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Robert Dirkse (petitioner) was raised in a small farming
community in Wisconsin. During his teenage years, petitioner
worked on his grandfather’s farm, assisting his family in planting
and growing vegetables and flowers.
For most of his professional career, petitioner was employed
as a public school teacher, at the high-school level, teaching
biology, chemistry, and general science courses. Petitioner
subsequently became a school principal, at the elementary-school
level, and during the years in issue, he was a supervisor at the
Adult School.
Prior to and during the years at issue, Joyce Dirkse (Mrs.
Dirkse) was employed as a registered nurse.
Petitioners’ Apiary Activities
In the early 1980's, petitioner became interested in
beekeeping as a consequence of teaching a science class for gifted
students. In 1981, petitioners acquired a swarm of bees from the
father of one of petitioner’s students and purchased apiary
(beekeeping) equipment and clothing. Petitioners thereafter joined
the local beekeeping society.
Initially, petitioners raised their bees in hives located on
someone else’s property. In 1983, petitioners acquired a 10-acre
tract of land in Corona, California (the Corona property), where
they moved their beehives and worked them. (Corona is
approximately 50 miles from Cerritos where petitioners then
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Last modified: May 25, 2011