A plea goes out from [log in to unmask] for some Texas beekeeper(s) to
help Howard Powell in Lake Twakoni, Texas.

I'm not sure where Lake Twakoni, Texas is, but it seems to me I might have seen
a road sign somewhere between Navasota and Conroe.  I'll have to look on a map
and see if I can find it.  But I have a couple of comments to make regarding
this "opportunity".  I have helped people before in my area who have had honey
bees in the walls of their house or something similar, but in Texas, I cannot
legally be paid to do it because the structural pest control board passed a law
that only a licensed structural pest control operator can be paid to do it.  A
hobby beekeeper without a license cannot.  There is a $5000 fine for breaking
that law.  I understand that the law came about when the pest control
establishment foresaw a "gold mine" in removing Africanized bees from buildings
and decided to corner the market by requiring the license (have to pay a big
license fee, pass a test, etc.) and that they would make money hand over fist.
That is not how it has turned out.  At least around where I live, none of the
pest control companies will handle bee problems.  They tell the people that
bees are a protected species and that they can't kill them, then give them the
County Ag Extension's phone number, who then refer them to a beekeeper who may
or may not be willing or able to help them.  It costs me money (gas, car
expense, etc.) and my time to travel and then work, often in hot difficult
circumstances, and I have a full-time job doing something else.  Back to the
point:  pest control operators will not do it and beekeepers are angry about
the law, so most of them will not do it (besides the liability possibility if
they were to break the law).  That leaves the home owner between a rock and a
hard place to get someone to help them.  I believe that the law ought to be
changed to allow an exemption for hobby beekeepers so they can be paid or
reimbursed for their time and expenses for helping people get bees out of
inhabited buildings.  I have been doing it because I enjoy the experience and
what I learn from doing it, and I enjoy helping people solve their bee
problems, but otherwise because of the laws here it is not worth my time.  Many
home owners are left with no viable options for help in our state.  The other
side of the coin is that I can turn anybody down, and if I do decide to help,
I incur no liability if there is a problem.  So far as I know, I am one of the
only people in my part of the state who is willing to help people solve thei
bee problems.  It's challenging, educational, enjoyable, and I feel a sense of
accomplishment when I am successful.  I might start a sideline business of bee
removals if the laws were different in Texas.

Layne Westover, College Station, Texas