THOMASVILLE — A Florida man quoted in a January Times-Enterprise guest commentary is disputing a portion of the article attributed to him.

The Florida woman who wrote the piece says she quoted Carl Barden correctly.

Barden, director of Medtoxin Venom Laboratories at Deland, Fla., did not return a Times-Enterprise telephone call Thursday.

However, an e-mail from Barden to Sandy Beck, the Tallahassee, Fla., environmental educator who wrote the article, was received Wednesday by the newspaper.

The message to Beck was that she “COMPLETELY misrepresented my position on roundup venom.”

Beck quoted Barden as saying his company “never purchased EDR (Eastern diamondback rattler) venom from a roundup.”

“I told you at the beginning of our conversation that for years people had been trying to get me to state on record that rattlesnake roundup venom was useless and not collected properly and/or could not be used. I told you clearly that this in fact was NOT THE CASE. That roundup venom ‘if’ collected properly could be of a very high quality and that we had in fact purchased venom from a western roundup, tested it thoroughly and found it to be of perfect quality and useful. I also said that venom was then used in a number of applications. ... ,” Barden wrote.

His e-mail said he pointed out clearly that snake venom, if processed properly, is very stable and that as long as the individual collecting the venom at a given roundup knew what they were doing, the venom would be used in a number of applications.

Beck’s newspaper piece voiced opposition to rattlesnake roundups, including the 50th annual Whigham Rattlesnake Roundup of last weekend.

Venom acquired at a roundup might be “one of the few good things to actually come out of the events,” Barden’s e-mail said.

Barden said he holds rattlesnakes “dear to my heart. I have had the great privilege of working very closely with this animal for 25 years, and the planet would be somehow less without his regal presence. ... “

As long as the serpent exists, its venom will play an integral role in production of an antidote to snakebite, according to Barden’s e-mail.

On Thursday, Beck sent the Times-Enterprise a copy of the e-mail she sent Barden.

“You told me that you have purchased WDR (Western diamondback rattlesnake) venom from a roundup in Texas. (My column was about EDRs.) You told me that you have never purchased EDR venom from a roundup (I quoted that accurately.) “You told me you once bought EDRs from a Georgia roundup, but they were ‘unusable, probably because they had been gassed.’ “

Beck’s response to Times-Enterprise questions about the Barden interview was to transmit the e-mail she sent him.