To bee or not to bee?

By Robert Medley

Published: July 21, 2007

BETHANY — A ban on beekeeping that passed this week in Bethany is being questioned by state officials who said the local rule violates a state law.

The Bethany City Council on Tuesday voted to ban beekeeping in the city after hearing complaints about aggressive swarms.

The state Agriculture, Food and Forestry Department and the Oklahoma State Beekeepers Association on Friday cited the 2005 Apiary Act, which states municipalities can regulate or zone beekeeping, but not ban it.

"We need bees,” department spokesman Jack Carson said. "This law was passed ... to prevent cities from trying to do this.”

Carson said Bethany is the first city to try to ban bees since the 2005 state law passed. He said the state law should override it.

Bethany residents complained about bees they think are coming from the home of beekeeper Brandon George.

George, 22, keeps several hives at his home in the 7600 block of NW 29.

Several people attended a Bethany City Council meeting Tuesday to voice concerns.

Ron Burchett, a Bethany planning and zoning commissioner who lives near George, said his mother was stung in May and hospitalized. Others said they couldn't spend time in their yards because of repeated swarmings.

Teresa Bell, a member of the beekeepers association, said domestic beekeepers play an important role.

"We have to have honeybees for pollination,” Bell said.

"But the biggest significance to not banning honeybees is if you have European bees or apiaries in an area, then Africanized bees are less likely to move in.”

Africanized bees are known to be much more aggressive and dangerous than the European honey bees raised by beekeepers.

Bell said Africanized bees have been breeding with European honeybees in Oklahoma since 2004. She said she will request George's bees be tested to determine if they are the more dangerous variety.

George, who was the Agriculture Department's 2003 state Junior Beekeeper of the Year, said his bees are not Africanized but have been aggressive lately because of recent heavy rains. The bees are multiplying faster than in previous years because there are more plants and flowers to feed on. Bell said bees tend to be more aggressive in cloudy weather.

Bethany City Attorney David Davis said he was unaware of the state law when he drafted the ordinance to ban bees. He said Friday the city will not enforce the ordinance until it can be repealed and rewritten.

Burchett said Bethany must take action to protect people.

"One person has been sent to the emergency room already,” he said. "What is it going to take? Someone to die? Then what is the Agriculture Department going to do?”

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