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payments pursuant to N.C. Gen. Stat. sec. 166-665 be made to the
consumer. The legislature likely anticipated that the payments
pursuant to N.C. Gen. Stat. sec. 166-665 would provide the
consumer a modicum of relief in circumstances where the amounts
involved would not justify the cost of a civil action for
damages.
Respondent attempted to discredit Stevens using the
fertilizer inspectors manual (inspectors manual) published by the
Association of American Plant Food Control Officials (AAPFCO).
North Carolina and Virginia are members of AAPFCO. Stevens
edited the inspectors manual, and he authored a large portion of
it. The inspectors manual instructs inspectors to treat the
official fertilizer samples as evidence in a crime. Respondent
seems to argue that since the inspectors are told to treat the
fertilizer samples as evidence in a crime, then the fertilizer
inspectors must be investigating a crime. Respondent reasons
that the payments at issue are punishment for a criminal act.
Respondent overlooks the several categories of conduct dealt with
in the fertilizer laws. Some acts are punishable as
misdemeanors. See N.C. Gen. Stat. sec. 106-668. Thus,
instructing the fertilizer inspectors to treat every sample as
evidence in a crime seems logical since, at the time the sample
is taken, the inspector is unaware of which, if any, provision of
the fertilizer law has been violated.
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