Subject: LA "KILLER BEE" HYPE

From: [email-masked] (Andy Nachbaur)
Date: Fri, 7 Jun 1996 01:26:00 GMT

Today's 6-6-96 San Francisco Chronicle continues the hype of the
Africanized "killer bee" by running a story from the LA Daily News
on how the LAPD is receiving "killer bee" training with no special
bee equipment but the leg's issued by God to man so they can run, and
run is what they are expected to do. "When the bee does arrive, Los
Angeles has to be prepared." according to Michael Pearson, an
Africanized honeybee specialist for the county's agricultural
commissioner.

Officers are being trained to respond to the many 911 calls they
expect to get as the "killer bees" attack and sting Los Angeleno's
as many a 1,500 times in characteristic mass attacks that have killed
two people in Arizona and two in Texas since their arrival in the
late 80's to Texas from Mexico and now in California entering from
Arizona via train sometime in October 1994 according to an earlier
story. LA agricultural officials do not know how long it will take the
bees to reach Los Angeles from Riverside County, where they attacked one
or two people last year. But they estimated that it would take more than
a year. (A little faster hitch hiking by train.)

Well all this is good some will say, but I would guess that since the so
called Africanized Killer Bee's have entered the US and killed 4 people,
(which is a number that is in dispute), that the good old gentle
European honeybee has been responsible for ten times that number of
deaths, few which merit mention in the major newspapers. You say what
the harm if every police department learns how to handle bees...for
one thing they don't have the equipment, and of course will have to
buy it...not that old bee veil you use...or the white coveralls...
heck NO..how about the super duper bee-bullet proof, insulated, cooled,
throwaway kind..you know the one that will add a thousand bucks per
man to the budget, and then there's the special Bee Swat Team trucks
a la Texas style, and on and on, an $$. So it will cost money, but thats
just the beginning..give a cop a ticket book and he is expected to write
tickets, give a cop a bee veil with a gun and he will shoot it
off...hum.. there goes a suspected beekeeper now, bet he's got "killer
bees", you can tell by the old truck he drives.......STOP or I will
*BANG* shoot. Darn missed the bees but sure put a hole in the guys
truck,,,oh darn just another California Certified Afro FREE Beekeeper.

Too bad about the hole in your truck buddy,..hay guy I would get your helper
to a hospital he looks bad with all that blood running out of his
head...."You know we have "killer bees" in this area, and I've been
trained to spot them"...it's a dirty job, but I can do it.

Now I am sure some of you will condemn me for writing the above, but
let me tell you the training these policemen are receiving is no better
then the above, with their own video dramatization of the police running
away from a swarms of bees, and worse, half truths about these so called
"killer bees" and the danger to the public from them in the US, which is
no grater according to those who are not in the bee hype business then
any other bees, also from some with new regrets they were once caught up
in the "killer bee" hype.

But then if they are, (killer bees), whats the difference, how long do any
of you believe you will be keeping bees after yours kill your neighbor or his
kids even if you are a certified beekeepers and have seen every training
film ever made? I can assure you that if the killer bees were indeed
different and killed the hundreds or thousands in South America there
would be no South American beekeepers, or their families, left to keep
bees, let alone their beehives, as they would have been killed, burned,
or driven out to revenge the first deaths in any rural village I know
about in SA. But here we are more civilized, we will only sue you to
death if your bees start killing my family.

My solution, let the beekeeper's keep the bees, let the police keep the
peace.

     Tell you local police department you will pick up swarms. If you
are in a "killer bee" zone, charge them $150, demand police barricades
to keep the public away, and 5 million in insurance before you put out
that swarm bee box, (if you think you can get it). Or just do as we have
been doing,...always have done..the best you can. Yeh, "killer" bees, I got
them, heck, had em for years, they are no different from any other bees I
have, well maybe a little hotter to handle, but then I am a beekeeper and
thats my job, and if my bee's could kill I would have died long ago as
I am the favoured target of my own bees. (And every bee regulator that has
slimed this earth.)

                          ttul OLd Drone

BTW-Check your local bee regulations, as some areas may require a
    special ($) permit before you can pick up swarms or may require
    all swarms be destroyed by a licensed pest control person using
    only approved chemicals.

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(w)Opinions are not necessarily facts. Use at own risk.
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