Belfrage helping to spread misinformation about bee keeping ordinance

Trust me, I realize that the Belfrage show is just ‘talk’ and NOT news, in fact I would go so far to say it is the epitome of fake news. Day after day his moronic audience calls in defending a president that has taken the constitution and wiped his butt with it. So it is NO surprise his ignorant listeners would call in and agree with him on saying a bee keeping ordinance is a bad thing.

If you watch the city council informational meeting at the end of this article, you will see many questions answered by a person who educates people on bee keeping. So let’s look at some FACTS that Greg’s listeners chose to ignore;

• Bees already exist in Sioux Falls, and there is a lot of them. In fact it has taken me about 3 years to get my flower beds built up in my backyard to where they are almost all completely full of cover. I had tons of bees this summer in my backyard. Never got stung. In fact I ran into them accidentally quite a bit, and they just flew away. When a bee stings it commits suicide, once the stinger is left in your body it pulls their guts out killing them.

• Most people who get stung in the city are stung by wasps and hornets. They have a stinger that detaches from them without killing them, so they have no problem with stinging people.

• Bees are essential for vegetables and flowers. How do you think people in the city grow flowers and gardens without bees? They don’t, bees are already here working hard.

• Bee keepers will be required to be licensed, take a course and get neighbors permission. They approximate that about 5-10 people will apply for the license if this ordinance passes. The hives will also have to be limited in size. In other words, they won’t have massive bee farms. People will mostly have the hives for personal honey use and their own gardens. While bees will travel 2-3 miles to pollinate, most likely they won’t go far if they don’t have to.

• People are allergic to bee stings. I get it, people are also allergic to peanuts. Should we ban peanuts in Sioux Falls? If you are allergic to something you take some personal responsibility for that.

• Mosquito spraying is more harmful then bees. The chemical compounds that the city uses to spray actually kills bees and butterflies and many other beneficial insects in our city. In fact, one of the reasons I don’t have a garden is because those compounds are most likely leaving a residue on your vegetables that can’t be washed away, and if young children eat those vegetables it can have an affect on their nervous system. I have told the city on numerous occasions they need to use a ecological safe organic spray on mosquitos instead. There is an organic compound out there right now that can be put into standing water like drainage ponds that kills larvae.

Once again, many people are saying the ‘sky is falling’ and I’m not sure this ordinance will pass. In the video below you will notice that Neitzert and Erickson were gunning against it. You will also notice that NO ONE came to public input in opposition to this. If it gets a reading, I suspect there will only be one or two people opposed to it at the regular council meeting.

Without bees we don’t eat, and if we don’t eat, we die folks. Grow a brain.