Summer 2016

SUMMER 2016
INSIDER
Accident Attorneys,
Advertising, &
Accountability
WHAT’S INSIDE | THIS ISSUE
NIKKI KNOTTS
SUMMER READING
BULBINE FRUTESCENS

Summer Reading
POCKET ATLAS OF REMOTE ISLANDS
By Judith Schalansky
With summer now in full swing,
many people are likely to find themselves
stretched out under a beach
umbrella leaving the cares of work
far behind for a spell. This little
book is the perfect companion
on a lazy summer
afternoon, and
it even appears to
be bound with the
beach in mind because
the cover is
weather resistant.
The subtitle of the
book is Fifty Islands
I Have Not
Visited and Never
Will.
The fifty islands
covered in the
book each get four
pages devoted to
them; the first twopage
spread contains a
map of the island and a spare
serving of vital statistics about the
island—population, surface area,
proximity to other land masses, etc.
The second two-page spread is an
impressionistic story about something
that happened on the island.
Each story is the adult equivalent of
the childhood experience of closing
one’s eyes, reaching into a goodie
bag and drawing out a trinket.
There is the uninhabited
island with such a huge
penguin colony that the
curious explorer, wandering
away from his party
never returns from; there
I another island that
plays host to WWII era
atomic tests; yet another
tells a story of a
boy from France who
has recurring dreams in
a language that turns out
to be spoken in a south
pacific island called Rapa
Iti. Using about the same
number of words as this book
review, the author gives us a
moment in the life of each of these
islands, leaving the reader with
a satisfying whiff of what makes
each island unique.
“Under capitalism, man exploits man.
Under communism, its just the opposite.”
—John Kenneth Galbraith
2

No Shortage of Things to
Write About
If you’ve ever had to write a
column or any kind of “letter from
the Chairman” kind of report on a
regular basis, then you will know
that sometimes it takes a little
doing to come up with something
interesting to write about. It’s not
that my life isn’t interesting, it’s just
that sitting down to write about it
can be a challenge.
But this issue, we have a lot of really
exciting news to report on.
By far the most exciting thing is the
preparations taking place for our
new nursery facility which we hope
to be ready to move into before the
end of the year.
The new location is on the other
side of the interstate from where
we are now and will offer us increased
capacity in both our plants
and our office space. Construction
has begun on a metal office building
as well as the drainage and
irrigation for our planter beds. Our
next issue will feature much more
information and photographs as
we get closer to the big move.
This is something that has been in
the works
for some
time now.
Thanks to our great clients like
you, we’ve been steadily growing
and adding capacity to the point
that our current facility is getting
pretty crowded.
As we prepare to make this move
happen, our marketing and finance
director Chad Stewart has been
making important changes to the
way that we present ourselves.
We have fine-tuned our logo and
other aspects of our marketing.
You’ll no doubt see that reflected
in the new look of this newsletter.
Growth in a business is complicated.
Part of us all wants to
soar and continue to achieve the
success we work hard for, but
another part of us wishes we
could keep things just the way
they are. The last thing we want
to do is to forget where we came
from or the to get all “corporate”
as we grow so our customers who
have supported us for many years
no longer even recognize us, and
you have my personal pledge that
that will never happen. We’re still
the same guys you can talk to on
the phone and help you solve your
plant problems.
Until next time,
Zack Kirsch
General Manager
386 754-0161
sales@gsnursery.com
3

Lawyers on Billboards
Everywhere you drive in Florida,
you are liable to see billboard
advertising for a certain type
of attorney who is interested in
representing you in a personal
injury lawsuit. The law firms that
specialize in this type of practice
tend to be led by a celebrity attorney
who is the public persona
of the firm, with household
names such as John Morgan,
Eddie Farah, Steven A. Bagen,
and Alexander Shunnarah.
The most high-profile of these
law firms cast an ever wider net
in their quest to attract more
cases. For example, John Morgan’s
firm, Morgan & Morgan, is
based in Orlando but has offices
in cities throughout Florida. He
recently purchased billboard advertising
in Lake City, indicating
a move into smaller markets to
attract even more customers.
Not content to limit his practice
to the state of Florida, the
Morgan & Morgan firm now has
offices in 8 other states. Similarly,
Alexander Shunnarah’s law
office is based in Birmingham,
Alabama, but in 2015, Shunnarah
billboards started popping up
in huge quantities all across the
state of Florida.
The first question one might ask
is: how does the math work for
such a massive billboard ad buy
for a company that isn’t even licensed
to practice law in the state
of Florida? Apparently, the math
works very well, considering the
payday for these firms when cases
are won or settled. Cases taken on
contingency—that is, they only get
paid if they win—typically charge
fees of 33 to 40 percent of the proceeds
if they prevail. They may not
win every case, but it doesn’t take
too many positive outcomes to
pay for billboards when the award
is hundreds of thousands or even
millions of dollars.
But wait—in the paragraph above,
it said that Shunnarah’s firm
isn’t licensed to litigate cases in
Florida. Can that be true? Yes, it’s
true, and if you look carefully at
his billboards, they have language
right on the billboard admitting the
fact and stating that cases that
come to them will be handled by
another law firm. The language
on the billboards list a different
participating firm depending on
the area of Florida where the sign
is posted.
It used to be illegal to advertise
legal services. The sentiment
was that a lawyer should earn his
reputation by per-
4

formance and word of mouth; that
paying to advertise was too unseemly
for a professional barrister.
This was challenged by a law firm
in a 1977 Supreme Court case that
ruled that states could not prohibit
lawyers and other professionals
from advertising their services.
Since then, the debate over the
limits of propriety has waged hot
within the profession. While many
accident attorneys try to take a
high road and portray themselves
as fighting for vulnerable victims,
other billboards can be hard to
distinguish from Florida Lotto
billboards that advertise the size
of this week’s jackpot. “Dan got
me $3.4 MILLION,” beams the
lady in the billboard, giving the
impression that Dan Newlin, the
attorney responsible for the ad, is
either an effective litigator or Santa
Claus in disguise. In either case,
his marketing strategy doesn’t win
him many friends among his colleagues.
A position
paper
on
advertising
published by the American Bar
Association says the following:
(W)hen advertising though not
false, misleading or deceptive
degenerates into undignified and
unprofessional presentations, the
public is not served, the lawyer
who advertised does not benefit
and the image of the judicial system
may be harmed.
Lawyers should consider that the
use of inappropriately dramatic
music, unseemly slogans, hawkish
spokespersons, premium offers,
slapstick routines or outlandish
settings in advertising does not
instill confidence in the lawyer or
the legal profession and undermines
the serious purpose of legal
services and the judicial system.
It must be a struggle for these
firms to compete for the business
of people who have suffered
tragedy and loss without delving
into the marketing techniques that
the ABA warns against, especially
when competitors are doing it and
evidently profiting from it.
It makes us glad to be selling
plants.
5

Featured
Plant
BULBINE FRUTESCENS
Bulbine caulescens
To celebrate the
sweltering days of
Summer, we have a sale
on Bulbine Frutescens in a 1
gallon pot. This is a clumping
succulent that sports a pretty
yellow flower on a long stem that
blooms continuously through
spring, summer and fall.
This plant prefers full sun or light
shade and is cold hardy to 20° F.
It requires minimal watering—no
more than once per week during
a drought. Each plant achieves a
maximum spread of 2 feet.
This plant is native to southern
Africa. Like the aloe, its succulent
leaves contain sap that is soothing
to burns and is used in some
cultures for a variety of treatments.
1 gal: $1.95 $1.75
Prices good through the end of September
core focus
We are a wholesale plant nursery
that provides a one-stop shop for
all Southeast landscape contractor’s
plant needs. We offer credit terms,
an easy ordering process, and a quick
turnaround on deliveries
6

Introducing: Nikki Knotts
We are delighted to welcome our new office manager/
bookkeeper to the staff of G&S Nursery. In addition to
her qualifications to manage the pesky details of our
business, she has many other first rate talents. To start
with, she has a musical name. Nikki Knotts. It’s fun to
say. It’s fun to spell.
Secondly, she has a houseful of boys that she raises. Her three sons are aged
1 through 10, That’s an excellent background to equip her to deal with Zack,
Charlie, Jorge and Chad at work.
More impressive still, she is the loving wife of an 11-year military veteran who is
now medically retired after being injured by an IED while deployed to the middle
east.
Nikki grew up in Lake City, but she has lived in a lot of places as is so often the
case with military families. She likes spending time with her kids, going to the
springs, and being active in her church.
In this photograph, we can see how Nikki’s service as a military wife has
prepared her for duty at G&S offices. It also illustrates why the time has
come to relocate to a bigger facility. Pictured here are Nikki and Chad
Stewart, director of finance and marketing.
7

P.O. Box 215
Lake City FL 32056
RIDDLE OF THE MONTH
A square is folded exactly in half and then
in half again. Which of the following shapes
could not be the final result?
ANSWER FOR A CHANCE TO WIN:
A B C D
LAST MONTH’S RIDDLE:
You are in a room with 3 chimpanzees. One has
a banana, the other has a stick; the third chimp
has nothing. Who is the smartest primate in the
room?
LifeTek
New Yorker
54 in. automatic
open umbrella
ANSWER: You are!
LAST ISSUE’S WINNERS
Novella Crosby
Steve Hansen
Jenn Rodemick
Send answers to sales@gsnursery.com
before August 25. All correct answers will be entered into a drawing
to win a prize!