> I received a letter from Sean Samia today.  ...  His CP collection has
> been hit hard by vandalism and most of his plants were lost. 
This really sucks!  Do you have any details on what happened?  Was
it a greenhouse breakin?  Is Sean sure that the culprits weren't squirrels,
racoons, etc?
> Labels that have been written on with permanant ink can be reused by
> just scraping off the ink with steel wool.  It just takes a few
> seconds scrubbing under running water. 
I scrape my labels with the sharp, square edge of a pair of scissors.
Just a few swipes of the (dry) label will usually give a clean surface.
For a marker, I've had good luck with Pilot-brand "permanent photographic
markers".  These are fairly fine-tipped.   I find the Sharpie laundry
markers are too "blobby" for my taste.
-- Rick