had given to me, “for only my safe-keeping,” that most prized Persian rug in her collection.  It was from Qum, Iran and was, according to her, a museum quality wool and silk hunting scene about five by eight feet, roughly.  This rug’s primary colorization was a rich blue and its appropriately appointed placement in the dinning hall at San Damiano naturally dictated the use of blues in decorating the entire room.  The specially designed/crafted twelve-foot dinning table as well as the built-in buffet along one wall both have the same cobalt-blue ceramic tile inlaid and the upholstery on the dining chairs is a dark sky-blue.  I hardly ever enter this very special room without gazing at and marveling at the intricate beauty of this now hanging blue gem-of-a-rug at the head of the room.  This distinguished rug and certainly this dinning area as a whole with its aurora of blueness brings to mind warm thoughts of my loving aunt, Vivian.  
      On that second trip to D.C. my aunt insisted that I prepare her Last Will and Testament.  She had no carnal trust of lawyers and likewise didn’t want her estate to end up in the hands of civil authorities.  This Last Will and Testament that she had entrusted me to create for her ended up having a direct effect on the eventual outcome of San Damiano.  Besides the above-mentioned Persian hunting-scene rug, my aunt had acquired quite a collection of other quality Persian and Oriental rugs and at my unbiased suggestion, she left her rugs as well as the entirely of her modest estate to be divided equally amongst her five surviving heirs.  As fate would have it, she died in 1984.  So, with my share of her estate, I ended up with enough great-looking rugs to fill the entire house as well as a tidy sum of money to finish paying off the remaining cost of the lot as well as to finance some of the initial costs of the foundations.  
      The residence was constructed at just that precise period of time in our country’s history when both the Federal and even then the New Mexico State governments through tangible financial subsidies were strongly encouraging the use of solar alternatives to conventional power sources.  I had intentionally, and independent of any of these governmental encouragements, designed the home to be heated with the employment of solar resources.  In doing so, I serendipitously had the majority of the costs of installing the extensive mechanical equipment along with about a mile of ¾-inch copper tubing in the floors paid in large part by these generous governmental subsidies.   Even the engineering costs of this solar application became part of the subsidized project because the company that was ultimately engaged to do the installation offered the engineering as part of the total package.  So I was able to install a state-of-the-art heating system at a final cost that ended up being far less costly than a conventional force-air system.  A conventional heating system would have been eternally expensive just to operate and maintain considering the unusual size of the residence and the ever-rising costs of propane gas.  Many thanks are due to aunts as well as that sometimes-generous Uncle Sam!  
      It took over five months to bring the whole project to the stage where there was finally a concrete slab poured and readied for the conventional wood framing.  This unusual amount of time was rightfully due to a number of uncontrollable circumstances.  This particular spring was wetter than usual and it took almost a month just to have the septic tank properly installed after acquiring the necessary soil-percolation test results.  Because of the existing terrain and the necessity of the septic tank and drain fields being physically located behind the house, their installation and tractor/grading work had be completed prior to the construction of the house due to a problem of access were the house built.  The next expense of time was also due to the terrain where there existed that twenty-three foot drop in elevation from one corner of the house to its diagonal in the rear.  I didn’t wish to disturb my own bit of the mountain anymore than was necessary and in order to accommodate the elevations it was necessary to construct some of the stem walls of the foundation as much as ten feet high.  This also required a great deal of fill dirt to bring working levels up to grade.  At my constant insistence all of this massive construction took place in a manner that wouldn’t disturb any of the natural vegetation including the lichen-infested rocks that were everywhere to be avoided.  In the course of construction I only have to remove two indigenous trees by carefully placing the house in an area that was already mostly devoid of any native vegetation.  The various rocks that had occupied the immediate land where the house was to be constructed were gathered and placed in a pile until they were to be later incorporated into one of the residence’s three fireplaces.  
       The next consummate time-consumer was the solar floors of the house.  It was the specific design of the solar system that the floors of the house also serve as integrated sources of heat-storage.  This was accomplished be creating a foot of what is referred to as a ‘solar mass’ that was separated from the natural earth by a one-inch piece of rigid Styrofoam serving as an insulator/barrier to avoid any heat loss to the earth.  On top of this one-inch insulator were four to five inches of masonry sand and it was in this sand that the ¾-inch copper tubing was placed running back and forth across each of the eight heating zones with about twelve inches of spacing.  There was extensive care given to special sliver soldering since any of the copper joints were going to be permanently beneath a four to five-inch concrete slab.  Plumbers, by building codes, will never have a soldered joint beneath a slab, but the extensive tubing required in a solar floor makes it practically impossible to complete any of the given zones with even the longest lengths of flexible copper tubing that are commercially available.  Besides the careful placement and soldering of the copper, there is rigid testing for any possibly leaks that requires at least a week of keeping the tubing under pressure and maintaining a column of mercury at a prescribed level.  
       Besides all of this extensive copper tubing beneath the slabs, there is also the placement of the entire plumbing system and even a considerable amount of electrical conduit that was required to be placed before the slabs are finally poured.  By this time the lowest portion of the structure, the three-car garage and domestic quarters (endearingly referred to as “Consuela’s room”) are all completed with concrete filled cement blocks as the structural walls.  It was early fall before the framing of the main portion of the house finally began and the some fifty-two hundred square-feet of framing was completed in about five weeks under my sole direction of some four to five carpenter helpers.  For portions of the framing, I also had my nephew, Matthew Good, available for some of the more demanding jobs.  The most notable was the precarious overhead placement of sixteen-inch laminated beams from fourteen and seventeen feet above the floors of the grand room.  This was precisely the kind of dangerous work that I never wanted to ask just anybody to risk his or her necks.  Matt was quite adept to this kind of carpentry work as I was for the same reason that his father had gotten into the construction business as the result of my own father being professionally involved.  This all came natural to the both of us.  
      For all those mechanical jobs that I was not licensed to perform, various contractors at a wholesale prices accomplished them because I was still a licensed general contractor for the State of New Mexico and still maintained my non-taxable status.  This all added up to enormous savings from of my own pocketbook and at the same time gave that false appearance that I must have had an endless supply of money to have accomplished this rather large undertaking.   It was during the start of the framing that I had been introduced to Terry Brown, a U. S. Navy buddy of one of my closest friends and ATΩ fraternity brothers.  Terry had recently moved to New Mexico from the D.C. area and the two of us thought we were going to become a permanent item.  As it turned out, Terry had brought with him considerable cash from the sale of his own home in D.C. and trusted our romantic situation enough to invest this money in San Damiano.  It was just enough to get the house to a state that we were able to safely occupy the major portions of the residence by the following spring even though all of the internal details of the house were not yet fully completed.  
       It took some five to six months for a single very craft-oriented mason working only one crew throughout those winter months to lay the some sixty thousand bricks that are now part of both the entire exterior and much of the interior.  It was an unusual winter in that most of the bad weather only occurred on the weekends, leaving the workdays fully available for the mason’s skilled hands.  Terry and I laid many of these 60,000 bricks as the finished flooring throughout the entire residence.  These interior brick pavers (about half the thickness of regular brick) as well as many full-sized bricks used in the flooring were part of that required ‘solar mass’ that was specifically designed to store the heat that was to be collected from the thirty-three Grumman solar collector units that were eventually placed on the flat portions of the residence’s finished roof.  
       Much of the exquisite appearance of the house is certainly due to the attention paid to the interior finishing touches.  The New England trained craftsman that provided the residence’s fine cabinetry was specifically recruited because the man was also skilled in the manufacture of custom furniture.  I had specifically designed that rather large dining area where I had hoped to have custom-crafted, a large twelve-foot table, specifically with none of those usual leaves to be inserted.  This was all for the making of a specific statement to those prospective twelve guests that I considered as an optimal-sized dinner party or an equally appropriate number for any special celebration.   I sometimes wonder if that number of twelve came from the mythological stories of Jesus and his twelve closest male followers?  I have already stated the rationale for the blue theme of the dining area; that very special hunting-scene Persian rug from Qum, Iran “entrusted to me” by my patron aunt Vivian.  
       In the dinning hall there are two large chandeliers that hang above that massive table.  Because of the ‘blue’ theme of the room, I wanted to have something that I considered was more esthetically compatible than the usual ‘brass’ and certainly not something too ornate/feminine as in the appearance of so many of the crystal offerings.  The majority of the lighting fixtures in the residence all came from the Georgia Lighting Company in Atlanta.  My father had done business with Harry Gillam for some number of years and I understand that when my father had constructed his own special residence that Harry had gifted him the lighting fixtures.  Well, I made a trip to Atlanta to shop at this very special locale that could often be seen advertising in Architectural Digest at that time.  Harry was almost equally generous with me and only charged me some twenty-five cents on the dollar for any of the fixtures that I selected.   When I expressed my very specific need for dinning chandeliers and specifically ‘two’ that matched, the kind lady that had assisted me showed me these very exceptional silver with gold trim items that were from Italy; she only had ‘two’ of them!  To this day, I have the distinct feeling that these entirely unique, made-to-order chandeliers were always destined to hang at San Damiano, another Italian original.  And like so much of the rich appearance of the residence to those who have no clue, I only had to spend pennies on the dollar.  
       When you first enter San Damiano from the main entrance, there are three recessed glass-covered cases opposite the doors.  One of these embedded cases; the largest one in the center contains a Bear Kachina carved and decorated in the Navajo style.  Shortly after I had moved into the home in the spring of 1986 I paid a visit to The Turquoise Lady, a shop in the Old Town of Albuquerque that specialized in the sale of Kachinas.  The proprietor of the shop was a very kind lady by the name of Cathren Harris.  I inquired of Cathren which of the Kachinas represented healing and she proceeded to instruct me that there were three that were each considered “healers”; the Badger, the Owl and the Bear.  I had decided that the Bear, known by its Indian name as the Hon, was my Kachina of choice and Cathren Harris suggested that I consider purchasing one that had been carved by a member of the Jemez Pueblo named Johnny Burgess.  She said that she had some examples of his work “upstairs” and proceeded to take me up these old stairs to what was sort of a storage room.  She actually had about six of these large, beautifully carved cottonwood Kachinas that were being held for a northern New Mexico rancher, Albert Mitchell, which had special ordered these Kachinas to be used as trophies at the New Mexico State Fair rodeo.  She cautiously added that it might be some time before Johnny Burgess was to be making any additional Kachinas, as he was currently quite preoccupied with the politics of the Jemez Pueblo.  In any case, I had decided then and there that this great-looking Bear Kachina was just what the Medicine Man of San Damiano had ordered and I prepared myself for the unspecified wait.  
       Several months passed and I received a call from Cathren Harris of The Turquoise Lady and she inquired as to whether I was still interested in purchasing the Bear Kachina by Johnny Burgess.  I said, “yes” immediately and headed for Old Town to give her a deposit until I could come up with the full purchase price.  When I arrived she proceeded to tell me the rest of the story.  It seems that shortly after she had initially shown me those Kachinas that had been sold to Albert Mitchell there was a tragic turn of events.  Mr. Mitchell and one of his sons were flying down to Albuquerque in their private airplane when it crashed, killing both of them.  Cathren waited for what she had considered a respectable period to time of about three or four months, and when there was no effort to pick up the order, she decided to go ahead and let me have that original Bear Kachina that I first inspected in that upstairs storage room.  I thanked Cathren Harris for having remembered that I had specifically wanted to acquire the Bear and gave her my modest deposit with the stated assurance that I would have the remainder in very short order.  
       It was within a week that I had gathered the remainder due on the Bear Kachina and headed for Old Town.  When I entered the shop she told me that Albert Mitchell’s wife had actually showed up in the meantime and picked up that initial order.  Cathren said that she had explained that she had no idea that the order was to ever be honored and took it upon herself to sell one of the Kachinas to a gentleman that was particularly interested in having a Bear Kachina carved by Johnny Burgess.  The kind wife gave her approval and said that it was no problem; that she was only honoring her husband’s prior commitments and that the rodeo for which the Kachinas were intended had long since passed.  I later learned that the wife had died of cancer about six months after her husband.  The very strange circumstances surrounding my ultimate acquisition of one of Johnny Burgess’ Bear Kachinas gave me serious pause and it all reconfirmed for me that San Damiano was indeed “a mystical place of healing” that had a mind and direction of its own, and I was only the “caretaker.”  
       It was at least two years later that I finally turned my attention to finishing the library.  It was the only room remaining in the central portion of the residence that was unfinished and still showing its bare studs and exposed wiring.  It required three weeks of rather intense concentration for my nephew, Matthew, and me to custom design and complete the oak-finished interior.  The entire room including its vaulted ceiling is custom-paneled and trimmed in solid red oak, and with the exceptions of the arched entrance, one modest-sized window and seat opening to the north and the door to the dark room, the entire library is imbued with repeated sections of built-in shelving.  Two-thirds of the shelving is oak-finished to house books and the remaining is tempered-glass shelving with glass doors designed to protect the shell collection that I have acquired over the years since I was only four and living on gold coast of Florida.   I have endearingly designated this very specially appointed room as my “Old English” library because of its intrinsically warm feeling, oak finish and the two very special English hunting-horns chandeliers that are also from the Georgia Lighting Company.  Each section of shelving has its own recessed lighting that is controlled by a master dimmer switch.  It is this one singular area of the entire residence that I warmly consider as my own, private space that is exclusively mine.  This is where my trusty computer resides and where I am able to think and create whatever is put to paper these trying days.  Many visitors often select this particular room as their favorite.  Again, the appearance is sheer opulence to the uninitiated; to me it was simply a time-honored labor of love and a creative use of affordable oak-veneered paneling trimmed with solid red oak that was aesthetically enhanced by endless hours of the tedious employment of an ordinary Sears Craftsman’s router giving texture to every exposed corner.  Add to this unique woodwork a lot of sanding and the proper applications of deep-toned walnut stains and you have another room that screams of pure unadulterated luxury.  The appearance is unquestionable and the truth of the matter, is that its actual costs are probably little more than what anyone else may have forked-out for only four painted walls of an ordinary room.  
       It seems that I am giving a blow-by-blow description of San Damiano and my only intention is to sort of relate that the appearance of things can be necessarily deceptive without the full knowledge of the unseen circumstances.   I can rap this thing up with a quick over-view of the remainder of the house.  The grand room is over one thousand square-feet with an eighteen-foot vaulted ceiling in the center portion where the brick masonry fireplace takes advantage of this added height.  It is in this area that I often decorate a fifteen to seventeen-foot Christmas tree.  There is a parlor sized Knabe grand piano at one end of this room and all of this adds up to another one of those appearances of grand things.  The height of this room is due in large part to that enormous drop in the land’s elevation and this necessarily ‘sunken’ room simply takes advantage of what nature had already over-generously provided.  The guestroom’s most obvious feature is a Kiva fireplace in one of its corners and along with its custom-made southwest furniture and Pueblo Indian artifacts, the room is specifically designed to give the overnight visitor the distinct idea that they have spent the night in this magic Land of Enchantment.  Another taste of elegance that defies it appearance!  
       Next to the guestroom and separated by a bathroom suite with sauna is a fully equipped gym.  It is sad to say that this mirrored gym, equipped with a five station Marcy piece of workout equipment that was well intended just doesn’t get the workout that it rightly deserves.  From that point you take a couple steps down along with a couple of turns in the hallway into the master suite where all of those collected lichen-encrusted rocks I mentioned before have been laid into a two-sided fireplace.  The other side of this fireplace is where the Jacuzzi is located in a separate sunroom off of the master suite.  Everything about the master suite speaks of ‘two.’  This is the area of the residence that is certainly my own private space and at the same time it was obviously designed to accommodate two individuals.  The vanity has two sink, the large shower designed for two-at-a-time has two shower-heads, and the walk-in closet is divided equally with matching cabinetry and two oriental garden seats for putting on shoes.  As I write this, half of the closet remains empty, waiting for some special occupant.  This past summer I re-tiled that shower and incorporated nine custom ceramic tile orchids into the floor.  I hand crafted and fired the orchid tiles myself and modeled them after some of my awarded orchids.  Off the master suite is a private deck that has a grand view of the Tijeras Canyon and the southern end of the Sandia Mountains.  You can reach this redwood deck that candelabras slightly out over a modest cliff by traversing a barely elevated redwood boardwalk.  I specifically designed and constructed this raised boardwalk to keep visitors to San Damiano from trampling what I endearingly and often refer to as “Mother Nature’s million-dollar landscape job.”  There is no way to adequately describe the endless beauty of the colorful lichens that encrust the boulders along with the various cacti and yuccas that mysteriously grow in the cracks of the cliff and throughout the landscape.  The rest of the indigenous vegetation is an interesting mix of scrub oak, mountain mahogany, western junipers and piñon pine trees.  
       Shortly after I had finished this residence my mother called me from Houston, Texas where she was visiting.  She had just purchased two used Mercedes, one diesel and the other gasoline.  She would never own a foreign car herself, but she asked that I come retrieve these two cars.  She requested that I drive them both for a while and decide which of them that I wanted to keep and then sell the other.  Her more than generous and certainly amusing reasoning for this unexpected purchase; “Every grand home should have at least one Mercedes parked in front!”  Even my own sainted mother had so interestingly attested to the ostentatious outward appearance of my most beloved and certainly cherished San Damiano.  
      This very distinguished San Damiano has been both a blessing and at times sort of a curse.  It’s unique and at the same time deceptive appearance, which has only been improved over the years, once sent me off to California to die.  I felt so oppressed and too often misjudged by so many people that only saw me as that rich “lord of the manor,” and gave me far too little credit for the incredibly loving person that I am known as by others.  I didn’t want to depart this earth and have this misconception as my only epitaph.  It was on this perceived final destination of life to Mendocino, California that I had met John Howell.  In the last twelve years that he has been part of this intriguing San Damiano, his artistry and decorating skills finished off the final touches to this elegant home and now we give guided tours to all the visitors.  In this same twelve-year period with John, I also added those two greenhouses in the rear of the house, a koi pond and with John’s added touch of a grass lawn; I now often refer to San Damiano as “an estate.”  Last year I even added another of those unfinished boardwalks all the way down to that very mystical and spiritual place that I initially christened as, “Meditation Rock.”  
       So much for the physical appearance of things!  I sometimes feel equally burdened with my intellect and certainly the number of college degrees that I have earned.  But even more than the education I have received over the years, I have been duly blessed with an exceptional mind that has that unique ability to retain the essence of so much of what I have learned.  And at the same time I have often been accused of having that abstruse and intensely innate ability to synthesize otherwise unrelated information.  Some may wish to see this as some kind of profound confusion; I often see myself as having opened that verboten Pandora’s box or maybe I just too enthusiastically devoured that forbidden fruit from that Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  In either case, I have never hesitated questioning the status quo of any subject matter and often offend those who too easily continue to naïvely gobble up the multitude of false mythologies and beliefs.  I have too little tolerance of those who refuse to deal with palpable truths that are all too well grounded in reality; call it science if you must.  And it is not only the physical sciences that are often serendipitously denied their proper and full acknowledgment, the innate metaphysical nature of man is equally ignored much too often in favor of some diss-empowering religious belief or doctrine.  
        I frequently sense that I am thoughtlessly labeled as that egotistical type probably because I dare to postulate ideologies that fly squarely in the face of conventional wisdom, and I certainly do so with such a commanding sense of reality and a conspicuous air of absolute authority.  I have a recondite confidence about my own given ability to accurately discern the obvious truths of our existence all of which was probably inadvertently due to an extraordinary gift of self-empowerment that was lovingly bestowed on me by my own mother.  My mother when I was about twelve years old sat me down one day and thoughtfully explained, “I have not had you baptized because I have always wanted you to chose your own faith.”  Coming from the daughter of a Church of God lay-minister, I would say that her behavior was rather liberal.  The tangible message that this more than thoughtful and empowering pronouncement had for me was that I had the innate ability to think for myself and to not be inordinately pigeonholed by some external ideology that may have had no recognizable semblance to reality as part of my own grand view of the universe.  Of course, all of this didn’t really occur to me at that given moment; it did firmly set the groundwork for my own style of self-actualization and my life-long mind-set of viewing this world through my own eyes.  The other subtle lesson that this timely scenario with my mother had so intuitively taught me was my unblemished respect for every other individual’s immutable right to think for himself or herself.  Until some people really get to know me well, they often get the miscalculated impression that I am rather dogmatic and opinionated.  That stoic confidence that I so easily display in expressing my own perspective of the world is often too hastily taken as an aggressive tactic in some covert attempt to alter their own set of cherished and often excessively protected beliefs.  I am most adamant about the abstruse notion that it has been the truth that has set me free from the overly oppressive bondage of so many falsely postulated doctrines.  And I am admittedly too ardent at times and don’t always make it equally clear that it is my zealous position on that specific freedom of individual thought that is far more important to me than anyone viewing the world with my own set of personal values.  I just don’t believe that most individuals take the time to ever seriously question what they have been fed so serendipitously and simply chose to remain in that perceived safety zone that I often refer to as “blissful ignorance.”  Keep in mind that slaves don’t labor for themselves; likewise, those of us that are enslaved to other’s contrived doctrines and beliefs don’t have to think for ourselves.  That revered Freedom Seeker and consummate rebel-rouser of some two thousand years ago suggested that we employ our minds as well as our hearts when worshiping/loving our gods.  Historically, the church has always labeled those who dared to think for themselves as heretics and too often simply eliminated them all together.   It seems that our human race has inadvertently become a flock of weak-sheep that have simply adopted a state of ideological complacency as an inevitable and certainly indispensable survival tactic.  How dare I suggest that you think for yourself!  And even worse, how terribly arrogant and egotistical it is for Joe Walker to elucidate as a given fact that most established Christian churches as well as other world religions are full of that proverbial dogmatic shit.  
      Another illusory appearance of things that inadvertently betrayed the reality of my actual emotional condition was my relationship with John Howell.  On the surface I am sure that it appeared that we were intimate lovers when in fact our loving relationship had justly evolved into an unusual friendship of mutual convenience.  At the time when John and I had initially connected, I had no idea that I was going to be living more than a few additional years and truly felt that John would make a great companion for those final days.  We were intimate lovers at the onset of our relationship and when that phase had passed all too quickly, there was so much mutual compatibility established that we simply continued our relationship with separate bedrooms.  Many observers would simply assume that we must have had an “open” relationship since either of us may on rare occasions dated other men.  In that state of mind believing that I didn’t have long to live, I just didn’t have any great desire or motivation to seek another partner.  And, when all that shit finally hit that proverbial fan in the American Orchid Society my energies got entirely focused on the conflict.  It seemed to me at that time that the appearance of a stable home-life would be more favorable to my lawsuit and neither John nor I had any reason to do anything else.  The truth of the matter; this external appearance of our private lives being something that it wasn’t in actuality was just another major contributor to the broader fantasy that Humpty-Dumpty was a whole and happy guy prior to the disaster.  But once again, what may seem so apparent based on the outward appearance of things, may unjustly betray the reality of a totally devastated and hopeless-feeling human being.  I had so little desire to live and with the lack of any binding personal relationships remaining in my life, it was only that altruistic drive to deal with that hideous and oppressive bigotry still so prevalent in our society that actually kept me alive.  I really wish that John had been more than just the friend that he had become because there were too many of those lonely nights when I really needed someone just to hold me and help fight those haunting daemons that were relentlessly tempting me with the contemplation of suicide.  
        When you live in grand house, have a Mercedes, as old as it was, parked in the front and display a happy external demeanor, I guess it would be safe to assume that one might be perceived as being somewhat rich or at least enriched.  So terribly far from the truth!  I had for two many years been living with a negative cash flow believing that I wasn’t going to be around to have to pay the damn bills.  I finally put a first mortgage on San Damiano in 1997 to catch up and the added mortgage payment only made things worse in the long run.  I am so attached to San Damiano in an emotional sense that I just can’t bring myself to sell the property in order to rearrange my finances into a more survivable and economical reality.  In the spring of 2001 I even went so far as to investigate the idea of filing bankruptcy.  A plausible idea for some, but I only discovered that I had too much equity remaining in my home that was still on public record as being mine even though I had earnestly executed a deed over to my sister many years ago, again, thinking that I was going to die.  The one realistic and viable possibility that I had once seriously considered was establishing an orchid business with my friend Diann, but the unhealthy and dire situation that arose within the American Orchid Society applied the most thwarting skids imaginable to that idea.  
        The spring had become so dire for my personal finances that I sort of declared my own style of bankruptcy.  I simply ceased paying my credit card bills and this cessation was particularly inspired by a letter that I had received from one of my credit card creditors.  I guess that despite the fact that I had always paid my bills for the amounts due and often a little bit more to get them paid down more quickly, this particularly company had decided to increase my APR to such a ridiculous rate.  What was most disturbing about their reasoning was that it “appeared” according to their reporting agency that I was getting in over my head.  It was actually true, but instead of helping the situation, the policy was to make it even more difficult for me to ever bail out of debt.  Just hit the hell out of a man when he’s already down for the count.  Can you believe twenty-eight percent (28%) and just at the time when interest rates were actually decreasing in the country?  This following letter eased any conscience I might have had about taking these calamitous financial matters into my own hands.

       people’s  bank  
       C O N N E C T I C U T

     Joseph L/Dr Walker            181           March 27, 2001  
     PO Box  XXXX                                     Re: Your account ending in 3333  
     Cedar Crest NM  87XXX-XXXX

Dear Joseph L/Dr Walker,

After careful consideration, we find it necessary to increase the Annual Percentage Rates (APRs) on your People’s Bank credit card account. This change will take effect on May 19, 2001.*  Your APRs will increase to 27.99% APR (corresponding daily periodic rate of 0.07668%). These APRs will be in effect for all existing and new purchases, balance transfers, cash advances and default pricing. All other rates, benefits and fees will remain the same as disclosed in your credit card agreement, which is amended from time to time.

Recently, we reviewed how our customers are managing their credit accounts with others and us. We used a scoring system that assigns a numerical value to the various items of credit bureau information we consider. Our experience has shown that this score is an indicator of an individual’s likelihood to make payments on time. The main reasons you did not score well are:

•  The total balances on your bank credit cards and lines of credit are high when compared to the total amount of credit available to you on those accounts.  

•  You have a large number of credit card accounts, including bankcard and retail accounts, and other credit lines, with balances exceeding 50% of their credit limits.

•  The total balances on your installment loans are relatively high compared to the original amount borrowed.

Our credit decision was based in part on information obtained from Equifax Credit Information Services. They supplied information, but had no part in our decision and will be unable to answer any questions regarding why we took this action. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act you have a right to know the information contained in your credit file at Equifax Credit information Services. You also have a right to a free copy of your report from them, if you request it no later than 60 days after you receive this notice. In addition, if you find that any information contained in the report you receive is inaccurate or incomplete, you have the right to dispute the matter with them.

Equifax Credit Information Services  
P.O. Box 740241  
Atlanta, GA 30374  
1-800-685-1111 (touch tone option #1)

If you would like to contact us please write to us at P.O. Box 7092, Bridgeport, CT 06601 or call us at (203) 338-2700, 8:00 a.m. through 12:00 midnight ET, Monday through Friday.

*If you request your billing date to be changed between March 2001 and May 2001, the date that your APRs increase may be earlier or later in May 2001 than stated in this letter.

The Federal Equal Credit Opportunity Act prohibits creditors from discriminating against credit applicants on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, marital status, age (provided that the applicant has the capacity to enter into a binding contract); because all or part of the applicant’s income derives from any public assistance program; or because the applicant has in good faith exercised any right under the Consumer Credit Protection Act. The Federal Agency that administers compliance with this law is the FDLC, 15 Braintree Hill

Office Park, Braintree, MA 02184.

        I realized that I was about to totally destroy my once impeccable credit, but I decided that the credit ratings could go down the tubes in favor of my attempting some sane manner of surviving.  The one piece of property that I wanted to be sure was totally protected was my San Damiano.  During the first weeks of May, I executed a rather hefty mortgage to my sister so that any would-be creditors would have to stand in a long line should they attempt to fiscally encumber my home.  This was just sort of a housecleaning measure, a belated followed-up to my initial intentions of having San Damiano in my sister’s name in the event of any untimely death.  Considering that suicidal ideations continually plague my thoughts, it was an appropriate step to take in any case.  I had also taken similar legal steps to protect my half-interest in those apartments that I already shared with my sister.  The idea of having no future credit at that time was rather comforting for me since it would definitely stop me from getting in any deeper.  The night of the day that I filed all my papers at the county clerk’s office was actually the first night that I really had any good sleep in too many years.  
          I could have possibly avoided these financial circumstance had I simply followed the repeated advise of so many concerned individual suggesting that I go onto SSI disability.  In my recent attempts to find love on the web through an HIV/AIDS network, I met so many other men who had taken advantage of their disability entitlements and most of them were receiving somewhere around a thousand dollars a month.  Had I taken advantage of the program, I would have probably avoided the financial disaster.  There were two governing factors that prevented me from seeking these benefits.  First was that stubborn pride of not being seen as being on welfare and secondly, I wasn’t sure that I had ever had a sufficient number of ¼‘s of employment since so much of my working life has been some form of self-employment that didn’t require any payment into Social Security Insurance program.  I even spent my first year at the University of New Mexico as a volunteer when I first began my psychotherapy practice.  Even after that first year I was only paid part-time despite the fact that I worked full-time and carried the largest caseload of any of the full-time therapists.  One of the reasons that I had left was that they had hired a full-time therapist and still wanted me to continue working full-time at that half rate.  It was their idea that I was rich and could afford continuing to give away my time.  I quit!  Little did I know just how I had been cheated for having the appearance of being rich?  As fate would have it I received unsolicited my Social Security Statement that was dated April, 16, 2001 and sure enough, it doesn’t appear that I worked enough years in which I had paid into my account.  According to their figures I have only earned 17 of the required 37 credits needed to qualify for disability.  Oh well, I guess my creditors will have to pick up the difference.  And according to the Statement, I would have to work at least another five years to actually qualify for any benefits.  I’m not sure that I could hold up under any amount of added stress at this time.  
     I would consider reentering the work force except that I am too overwhelmed with the idea of having to confront the prejudice against not only my health situation, but being in my late fifties.  I had had several bad experiences looking for employment in California when I was only in my forties.  And now ten years later and no current work history for over fifteen years, I am mentally paralyzed and mortified at the unlikely prospect of finding any meaningful work that would pay for those HIV/AIDS medications required just to remain alive for a few more years.  The prospect of reentering the work force after the unexpected success of the AIDS cocktail of medications became a problem with many infected individuals, but add to the complicated mix my advanced age and it engenders a feeling of utter hopelessness.  No wonder I have been so suicidal in these recent years.  
     The most damaging of all results of this whole damn state of affairs with the American Orchid Society is where it has left me with my once well-held fascination with and the love of growing orchids.  Nearly everyone that I now encounter so sympathetically and sincerely, but all too naïvely suggests, “Why don’t you just get back into your orchids and enjoy them?”  I was finally able to verbally express the peculiar emotional dilemma in which I had found myself so precariously placed.  I can best express it with the use of an analogy; I feel like that consummate Shakespearean actor who has achieved a enviable reputation as one of the best stage actors to ever perform and suddenly has been totally banned from ever performing on the London stage and Broadway as well.  Try and tell this great actor that he can still act, but that his next engagement will be in Paducah, Mississippi at the Barn Theatre.  He is fifty-eight years old and isn’t at all very excited about the prospects of creating a new career.  Get the point?  So I have turned my attentions to writing about this rather intriguing dilemma just to illustrate for others the total devastation that can be so unjustly wrought from the unchecked and malicious actions of an educated, medical doctor, Tulsa, Oklahoma, south Texas-trained professed Christian BIGOT.  Fortunately I’m no teenager that is likely to take his own life just to escape the unexplained oppressive feelings that one is apt to experience at the hands of a Bible-belt bigot; I have had those very thoughts and have had the good fortune of having a loving foundation that has kept my head just barely above water.  
      The betrayal of appearances isn’t just those indicatives on my part; the American Orchid Society made it a poignant point to demonstrate that they exercised no prejudices on their part.  The first thing that they did was to establish a non-discrimination policy that they published only after I had made such a stink.  They had survived for more than seventy-five years without a written policy, which a direct violation of federal law.  As Lee Cooke had once expressed it, “We don’t need a policy because we don’t have a problem.  After all, we have even had a gay president of the AOS in the past!”  As though that fact might inexplicitly excuse them from their egregious misconduct in the present!  Of course, this line of dim-witted reasoning has absolutely nothing to do with their covert sanctioning of the malicious violations of my privacy surrounding my HIV/AIDS status.  They also stood behind the fact that they had awarded me so many awards, which should clearly indicate that they exercised no prejudice.  Of course, the awards were actually given to my orchids that were supposed to have been judged anonymously; were they?  And once again, we are not addressing the actual cause for my legal actions against the AOS.  If there had been some form of physical injury, one could have had a clear ‘visible’ take on the matter; with the injury being to my psyche as a result of their flagrant violation of my privacy, there was simply no apparent ‘visible’ evidence of damages.  And they found themselves in a predicament because they couldn’t even apologize without inadvertently subjecting themselves to the legal liability that had been created by some of their own members.  They managed to keep the appearance of decent propriety by simply ignoring my accusations as being totally unfounded.  Off the record, there were certainly many who had conceded to my countless injuries.  
      The most profound betrayal of appearance was the Defense lawyers’ rather successful portrayal of Joe Walker as being the mean-spirited bastard himself that had intentionally created this entire fowl-smelling quagmire.  Of course, it is the prostitution of the truth for which defense lawyers are paid such exquisite fees and it became obvious from the very beginning that Shannon Pardon and her law firm were amongst the very best of legal prostitutes available for only thirty pieces of tarnished silver.  Shannon lied upon lie and so intentionally distorted the truth, and to add even further insult to injury her legal pimps even employed a prostitute of a psychologist to “professionally” declare that I was the unbalanced party in the situation and that my feigned suffering was more aptly due to an “open and unsatisfying sexual relationship” with my domestic partner coupled with an enormously “over-inflated ego.”  These pimps and prostitutes even went so far as to solicit damaging fabrications from those who had once been considered friends.  Of course, these weak-ass bastards were willing victims of deception considering that they had been shrewdly courted by the AOS.  I guess you could add that they were all consummate prostitutes in their own rights.  In fact, one of them, Carl Siegler actually took money.  Loyalty and integrity is too easily sold to the highest bidder.   And the worst part of it all, and so maliciously intended, was the contrived appearance that Joe Walker must have been the very one in the wrong since so many of his once good ‘friends’ so eagerly took sides against his position.  Oh, were there to be no more Judas-type individuals ever born to this already too-terribly corrupt world that we all have to share!  
      The deception of appearances was part and partial of some of those ex-friends Defense witnesses.  My character was certainly called into play, but I didn’t play that game as the Plaintiff.  For the record, I first met Ray Gabaldon while he was still involved with his male-lover.  Ray would be working in Nevada for the week and returning to Albuquerque often on Thursday nights to spend with his lover and then report home to his wife and two daughters Friday night or Saturday morning as though he had only just returned from Nevada.  When he had become involved in the AOS student-judging program, he sometimes made his appearance at monthly judgings with his wife in tow.  What a hypocrite!  As for Carl Siegler, he had a fascination with oriental women and for the longest time maintained a sexual relationship with a married Asian woman.  I never held any bad judgments for either of these men, but after all that I had so generously contributed to their own situations, I was taken back by their blatant disloyalty.  The very worst part of their ugly demeanor was their own ingenious display of righteous indignation at what I was sincerely attempting to accomplish within the AOS.
      My own written words were constantly used to betray me, but to achieve that premeditated devious end those words had to be taken out of their original context.  Lee Cooke employed that very tactic when he covertly offered that infamous “anonymous” letter to the already feeble-minded Paul Bechtel to be read to the Judging Committee in Toronto.  That letter was no more than the calculated compilation of my own mean spirited words that were used only to describe the actions, behaviors and personal characteristics of those who had so maliciously attacked me.  “Sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never hurt me.”  Bullshit!  That had to have been serendipitously and thoughtlessly suggested by some terribly naïve idiot that has never had any legitimate emotional development.  I emotionally healthy individual experiences the full range of emotions; it is impossible to develop a full appreciation for the state of love without experiencing the opposite.  When you shut down your ability to experience either end of the spectrum, you run the serious risk of not experiencing true emotion at either extreme.  This is the reason so many individuals fail to ever really experience love to any true degree.  It was only recently that I once again proposed to the universe “Why me?”  Why am I experiencing such dire circumstance not only with the AOS but with my own personal situations surrounding my finances, and now that I going to actually live longer, a healthy romantic life?  It certainly wasn’t God’s voice, but the unquestionable idea entered my head, “The greater the Ying, the greater Yang.”  Just another interpretation of that forbidden fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil!  No one witnessed my ever eating that enriched fruit and there is certainly nothing different about my outward appearance that would indicate in any way that I had any actual knowledge of reality.  I guess it is only by the fruits of their labor that we actually come to know them and not by the possibly intentional deceptive appearance of wolves in the skins of slaughtered sheep.

     Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; …. I'm not convinced that in this present world this profound and well-intended idiom, probably given in some assurance of discovering the truth, is always applicable in an environment where truth itself seems such a rare and illusive commodity. The greed-fed prostituted Defense sought every bit of information about me that could only be employed to discredit not only my good character but to distract from the noble cause to which this whole case was dedicated. That enigmatic expression, "the best defense that money can buy" was most relevantly applied throughout this entire case. One of the most disgusting items for which the Defense must have employed either wire-tapping or surveillance in order to obtain the information was evidenced in the following action received by Mr. Romo April 12:

                                                                           By:               SPard--                     
                                                 Shannon A. Parden
                                                                                  Post Office Box 25467
                                                                                  Albuquerque, New Mexico 87125-5467
                                                                                  (505) 242-2177 - Telephone
                                                                                  (505) 242-7184 - Facsimile
                                                                                  Attorneys for Defendants Kramer, Schroeder, & AOS

         I was so disgusted with this obvious bit of dirty assault tactics on my good character.  This private matter that had absolutely nothing to do with the case at hand and was obviously employed to intimidate my position.  The gentleman that they refer to is a friend of long standing and who, for his own psychological/sexual and most private reasons does visit my home some three to four times a year (sometimes I don’t see this man for as much as a year).  John Howell and I have both been intrigued with this man's hit-and-run manner, which both of us agree appears much like the adolescent behavior of some naive boy scout.  The whole affair is a very private matter and I was most insulted that the prostitutional Defense would risk exposing this innocent man in the name of their depraved and perverted manner of defense.  Of course, I rightly denied their statement since there was a gross error in their over-calculation of the frequency of these intimate encounters with the "married man."  I chose to place this particular item at the head of this chapter even though its actual chronology is a little out of synch because it so dramatically demonstrates the Defense's malicious solicitation of facts that aren't at all relevant to the case.  My most private sexual behavior is of no valid excuse for the malicious discrimination and the abhorrent behavior of too many members of the American Orchid Society.  And the most relevant fact of all is that during this period of time that this “married man” was making his visits, there was no acts of infidelity on the parts of either John or myself since our actual relationship was no more than good friends that lived in the same home.  Because I wasn’t dating and making no attempts at forming a new relationship, this man was my only sexual contact and for those of you who wonder; yes, there was only the practice of safe sex.  The fact of the manner is that the relationship was so mild there was no need for condoms—if you get my point.  And any further explanation is absolutely none of your business.

April 4, 2000

Re- J. Lamah v. Kramer, et al.

Dear Mr. Romo:

As you are aware, defendants believe there are significant problems with plaintiff's case against these defendants.  First, Kramer and Thompson have pending motions to dismiss this case due to lack of personal jurisdiction.  Based upon plaintiff's testimony, I believe there is a high probability that the Court will grant these motions.  Additionally, based upon what die Court stated in its September, 1999 hearing, defendants plan to file a motion to dismiss the AOS for lack of personal jurisdiction.  We also believe there is a high probability that the Court will grant that motion.  Defendants have numerous pending dispositive, motions, and intend to file more dispositive motions on the merits of this case.  Again, defendants believe, there is a very high probability that the Court will find that there was no defamation.  Additionally, as plaintiff had told approximately a dozen people of Ms health condition prior to any purported disclosures by these defendants, we believe the Court will rule similarly on the invasion of privacy claims.  Plaintiff has already conceded the ADA claims; we believe the Court will find that any other purported claims of discrimination are barred by the exclusivity of the remedy of the ADA.

In regards to damages, plaintiff's expert reports are clearly speculative, which will be demonstrated by defendant's experts.  We believe that pursuant to a Daubert motion, the Court will preclude plaintiff's expert testimony.  Finally, various witnesses, including but not limited to Lee McAnena and Karl Siegler, will testify, in substance, that plaintiff specifically stated he had no intent to ever run an orchid business for profit.  Finally, we anticipate that Dr. Roll's testimony will minimize any purported emotional damages by plaintiff.

In summary, liability is questionable and damages are speculative, We believe that Judge Molzen will point these facts out to plaintiff at the settlement conference.  However, in an attempt to resolve this matter prior to such time, defendants hereby extend an offer of $17,500 to plaintiff, which offer is open up to and through the settlement conference of May 8, 2000.

  I look forward to hearing from you after you convey this offer to your client.

Shannon A. Parden

  April 4, 2000

Via Facsimile #555-1313 only  
Shannon Parden, Esq.  

Re: Lamah v. Kramer, et al.

Dear Ms. Parden:

Thank you for your two letters of this morning.  I am forwarding the settlement offer letter to Mr. Walker.  My sense, however, is that there is no need to be delaying or canceling anything based on the amount of Defendants' offer.  As to the other matters:

1.      I have requested that Mr. Werther make himself available at his office on April 19, 2000 at 9:00 a.m. Passover begins at sundown and this should allow us to wrap up the deposition before.  I have asked Mr. Werther to bill you directly for all his time associated with his deposition.

2.      We are checking with Dr. Koster's office.  I will ask Dr. Koster's office to bill you directly for any charges pertaining to his deposition.

3.      I am happy to enlarge the time for Defendant's to respond to discovery propunded by Plaintiff so long as we have until April 18, 2000 to serve any response briefs that are due to you.  I have been sidelined with other things and cannot make it by April 10th.  In addition, we will respond to Defendant's latest RFP by April 27, 2000.  If you need time beyond April 27, 2000 let me know.

4.      Can' I notice Mr. Lee Cooke for Monday, May 15, 2000 for his deposition at the AOS offices?

5.      The plaintiff and Mr. Foster will be present with me at Ms. McAnena's deposition tomorrow afternoon

I will arrive a few minutes early tomorrow afternoon to discuss any issues pertaining to the above.  I am out of pocket on other things the remainder of today.

I look forward to seeing you tomorrow afternoon.

     Anthony  Lawrence  Romo  
Anthony Lawrence Romo  
For the Firm

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT  
FOR THE DISTRICT OF NEW MEXICO

   
J. LAMAH, an anonymous  
individual living with  
HIV positive status,  
                                Plaintiff,  

                   v.                                NO. CIV 98-1403 BB/KBM

 JOHN KRAMER, M.D.,  
JEAN SCHRODER, MAX C.  
THOMPSON, Individually, and  
in their respective capacities  
as agents or employees of  
THE American Orchid Society,  
and THE American Orchid Society,  
a Not-For-Profit Corporation,  
                               Defendants.

PLAINTIFF’S OPPOSED MOTION TO FILE FIRST AMENDED COMPLAINT  
AND FOR EXPEDITED HEARING THEREON

                COMES NOW the Plaintiff, by and through his undersigned counsel, and moves the Court for leave to amend his Complaint in accordance with F.R.C.P. 15(a) by filing the First Amended Complaint attached to this motion as Exhibit A.  Plaintiff further respectfully requests expedited hearing of this motion.  As grounds for his motion, Plaintiff states as follows.

A.      American Orchid Society’s Motion For Judgment On The Pleadings On The Grounds The Applicable Statute of Limitations Has Run.

Impact of First Amended Complaint:  The First Amended Complaint renders this motion moot because the causes for which dismissal is sought have been dropped. 

B.  American Orchid Society’s and Kramer’s Motion For Judgment On The Pleadings Or, Alternatively For Partial Summary Judgment On Counts VIII, XIV, and XV. 

Impact of First Amended Complaint: The First Amended Complaint purges the Americans With Disabilities Act-based claims from Plaintiff’s cause of action and also purges any invasion of privacy claims based on the actions of John Kramer, M.D.  The First Amended Complaint also clarifies the intentional infliction of emotional distress claims and the negligence claim against the American Orchid Society.  The First Amended Complaint also helps to clear up what have led to Defendants’ misapprehension as to the factual basis for the negligence claim against the American Orchid Society.

C.       American Orchid Society’s And Schroder’s Motion For Judgment On The Pleadings Re Defamation Claims And Count XIII And For Partial Summary Judgment On Count IX And Related Part Of Count XIII.

Impact of First Amended Complaint:  In this motion, movants assert that Plaintiff has failed to delineate with sufficient specificity the defamatory acts against Plaintiff done by each of Defendant Schroder, Ms. Anita Aldrich, Ms. Lois Dauelsberg and Mr. Paul Bechtel.  The First Amended Complaint purges any notion of a defamation claim against Ms. Anita Aldrich and against Ms. Lois Dauelsberg.  The First Amended Complaint makes evident that the defamation claim against the American Orchid Society is based on the actions of Mr. Paul Bechtel under the doctrine of respondeat superior.  The First Amended Complaint specifies the factual basis for the defamation claim against Ms. Jean Schroder. 

D.  Defendants’ Motion For Judgment On The Pleadings Or, Alternatively, For Partial Summary Judgment On Claims For Breach Of Physician’s Duty of Confidentiality

Impact of First Amended Complaint:  The proposed form of First Amended Complaint renders this motion moot.

E.        Motion To Strike Affidavit Of Joseph Walker, Jr., Ph.D. Attached To (1) Plaintiff’s Response In Opposition To AOS’s Motion For Judgment On the Pleadings On The Grounds The Applicable Statute Of Limitations Has Run And (2) To Plaintiff’s Response In Opposition To AOS’s And Schroder’s Motion For Judgment On The Pleadings Re Defamation Claims And Count XIII And For Partial Summary Judgment On Count IX And Related Part of Count XIII (Filed pursuant To D.N.M.LR-Civ. 7.3(5) On 2/14/00.

Impact of First Amended Complaint:  The First Amended Complaint does not impact this rather curious motion except to the extent that it may serve to render portions of Mr. Walker’s affidavit not germane to the issues inherent in the proposed form of First Amended Complaint.

F.        Defendant Thompson’s Motion For Summary Judgment For Lack of Personal Jurisdiction.

Impact of First Amended Complaint:  The First Amended Complaint renders this motion moot.

G.       Defendant Kramer’s Motion For Summary Judgment For Lack Of Personal Jurisdiction.

Impact of First Amended Complaint:  The First Amended Complaint renders this motion moot.

24.                The interests of justice would be served by the filing of the First Amended Complaint.  

25.                Defendants do not concur in this motion.

26.                The proposed form of First Amended Complaint is attached to this motion as Exhibit A.

27.                A memorandum in support of the Motion is being served with this motion.

28.                Plaintiff respectfully requests an expedited hearing on this motion.

WHEREFORE, Plaintiff respectfully moves the Court to enter an Order permitting the Plaintiff to file the form of First Amended Complaint attached to this motion as Exhibit A.  Plaintiff further respectfully requests that the Court hear this motion on an expedited basis.

                                   Respectfully Submitted,  
                            ROMO & ASSOCIATES  
                            A Professional Corporation

                                                                By                                                            
                                                                    Anthony Lawrence Romo

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT  
FOR THE DISTRICT OF NEW MEXICO

J. LAMAH, an anonymous  
individual living with 
HIV positive status,  
                                Plaintiff,

vi.                              NO. CIV 98-1403 BB/KBM

JOHN KRAMER, M.D.,  
JEAN SCHRODER, MAX C.  
THOMPSON, Individually, and  
in their respective capacities  
as agents or employees of  
THE American Orchid Society,  
and THE American Orchid Society,  
a Not-For-Profit Corporation,

                                Defendants.

MEMORANDUM OF LAW IN SUPPORT OF  
PLAINTIFF’S OPPOSED MOTION TO FILE FIRST AMENDED COMPLAINT

                COMES NOW the Plaintiff, by and through his undersigned counsel, and submits this memorandum of law in support of his motion to the Court pursuant to F.R.C.P. 15(a) for leave to supplant his currently pending complaint with the form of First Amended Complaint attached as exhibit A to his Plaintiff’s Opposed Motion To File First Amended Complaint (hereinafter “Plaintiff’s Motion”).

                Leave to amend the Complaint is within the discretion of the trial court, Lange v. Cigna Individual Financial Services Co., 759 F.Supp. 764, 759 (Kan. 1991), and, in the words of F.R.C.P. 15(a), leave to amend “shall be freely given.”  The United States Supreme Court, in Foman v. Davis, 371 U.S. 178, 182, 83 S.Ct. 227, 230, 9 L.Ed. 2d 222 (1962), has indicated that the provision ‘leave shall be freely given’ is a “mandate…to be heeded.”  The facts and circumstances stated in Plaintiff’s Motion auger heavily for amendment inasmuch as amendment will advance judicial economy and efficiency and is in the interests of justice.

                “Generally, refusing leave to amend is only justified upon a showing of undue delay, bad faith, or undue prejudice to the opposing party.”  Childers v. Independent School District No. 1, 676 F.2d 1338, 1343 (10^th Cir. 1982).  Plaintiff’s Motion represents neither undue delay nor bad faith.  See Plaintiff’s Motion at paragraphs 8, 9 and 10.  Plaintiff’s Motion does not unduly prejudice Defendants.  See Plaintiff’s Motion at paragraphs 11, 16, 20, 21 and 22.

                The proposed First Amended Complaint is a reformulation of Plaintiff’s fundamental claims.  As further discussed in Plaintiff’s Motion the underlying facts and legal theories with regard to which the Defendants have had an opportunity to conduct discovery are unchanged.

     Indeed, in the instant case there are significant procedural benefits to Defendants in the filing of the proposed Amended Complaint in that extraneous material, relating to the dismissed individual Defendants and the to be dismissed Americans With Disabilities based cause, is absent.  In addition, the remaining causes of action, all of which are explicit or implicit in the pending Complaint, are organized and presented in a more coherent manner.  This will allow the claims to be examined in the discipline of motion practice such as the additional dispositive motions that Defendants have stated that they intend to file.

                “The principal factors which are considered in connection with the offer of an amendment are, first, whether it will cause delay and, second, whether the adversary will suffer prejudice.  Lateness does not of itself justify the denial of the amendment.”  R.E.B. Inc. v. Ralston Purina Co., 525 F.2d 749, 751 (10^th Cir, 1975).  As such the fact that there was a seventeen-month lapse between the filing of the pro se complaint and the motion seeking amendment does not militate against amendment.         

“The party opposing the amendment of the pleadings has the burden of showing prejudice.”  Beeck v. Aquaslide ‘N’ Dive Corp., 562 F.2d 537, 540 (8^th Cir. 1977).  Prejudice under Rule 15 “means undue difficulty in prosecuting [or defending] a lawsuit as a result of a change of tactics or theories on the part of the other party.”  Deakyne v. Commissioners of Lewes, 416 F.2d 290, 300 (3^rd Cir. 1969).  Notwithstanding the fact that the facts and theories upon which the proposed form of First Amended Complaint rests are the same as those underlying the pro se complaint, to ensure that Defendants are not prejudiced by amendment, Plaintiff will also stipulate to allowing Defendants to conduct discovery through and including August 31, 2000.

CONCLUSION

                The Court’s granting the Plaintiff leave to amend is in the interests of all of the parties.  Indeed, even the Defendants have lamented the difficulty of coping with the unmanageable structure of the pending pro se complaint.  (e.g. “What is clear, however, is that plaintiff has heaped all his claims into a morass, so that one claim is indistinguishable from another, in his attempt to squeeze his stale claims into viable causes of action.  This is simply not a basis for stating a claim under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, federal law, or New Mexico law.”  AOS’s Reply To Plaintiff’s Response In Opposition To AOS’s Motion For Judgment On The Pleadings On The Grounds The Applicable Statute Of Limitations Has Run, page 2, paragraph 2).

                For the reasons stated in Plaintiff’s Motion and this memorandum, Plaintiff respectfully requests that the Court grant his request to file the form of First Amended Complaint that is attached as Exhibit A to Plaintiff’s Motion.

                                                        Respectfully Submitted,  
                                                             ROMO & ASSOCIATES
                                                             A Professional Corporation  

                                                          By                                                                            
                                                              Anthony Lawrence Romo  
                                                              Post Office Box 4729  
                                                              Albuquerque, NM  87196-4729  
                                                              (505) 766-9155

                                                                                Attorneys for Plaintiff       

The undersigned hereby certifies that he caused  
a copy of the foregoing Memorandum  
of Law In Support Of Plaintiff’s Opposed  
Motion To File First Amended Complaint to be  
served by hand delivery upon:

Shannon A. Parden, Esq.  etc.

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF NEW MEXICO

JOSEPH L. WALKER, JR., Ph.D.,  
                                           Plaintiff,  
v.                                                                             NO. CIV. 98-1403 BB/KBM

JEAN SCHRODER, individually,  
the AMERICAN ORCHID SOCIETY,  
a Not-For-Profit Corporation, and  
John Doe, the author of the Anonymous Letter,  
                                          Defendants.

FIRST AMENDED COMPLAINT FOR DAMAGES FOR
INTENTIONAL AND TORTIOUS BREACH OF CONTRACT,  
DEFAMATION, INVASION OF PRIVACY,
INTENTIONAL INFLICTION OF EMOTIONAL DISTRESS,  
NEGLIGENT SUPERVISION AND PRIMA FACIE TORT

Jurisdiction

1.       Federal Jurisdiction is based on diversity of citizenship pursuant to 28 U.S.C. Section 1332.

2.       Plaintiff Joseph L. Walker, Jr., Ph.D. (hereinafter “Mr. Walker”) is, and at all times pertinent to this cause of action was, a citizen of the State of New Mexico.

3.       Defendant Jean Schroder (hereinafter “Ms. Schroder”) is, and at all times pertinent to this cause of action was, a resident of the City of Salt Lake City, County of Salt Lake, and a citizen of the State of Utah.

4.       Ms. Schroder committed a tort against Mr. Walker, a citizen of the State of New Mexico.  Ms. Schroder is subject to the jurisdiction of this Court.

5.       Defendant the American Orchid Society is a Not-For-Profit Corporation incorporated under the laws of the State of New York (hereinafter “the American Orchid Society”).

6.       The American Orchid Society has availed itself of the protection of the laws of the State of New Mexico by, without limitation:

A.      maintaining a web site through which it solicits memberships from citizens of New Mexico;

B.      advertising products in New Mexico;

C.      soliciting business in New Mexico;

D.      participating in trade shows (orchid shows) conducted in New Mexico;

E.       publishing photographs of orchids grown by citizens of New Mexico;

F.       engaging in a nationwide sales or distribution scheme that includes New Mexico;

G.      purposefully causing products to be shipped to New Mexico; and

H.      entering into contracts with citizens of New Mexico.

7.       At all times pertinent to this cause of action, the contacts between the American Orchid Society and the State of New Mexico were continuous and systematic.  The contacts place the American Orchid Society within the general jurisdiction of this Court.  This Court has personal jurisdiction over the American Orchid Society.

8.       The American Orchid Society enjoys tax-exempt status by virtue of its status a 501 ( c ) (3) organization under the Internal Revenue Code.

9.       Defendant John Doe, the author of the Anonymous Letter, is named as a Defendant fictitiously as, upon information and belief, he or she is a joint tortfeasor or otherwise responsible for Plaintiff’s damages.  Defendant, the American Orchid Society has failed and refused to reveal of the identity of John Doe.  Mr. Walker will request leave to amend this Complaint as to John Doe at the time that the American Orchid Society reveals the true identity of John Doe.

10.    John Doe committed a tort against Mr. Walker, a citizen of the State of New Mexico.  John Doe is subject to the jurisdiction of this Court.

11.    The matters in controversy between Mr. Walker and Ms. Schroder exceed, exclusive of costs and interest, the sum of seventy-five thousand dollars ($75,000.00).

12.    The matters in controversy between Mr. Walker and The American Orchid Society exceed, exclusive of costs and interest, the sum of seventy-five thousand dollars ($75,000.00).

13.    The matters in controversy between Mr. Walker and John Doe exceed, exclusive of costs and interest, the sum of seventy-five thousand dollars ($75,000.00).

General Allegations

14.    Mr. Walker started growing orchids in 1952 at the age of ten.

15.    By the 1960s the American Orchid Society had an established presence in New Mexico through its sanctioning of an affiliated society named the New Mexico Orchid Society.  As an affiliated society, a minimum of twenty-five percent (25%) of the members of the New Mexico Orchid Society must be members of the American Orchid Society.

16.    On October 5, 1973, Mrs. William “Peg” O’Neill of Albuquerque, New Mexico became an American Orchid Society accredited judge.  Ms. O’Neill later became a Vice-President of the American Orchid Society.

17.    On April 16, 1982, the Trustees of the American Orchid Society held their biannual meeting at the Classic Hotel in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

18.    In April of 1982, the Southwest Regional Orchid Growers Association held an orchid show in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  Accredited judges of the American Orchid Society judged the show.

19.    In the summer of 1983, Mr. Walker bought property in Cedar Crest, New Mexico that he named San Damiano.  It is on this property that Mr. Walker established his orchid operation.

20.    In the 1980s the American Orchid Society expanded its presence in New Mexico through its sanctioning of another affiliated society, the Escalante Orchid Society.  The Escalante Orchid Society primarily served the New Mexico counties of Santa Fe and Los Alamos.  For affiliated societies a minimum of twenty-five percent (25%) of each Society must be members of the American Orchid Society.

21.    During 1986, Mr. Walker tested positive for human immunodeficiency virus (hereinafter “HIV”).

22.    Believing that he had no more than three or four years of life remaining as a result of testing positive for HIV, Mr. Walker decided to live those three or four years involved in an activity that would be meaningful to him, the growing of orchids.

23.    In 1988, Mr. Walker turned a room next to the kitchen of his house into a greenhouse for the growing of orchids.

24.    In 1989, Mr. Walker met a woman by the name of Diann O’Neill who was a member of the American Orchid Society (hereinafter “Ms. O’Neill”).  Ms. O’Neill is the daughter-in-law of the late Mrs. William “Peg” O’Neill.

25.    In 1991, Mr. Walker began hybridizing orchids.  It normally takes three to six years before such hybridized plants are suitable for sale to the public.

26.    Mr. Walker has been a member of the American Orchid Society since at least 1991.

27.    Ms. O’Neill and Mr. Walker began traveling to events commonly referred to as “orchid shows.”  Ms. O’Neill and Mr. Walker typically presented a display at each of the orchid shows that they attended.

28.    In addition to the time associated with traveling to and from an orchid show, it may take two to three hours to set up the physical display and five to twelve hours to arrange the plants in the display, depending on how many plants are being presented.

29.    The American Orchid Society’s system of judging has been developed over the course of sixty-five years to grant recognition to new and superior forms of orchid species and improved forms of orchid hybrids.

30.    The American Orchid Society has established twenty-one (21) judging committees and twenty-seven (27) judging centers and supplemental centers in furtherance of the American Orchid Society’s system of judging.

31.    The Handbook on Judging and Exhibition governs the American Orchid Society system of judging.  Section 1.1 of the Handbook, titled Introduction, states, “Part I of this Handbook on Judging and Exhibition outlines the rules for AOS judging whether conducted at judging centers established in various parts of the United States or at shows held in this country, or under certain limitations, abroad.  The rules herein are firm and are to be followed in all AOS judging activity and in the administration of the judging system.”

32.    In May of 1991, Mr. Bill Hayward, an American Orchid Society accredited judge and Chairman of the Rocky Mountain Regional Center, stated to Mr. Walker and others, “I’m the one who helped clean up the gay mess in Tulsa, Oklahoma.”  Mr. Walker is a homosexual.

33.    On November 8, 1991, after completing an application and being interviewed, Mr. Walker was admitted as an American Orchid Society student judge with the Rocky Mountain Regional Center.  Ms. O’Neill was also admitted as a student judge with the Rocky Mountain Regional Center. 

34.    From the start, Mr. Walker and Ms. O’Neill encountered resistance from Ms. Lois Dauelsberg (hereinafter “Ms. Dauelsberg”).  Ms. Dauelsberg is an American Orchid Society accredited judge and a member of the Escalante Orchid Society.

35.    Upon information and belief, at a 1992 biannual meeting of the Trustees of the American Orchid Society held in Boston, Massachusetts, Ms. Dauelsberg stated to American Orchid Society accredited judges and student judges that Ms. O’Neill had had to leave New Mexico and move to Texas because she had mishandled funds belonging to the New Mexico Orchid Society.  This statement was untrue.

36.    On November 24, 1992, at the suggestion of Mr. Bill Hayward, Chairman of the Rocky Mountain Judging Center, Mr. Walker requested a leave of absence from the Rocky Mountain Regional Center.  On December 12, 1992, Mr. Walker’s American Orchid Society student judge status with the Rocky Mountain Regional Center was terminated by the Center.

37.    In 1992, Mr. Walker, having decided that he would like to go into the business of selling orchids, built a freestanding greenhouse on his property.

38.    On April 18 and 19, 1992, the New Mexico Orchid Society held an orchid show at the Albuquerque Garden Center.  This orchid show was sanctioned by the American Orchid Society and judged by accredited judges of the American Orchid Society.

39.    During 1992, Mr. Walker won the following AOS Show Awards at orchid shows he attended:  Houston Orchid Society, ODC Show Trophy, Best Group; New Mexico Orchid Society, AOS Show Trophy, ODC Show Trophy, Best Group, Best Flower, Best Grown; Kansas Orchid Society, AOS Show Trophy, ODC Show Trophy, Best Group, Best Flower (3), Best Grown (3); Oklahoma Orchid Society, AOS Show Trophy, ODC Show Trophy, Best Group, Best Grown (3), and Best Flower.

40.    During 1992 there were exchanges of correspondence between Mr. Walker and agents or officials of the American Orchid Society on at least the following dates: November 13, 1992, November 24, 1992, and November 24, 1992.  The exchanges pertained to Mr. Walker’s concerns as to activities within the American Orchid Society, including the conduct of American Orchid Society accredited judges.

41.    On February 10, 1993, Mr. Walker registered his business, San Damiano Orchids, with the Taxation and Revenue Department of the State of New Mexico as a sole proprietorship.  Mr. Walker anticipated at the time that the business would consist primarily of mail order sales of orchids.

42.    In 1993, Mr. Walker registered with the New Mexico agricultural authorities and had his greenhouses inspected.

43.    On March 4, 1993, Mr. Walker prepared an application seeking to become an American Orchid Society student judge in the Great Plains Judging Center.

44.    On April 9 through 11, 1993, the New Mexico Orchid Society held an orchid show at the Albuquerque Garden Center.  This orchid show was sanctioned by the American Orchid Society and judged by accredited judges of the American Orchid Society.

45.    On June 19, 1993, Mr. Walker’s application to become an American Orchid Society student judge was accepted by the Great Plains Judging Center.

46.    During 1993, Mr. Walker’s orchid plants won sixteen (16) American Orchid Society awards.

47.    During 1993, Mr. Walker won the following American Orchid Society Show Awards at orchid shows he attended: Alamo Orchid Society [San Antonio, Texas], AOS Show Trophy, Best Group; Best Grown, Best Flower, Best Mexican Species; Tulsa Orchid Society, AOS Show Trophy, ODC Show Trophy, Best Grown, Best Flower; New Mexico Orchid Society, AOS Show Trophy, ODC Show Trophy, Best Group, Best Grown, Best Flower (2); Heart of Texas [Austin, Texas], AOS Show Trophy, ODC Show Trophy, Best Display, Best Grown (5), Best Flower; Oklahoma Orchid Society, AOS Show Trophy, Oklahoma Orchid Society Special Award, Best Group, Best Flower (4), and Best Grown (2).

48.    Upon information and belief, in October of 1993, the American Orchid Society refused to hold a biannual meeting of the Trustees of the American Orchid Society because ‘a homosexual was running the board’ of the New Mexico Orchid Society (Mr. Walker).

49.    On December 17, 1993, Mr. Walker resigned as a student judge with the Great Plains Judging Center because of the actions and failures to act of agents of the American Orchid Society, including, without limitation, the failure to deal with the fact that Mr. Walker was suffering at the hands of agents and officials of the American Orchid Society.  Mr. Walker’s resignation was accepted in January of 1994.

50.    During 1993 there were exchanges of correspondence between Mr. Walker and agents or officials of the American Orchid Society on at least the following dates: January 2, 1993, January 25, 1993, January 26, 1993, November 27, 1993, and December 17, 1993.  The exchanges pertained to Mr. Walker’s concerns as to activities within the American Orchid Society including the conduct of certain of the American Orchid Society accredited judges.

51.    In 1994, Mr. Walker built a second greenhouse and dismantled the greenhouse in his residence.

52.    During 1994, Mr. Walker’s orchid plants won six (6) American Orchid Society Awards.

53.    During this period, Mr. Walker began to compile books and publications relating to orchids that came to comprise the San Damiano library consisting of approximately two hundred (200) volumes.

54.    During the 1990s the American Orchid Society further expanded its presence in New Mexico by sanctioning two more affiliated societies, Zia Orchid Growers and the Las Cruces Orchid Society.  Mr. Walker is a founding member of Zia Orchid Growers.  A minimum of twenty-five percent (25%) of an affiliated society must be members of the American Orchid Society.

55.    During 1994 there were exchanges of correspondence between Mr. Walker and agents or officials of the American Orchid Society on at least the following dates: January 9, 1994, January 26, 1994, January 26, 1994, August 19, 1994, September 19, 1994, September 20, 1994, October 4, 1994, and November 22, 1994.  The exchanges pertained to Mr. Walker’s concerns as to activities with the American Orchid Society including the conduct of certain American Orchid Society accredited judges.

56.    In late 1995, Mr. Walker learned that he had acquired immune disorder syndrome (hereinafter “AIDS”).  Mr. Walker’s physician characterized Mr. Walker’s condition as “full blown AIDS”.

57.    During 1995, Mr. Walker’s orchid plants won four (4) American Orchid Society Awards.

58.    In the April 1995 issue of the American Orchid Society Bulletin OrchidMania, a nonprofit California corporation, published a “Thank You” for those who were instrumental in raising over $30,000 for seven AIDS relief organizations in the United States, Asia and Latin America.

59.    Upon information and belief, the American Orchid Society received complaints about its publication of the OrchidMania announcement because it pertained to AIDS.  The American Orchid Society capitulated to these complaints from American Orchid Society members by refusing to publish any paid advertisements referring to OrchidMania AIDS fundraising activities in American Orchid Society publications.

60.    The lack of coverage of OrchidMania AIDS fundraising activities persisted from the 1995 publication through the date of the filing of this cause of action.

61.    In 2000, the American Orchid Society Web site’s lead article pertained to OrchidMania.

62.    In January of 1996, Mr. Walker’s physician, Dr. Fred Koster, prevailed upon Mr. Walker to begin a multi-drug treatment regimen called “the Cocktail”, which had recently been approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

63.    Mr. Walker responded favorably to the Cocktail regimen and could now look forward to living considerably longer than he ever hoped since being diagnosed HIV positive in 1986.

64.    Mr. Walker determined to continue to direct his energies, the time he had remaining and his focus in life to the orchid business.

65.    In 1996, Mr. Walker drove to San Antonio, Texas to meet with Ms. Anita Aldrich, the Chairman of the American Orchid Society Committee on Judging and immediately thereafter drove to Tulsa, Oklahoma, to meet with Dr. John Kramer, the Chairman of the Great Plains Judging Center, to discuss his concerns and seek each of their assistance, only to be rebuffed by these American Orchid Society officials.

66.    Notwithstanding the conduct of these American Orchid Society officials, Mr. Walker requested that he be re-admitted as an American Orchid Society student judge of the Great Plains Judging Center, by letter dated August 16, 1996.

67.    In November of 1996, Mr. Walker made a presentation at the biannual meeting of the Trustees of the American Orchid Society held in Baltimore, Maryland.  At the November 1996 business meeting of the Great Plains Judging Center, Mr. Walker was reinstated as a student judge of the Great Plains Judging Center.

68.    During 1996, Mr. Walker’s orchid plants won eleven (11) American Orchid Society Awards.

69.    During 1996 there were exchanges of correspondence between Mr. Walker and agents or officials of the American Orchid Society on at least the following dates: August 6, 1996, August 14, 1996, August 16, 1996, September 10, 1996, September 23, 1996, October 1, 1996 (Peter R. Furniss), October 1, 1996 (Roger A. Brown), October 2, 1996, October 3, 1996, October 9, 1996, October 11, 1996, October 21, 1996, October 23, 1996, November 1, 1996, December 9, 1996 and December 27, 1996.  The exchanges pertained to Mr. Walker’s concerns as to the activities within the American Orchid Society, including the conduct of certain American Orchid Society accredited judges.

70.    In January of 1997, the American Orchid Society published a statement of nondiscrimination policy for the first time in the organization’s history.  Later, Lee S. Cooke, the Executive Director of the American Orchid Society, told Mr. Walker that attorneys had been retained in response to Mr. Walker’s statements of concern and they had admonished the American Orchid Society for its failure to adopt a non-discrimination policy.

71.    On October 17, 1997, the accredited judges of the Great Plains Judging Center voted to elevate Mr. Walker from American Orchid Society student judge status to probationary judge status.