I need some help rather urgently.   The City of Aurora Colorado will
be having a Code Enforcement and Redevelopement Committee meeting on
Wed. February 5, 2003 to consider  making an ordinance regarding
beekeeping in residential areas.   In the CONS discussion of the code
packet are several statements that I feel are inaccurate.  I would
appreciate your comments on the validity of the following statements.
I would also ask that you provide a brief Curriculum Vitae so the
Committee members will know that the opinions are coming from an
expert..  Thank you.

--1% of the population has a potentially fatal allergy to stinging
insect venom.  For Aurora's population, that equates to approximately
3,000 people.  If stung and medical intervention is not immediately
available, death usually occurs within 30 minutes.  Sensitivity to bee
venom increases with each sting.  A second encounter may bring death
within 15 minutes, although it has occurred in as little as 5 minutes.
(reference:  from the Ohio State University Extension Fact Sheet Bee
and Wasp Stings HYG-2076-96 by William F. Lyon)

--Bee stings kill more people each year than dog bites, shark attacks,
spider bites, or lightening strikes.  Physicians believe that many
more deaths may occur than are reported, mistakenly diagnosed as heart
attacks, sun strokes or attributed to other causes.

-- Africanized "killer bees" have increased in number in the United
States and breed readily with domestic European honeybees, creating
aggressive offspring which attack without provocation.  These bees
already have colonies in Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico (states adjoining
Colorado) as well as in Texas and California.  They are expected to
invade Colorado at sometime in the future, probably coming in from
across the plains. (reference: From the article: Attack of the "killer
bees"- Africanized Honey Bees, DesertUSA Newsletter.