Local Orchard Grows Long List of Prohibited Pickers

I remember last September writing about a local orchard that wasn't messing around when it came to people jacking their apples, pilfering their fruit and mooching their macs.  Jake Samascott is a 4th generation farmer at Samascott Orchards in Kinderhook and  according to the report from News Channel 13, he's fed up with folks embezzling his Empires and trying to get away with it.

But how many people actually try and steal from local apple orchards?  I'm not sure we'll ever know the actual amount, but I can tell you this; after a visit to Samascott Orchards over the weekend, it's way more than you think and the employees there are NOT messing around.  They have a zero tolerance policy: you try to steal and they put your license plate on blast and then you're banned.

At Samascott Orchards, after you make your way around and nab your apples, it's weighed and then you pay on the way out. Before they let you go, they ask to look inside the trunk to see if you have anything back there.  Once they check, you're  free to go.  But if you get nabbed, it's off to the wall of shame.

Inside their cute little country store, the wall behind the counter is plastered with handwritten license plate numbers from people who have tried to steal from them.  If they catch you, you pay and then your license # is put up on there for all to see.  The list of banned cars is so large, that a portion of the paper is starting to fall off the wall.

A young worker explained to me that it happens quite a bit and says the excuses people try to come up with are typically pretty terrible. "Most people," she explains "try and blame it on their kids even though there's like 20 pounds of apples back there!"

Probably not the most believable of all stories but you better believe, kids or not, they're not allowed back. How ya like dem apples?

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