Young beekeeping boyscout Brennen Nale of Hollidaysburg, PA is having to fight city hall to keep his bee hives that he started for a boy scout merit badge and a science project in an urban setting. There is an article about him at CNN in the northeast section of the US news today June 18.
To show your support for this young beekeeping boyscout, please send letters of support to:
Borough Council
Borough of Hollidaysburg
Municipal Building
401 Blair ST
Hollidaysburg, PA 16648
Thanks,
The bee lady in TN
I thought the Beekeeping merit badge was discontinued in 1995?
wow - i used to live in Hollidaysburg in the early 90's... my guess he lives in the downtown area. ok - i read the article - what liability does the city have for private property? it might be lawyer time for this family.
here is a link to the Hollidaysburg ordinances and regs
http://www.hollidaysburgpa.org/hollidaysburg/cwp/view.asp?a=3&q=502736&hollidaysburgNav=|32276|
-Steve
Well, this is confusing. I looked at the national and us boy scout sites and sure enough there is no beekeeping badge. Discontinued in 1995, reinstated 1999, then sometime after that was discontinued again (I didn't find the second date). The closest I see is Insect Study, for which the requirements look lame to me, including a directive to go out there and kill kill kill and mount 'em up on the wall. Seems as if a digital photo would do. Anyway, if either Mr. Nale is insisting the hive is for the Insect Study badge they are stretching the truth, and if they talk about a Beekeeping Badge then they are just plain wrong.
Sad about the badge, though. Botany and Farming are gone, too :(
This speaks to my exact fears about beekeeping in neighborhoods and really triggers my outrage about how our society discourages kids from getting involved in anything.
I wonder if the neighbors would feel any better if there were less hives? Looks to me like their might be 7 or 8 - that might be a bit much in that type of setting?
The article does say it was for SCIENCE PROJECTS and boy scouts - but does it matter? The point is the kid wants to keep bees and he should be allowed to do it.
Here is a link to the article and video for anyone interested:
http://www.wjactv.com/news/16637696/detail.html
My brother was really into brewing beer when he was 16 - his high school banned him from reading books about brewing in study hall despite the fact that his first original recipe won a gold medal at a major brewfest. The fight with the school got so bad that he left and got a GED rather than finish his education at that school. I won't be naive and say he wasn't drinking it but he wasn't brewing it for the purpose of getting drunk! He is now 32 and a professional brewmaster. It is his passion - and he is quite good at it, I might add!
Maybe bees are Nale's passion - why in the world should he be denied that?
- Jess
Quoteso now the council is taking a look to see if the bees violate a Borough ordinance, which says grounds and buildings have to be free of insects.
Isn't that impossible?
I'm just glad I don't live there.
I saw the article but I thought that I couldn't post the URL link, but anyway, CNN also had a great article a week ago about Urban beekeeping. I personally think that the ordinance that says that there should be no insects in buildings or lands is naive. Hell we have bugs that live in our beds so in a literal sense it is ridiculous.
I think that this child is wonderful, a 12 year old that keeps hives himself, WOW!!
I live in a rural setting and my kid helps me with my hives and he participates in 4H functions. We used to be involved in boy scouts but we had a falling out with the council over various issues.
Please all technicalities aside, send a short note to the borough council to voice your support to this wonderful kid who is showing a rare initiative to keep bees.
In 1980, the state of TN had 200,000 hives, after the mite infestation, we have never really recovered with only 24,000 hives. Bees and their keepers need all the help and support that they can get. And now we have the mysterious CCD, which seems to be effecting only commercial beekeepers. But that is not the point, even a urban beekeeper in their backyard can make a difference.
I think that the family needs to have a water source in their own back yard to keep the neighbor with the pool happy. Through some Internet searching I was able to get their address and I sent a letter of support along with a suggestion as to how to accomplish this. I suggested the 5 gal bucket mounted up high with the IV drip, and 1 by board with the zig zag pattern routed out in it. Great way to get water to the bees without drowning them. I will not give out the address of the family here, it is a kid after all, we don't want to freak out the parents. Send your support to the borough council.
So get your pens out people and get off the .42 cents and write a letter to support this child in his fight with city hall!! It will make you feel good if you do.
Thanks,
The bee lady in TN
A much more informative article is in the online version of the Altoona Mirror. Dad and son took beekeeping classes together. In response to the citation, dad and son gave an educational presentation to the City Council. Dad WORKS for City Hall in the Sewer Authority. Currently there is 1 active hive. Reading between the lines, I suspect Dad invited the publicity after what seems to be primarily 1 neighbor complaining, in the third year of the son's beekeeping endeavor. City Council is set to decide in July.
I won't write to City Hall unless the family asks for such support. Opinions from outsiders might be seen as "interference" and make things worse: the us vs. them mentality. I wish the Nale's well.
Jess -- your story about your brother is a wonderful example of how more diversified and inclusive educational sytems might work better than the NCLB fiasco.
If the City Council does has a valid anti-insect ordinance--According to NAFTA and other International treaties, bees are plants or plant-symbiots.