Mailbag: Board should care more about residents than bees

Fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly and bees gotta sting. And if you live in the Huntington Landmark Senior Citizens Community, the latter is especially true.

After a yearlong battle, the residents finally got our board of directors to move the beehives from atop garage roofs too close to residential buildings to the top of a storage shed in the RV parking lot.

I now have a blue vehicle and a maroon vehicle again. They no longer have yellow polka dots from daily bee droppings.

Now the people who park their RVs in the assigned parking lot have to contend with five densely populated beehives. Like all good environmentalists, our directors do not care about people.

First and foremost they have to save the bees or the world will come to an end. In their noble world, a bee sting is just an inconvenience. In my world, a bee sting spells liability, lawsuits and a needless waste of my money.

About 2,000 people live in Landmark. Even though ours are “peaceful” bees, with so many targets, bee stings are inevitable.

Statistically, there should be 50 people at Landmark who are allergic to bee stings. That’s a $1 million lawsuit because the board never sent out official notice that we have resident bees at Landmark. Can’t you just hear the Landmark lawyer argue that the guilty party was a transient bee, not a resident bee?

Our board tells us that no one has been stung and no payouts have been made, yet rumors to the contrary persist.

I wonder if the Freedom of Information Act applies to the Landmark Board of Directors?

Irving Gilman

Huntington Beach

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When will Rohrabacher represent us all?

Re: “Rohrabacher focuses attention on Tea Party, Aug. 1: I appreciated the reader’s comments.

I am one of Congressman Dana Rohrabacher’s constituents — although I do not feel like one because of his partiality to only one group in U.S. Congressional District 48.

I also watched a video of his speech to the Tea Party at the Halecrest Park Swim and Tennis Club. Saying things like “big government is out to get you” and “Obamacare takes away your rights” appears to me to be uttered for the express purpose of stirring up his audience and fomenting disorder.

I, too, am at a loss to explain how and why Rohrabacher continues to be re-elected in this district. According to the Orange County Registrar of Voters, as of Aug. 12, 382,023 voters were registered in this district. Republicans represent 44% of them. What about the other 56%? Who is representing them?

At what point will Rohrabacher start representing all of his constituents in the U.S. Congressional District 48? Some have been waiting 25 years for this to happen.

Joan Lars

Fountain Valley

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Beehives would make a great project

Councilman Joe Carchio said he didn’t know so many people “collected bees for a hobby.”

“I’m not begrudging anybody to do that in their house, but when you live in close proximity to other people, like in a condominium or senior park, that could present a little bit of a problem,” he said. (“Beehives create a sticky situation,” Coastline Pilot, Aug. 15.)

Close proximity to other people? Everybody in Huntington Beach lives in close proximity to some degree. I have space but it is still tight compared to my previous homes.

When I owned a commercial citrus ranch in Fallbrook, bees were not a problem if managed correctly.

That being said, why not be creative and move beekeeping activities to the community garden that former Councilman Devin Dwyer established? The Bolsa Chica Mesa? That would be a great location. This could be a great program for the Council on Aging or other senior agencies.

I could see this all morph into a really good project on the mesa with community involvement. I could go on and on with ideas that would benefit everyone from seniors to Scouts and high school kids.

If people have followed, as I have, the problem with bee mortality and the effect on our country’s agriculture, then we may want to embrace this project. It could resolve the angst that folks at Landmark feel toward bees.

Let’s work to be bee friendly, not just dog, bike and surfing-contest friendly.

Drew Kovacs

Huntington Beach

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