Three or four years ago a local beekeeper here in Anchorage was checking
one of his hives toward the end of the season. As I recall he was simply
going to pull the cover off to take a quick look inside so he didn't smoke
them. Bees, being bees, had cemented the cover on with propolis. As he was
lifting on the cover, the box itself came loose and the bees went berserk.
They boiled out of the hive stung him, his dog, the neighbor, the
neighbor’s dog. The beekeeper called an old timer beekeeper for some
assistance. The neighbor called the police. The police and the old timer
got there at about the same time. The old guy who came over is one of those
who has kept bees for as long as recorded time. He takes pride in the fact
that he has never owned a bee suit, although his usual attire is a pair of
dark coveralls,  and he doesn’t wear a veil. This time he had to put his
veil on. Eventually the bees went back into their hive. The police, I
guess, talked to everyone in the vicinity and left after things calmed
down. Fortunately, no one called any of the community TV stations, which
would have provided some unwanted publicity to the local beekeeping
establishment. These bees had been well behaved all summer to my knowledge.
They were shipped into the state, but I don’t know from where in the Lower
48.

A discussion took place a few weeks back on the Yahoo BioBee group and on
Beesource.com about a person who said she was allergic to bee stings and
had in the past been hospitalized for being stung. She’d lived in the
community for several years. A new next-door neighbor just moved in and
wanted to set up hives on his property. The woman of course was terrified.
Much of the discussion that took place was about how there would be
virtually no chance for the woman to be stung. I think it ended up in court
and the beekeeper was allowed to place bees on his property. I keep bees in
my backyard. Keeping up to four bee hives within the city limits of
Anchorage is legal, but I still have that concern....

Regards,
Dick Allen

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