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There is a cinderblock wall down one side of the property line of my house. Within this cinderblock wall dwells a very old colony of bees. I’ve lived here over 40 yrs and they were in residence when I got here.

Through the years various neighbors and others have attempted to kill this hive. I’ve never heard of anyone being stung, but still the initial reaction is to kill, kill, kill.

I came home one day to find that my neighbor had plastered up the small crack in one cinderblock that was the entrance to the hive. When I asked him why he said he “may” get stung (he’d lived here even longer than I and had never yet been stung). The poor bees were buzzing around trying to get into their home. So, I took a drill and made a nice hole for them.

Fortunately - I own the wall - it is 12 inches inside my property line.

One day as I stood at my front door a pesticide truck drove up and the exterminator was looking at the bees and writing things down on his clip board.

I went out to talk to him and he said someone down the street had asked him to spray the hive. I told him in no uncertain terms: I own the wall, it’s on my property - he doesn’t have my permission to cross into my property nor to touch the bees. When I asked him if anyone had been stung - he said “no.”

Another neighbor across the street wanted me to kill the bees because childen live in the neighborhood and they “might” get stung. By this time I had seen in the forty years I’ve lived here a couple of generations of kids (including my own) playing in the area - and no one had ever been stung.

Through the years for no reason at all there has been attempt after attempt to kill this hive. Seems to be the first reaction of human beings is to kill.

I know the professional bee hive owners across the country have a serious problem - which means we have a serious problem since bees are so important.

This reminded me of my little experience with bees - and so I took the liberty of telling you about it.