Subject: Re: Tulsa Outlawing Honeybees

From: randy nessler <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 17 May 1996 10:52:17 -0500

Evan E. Twombly wrote:
> 
> In what way might Tulsa disallow the keeping of bees.  Tracy, Minnesota in
> 1934 tried to outlaw bees as a nuisance.  The Minnesota Attorney Genaral
> ruled that an ordinance declaring bees a nuisance and excluding them from the
> city can not be legally drawn.  He was citing the Arkansas Supreme court
> decision which held that neither the keeping, raising, nor owning bees is a
> nuisance, ant that this decision would also apply to Minnesota.
> 
> I think a city can regulate HOW they are kept but not if they CAN be kept.
> I'm not a lawyer but I believe the benefit to the public good outweighs the
> hypothetical harm.  Even if there are no beekeepers, there will be no less
> bees.  If there is a niche in nature to be explioited, nature will fill the
> niche.
> 
> Evan
	I disagree.  I would bet the city could pass it, and it would take more
money to fight it than the average bee keeper would want to spend.  Even
if the city can't pass an ordinance, the owner of the hive is not
protected from private lawsuits.  This is how I got my hives.  The owner
lived in town, and the path the bees took leaving the hive caused them
to make a mess on the neighbors garage.  It never got to the lawsuit
stage, but the neighbors were sure glad to see the hives go.  Also,
neighbor kids harrassed the hives from time to time.  I could guess what
would happen if a sting occured on a kid that was allergic.
	Why should bees be any different than livestock.  About every city
around here has ordinaces banning the keeping of livestock within city
limits.
	The 'benefit to the public good' in a city environment is questionable.
I'll go along with the increased pollination in agricultural areas, but
who cares if the old lady down the streets ornamental flowers get
pollinated?  
-- 
Randy Nessler
[email-masked]

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From: [email-masked] (Evan E. Twombly)
Date: 17 May 1996 03:39:36 GMT

Evan

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From: Paul Cauthorn <[email-masked]>
Date: 20 May 1996 06:26:27 GMT

Hi Randy,

Honeybees are very different than keeping a roaming cow in your backyard. 
If your bees go visit your neighbors garden they are doing a service.  I 
can understand people not wanting to have a hive next door if those bees 
are actually causing some problem.  Yellow specks on a garage isn't a 
problem. :) 

With fewer and fewer wild bees and city borders spreading wider, the 
importance of honeybees in the city will grow.  You're pretty much right 
in regard to pollination of ornamentals, except if that old lady has been 
saving her flower seeds for generations.  I imagine she would be pretty 
attached to them.

More importantly are the poor families across this country who can't 
afford "fresh" vegetables at the store and grow them in their backyards.  
Unless urban gardeners want to go out every morning with q-tips, I suggest 
we keep fighting for honeybees in the city.

My rants over  :) 
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		  Paul Cauthorn   *   [email-masked]

randy nessler <[email-masked]> wrote:
	Why should bees be any different than livestock.  About every city