
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, May 8, 1990                   TAG: 9005080530
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

NO HONEYS

Here's something to prepare for: killer bees. No way has been found, apparently, to stop the spread of this aggressive strain of honeybee. Having worked their way northward from South America since the 1950s, the bees are now about 150 miles from the Texas border.

That's not a comfortable distance from Virginia. John Thomas of Texas A&M University, a bee expert, predicts they'll be buzzing Virginia within eight years. Sooner, maybe, if they hitch rides on pickup trucks.

Virginia scientists and agricultural officials are already preparing for the so-called killer bees. Commercial and amateur beekeepers are threatened because the mean-spirited ones invade gentler honeybees' hives and take them over. Some Virginia farmers are threatened because killer bees interfere with honeybees' pollination of vegetable crops.

And no one will welcome the news that, if you disturb their hives, killer bees are known to attack in the thousands.

As might be expected, there are those who, out of science or sympathy, insist on defending killer bees. Poor, misunderstood things. Says Texas A&M's Thomas: "This bee . . . simply has a temper, or a personality problem, and people need to recognize that."

OK, so killer bees had a bad home life. They're still unwelcome, and it's good Virginia officials are getting together a plan of defense.

Roanoke Valley residents may be thankful for one thing: Experts predict the bees will concentrate on the Eastern Shore.

by CNB