Few OC Weekly news subjects–not disgraced, felonious,
adulterous ex-sheriff Mike Carona, not pedophile-protector Diocese of
Orange Bishop Tod D. Brown, not even the decrepit Know Nothing Barbara
Coe–have publicly acted more petulantly over negative news coverage
than David Marder. You might remember him from our February profile on the
BackyardBKeepers, ladies who rescue feral bees rather than exterminate
them like Marder, head of Bee Busters. We let Marder have his say on
people like the BKeepers (who now go by the name BeeCause) and quoted
press releases and comments in which he painted bee rescuers as
dangerous amateurs with no comment on our end. We even interviewed bee experts who ultimately
sided more with Marder than BeeCause and left it at that. Really, the only truly negative
point about Marder and his Bee Busters we noted in the story is his
company's blatant rip-off of all things Ghostbusters (at left), from the brown uniforms
to their logo and the catchphrase, “Who You Gonna Call?”
Didn't matter. The day of the story's publication, Marder left a whiny
message on my voice mail where he essentially said never to contact him
again if I ever needed a quote for a bee story. Fine by me, but his fans promptly began
to trash the BeeCause ladies and I (amazingly, “Hive and Seek” has the most
comments of any news story in the Weekly's young online history).
Marder followed up a couple of weeks later with a Letter to the Editor accusing me of “an obvious bias not in keeping with the traditionally accepted standards of journalistic objectivity.” What didn't make the final cut
was his citation of an article alleging my bias
against pedo-priests as proof that I'm somehow not a fair journalist
(nice to side with people who condone child rape there, David!).
Months
later, the head Bee Buster still can't get over the story. And it gets funnier from here after the jump!!!
]
A couple of days ago, Marder sent the following email to Weekly editor
Ted Kissell and meself in which he got Ted's email wrong and couldn't
even spell his own name correctly:
Messrs Kissel N Arellano,
You may recall that Mr Arellano wrote an article about saving bees a
few months ago. Shortly after that I had emailed Dr Jerry Hayes, one
of the foremost authorities on beekeeping in the nation, regarding the
article, and in the most recent issue of the American Bee Journal he
published his response. As this is regarding your article and
published in a major publication I thought you'd be interested. (It's
the “Fifth Estate” Q N A that starts in the far right of p533 and
continues onto the following page)
David Mardet
Bee Busters
He attached PDFs of the letter, in which Marder played the wide-eyed
innocent by claiming I “proceeded to demonize him” in my feature. Um,
the only demonic point in the article was when Marder compared rescued bees to
“a flying rattlesnake,” truly one of the most unintentionally funny
lines I've heard in my career. But Marder was in friendly
confines in the Bee Journal, and Hayes went on to state I had
“preconceived ideas going into a story” and that my piece “certainly
isn't going to win a Pulitzer.”
Good for Marder to hear what he wants! But so funny that, months after
he put the proverbial foot in his mouth, Marder is still seeking every and
all venues to boost his bruised ego. He's so desperate to degrade those who don't worship him that Marder even left a comment in my original story, a month and a half after the last comment left, boasting about his Bee Journal letter and calling the BeeCause ladies “opportunistic quacks trying to make a fast buck off misperception.”
Tee hee! Never had anything against Marder, but his obsession puts him on my radar among the other Hilarious Haters of the county. Best of all, David? I still get about an email a week from people
interested in getting their feral bees saved by BeeCause or looking some of
their yummy, lavendar-spiked honey. Sucks for your buzzzzzzzzzzziness, eh?
