“We've told each other
'! love you’a thousand times.
But it took a diamond like this
to leave her speechless.”
Page 10
The Battalion
Friday, May 3,1991
'Killer' honey bees gain advantage
Texas Agricultural Extension Service says lack of funding slows effort to stop insects
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30; Day MoneyyBacls;|lu^laSlieS
All Diamond Mountings
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HARLINGEN (AP) — Efforts
to slow the Africanized honey
bee's invasion into the United
States have suffered a major set
back because there is no money
to fight the hot-tempered insect,
officials said.
Funding for the U.S. Depart
ment of Agriculture's bee sur-
veying program expired last
weekend. Texas A&M Univer
sity announced Thursday that it
cannot afford to battle the bees
without emergency money from
the state.
Entomologist John Thomas
with A&M's Texas Agricultural
Extension Service said the lack of
funding for surveying areas
where bee swarms are found will
hasten the Africanized bee's per
manent establishment in the
United States.
"We need to dig a ditch, and
we haven't got a shovel,"
Thomas, a member of the Texas
Africanized Honey Bee Advisory
Committee, said Thursday. "It's
exceedingly frustrating."
Fifteen AHB swarms have
been found along the Rio
Grande from Brownsville to La
redo since last October, includ
ing 14 swarms discovered in the
past three weeks.
Officials had been surveying a
two-mile radius of each trapping
to make sure domestic hives
were not Africanized and to de
stroy any wild swarms.
That has stopped, however,
"because there is not money to
do them with," said Dave
Mayes, an spokesman for Texas
A&M, the institution that regu
lates bees in Texas.
Gov. Ann Richards asked the
Legislature in March for emer
gency funding for the Texas Afri
canized Honey Bee Management
Plan. The House recommended
$197,000 to last through the end
of August, but the Senate still
had not acted on the measure
Thursday.
The plan includes the two-
Round
mile quarantine zones, traps to
monitor the bees' movements
and enforcement of the larger
quarantine placed on nine South
Texas counties. No bees may be
moved from the nine-county
quarantine zone.
Ten other counties placed un
der quarantine last week with
the discovery of an AHB swarm
in Laredo have been removed
from the quarantine. Mayes said
because no bees were found in
the Laredo area, the quarantine
has been lifted from Dimmit,
Duval, Frio, Jim Wells, Kleberg,
LaSalle, Live Oak, Maverick,
McMullen and Zavala counties.
But the quarantine remains in
effect for Webb, Brooks, Cam
eron, Hidalgo, Jim Hogg, Ke
nedy, Starr, Willacy and Zapata
counties.
For months Thomas has ex
pressed frustration with the lack
of state funding to slow the bees'
invasion into the state. He said
the end of the two-mile quaran
tines means officials won't be
sure they have cleared areas of
the unwanted bees.
The Africanized bees are
known for their highly defensive
behavior that causes them to
launch mass attacks on sus
pected intruders.
They also are difficult to man
age and are expected eventually
to cause tens of millions of dol
lars in annual damage to the
U.S. beekeeping industry and to
crops dependent on pollination.
The USDA's Animal and Plant
Health Inspection Service
(APHIS) only had agreed to sur
vey the two-mile quarantine
areas around the first five AHB
swarms found in Texas.
Elba Quintero, who directs the
USDA's Africanized bee pro
gram in Harlingen, however,
said last week that APHIS would
continue maintaining the trap
lines, assisting with bee identifi
cation and conducting public ed
ucation programs.
Voi. 90 r
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Weight
-Soid-
2.34
2.30
1.-64
Price
$14,500-0°-
Sold
6627 so
9250 oo
3090 oo-
1.01
1.01
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3130 25
2666 0°
2327-60-
WASH
North's I
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.70
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1797 so
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.53
.50
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1031 55
1976 oo
1649 oo
2100 oo
1496 0°
1952 oo
1075 oo
.50
.47
.46
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Soid
850 oo
1450 oo
950-00-
Sotd
440 00
1150 oo
575 oo
-758-00
-t49-
■Sofd
395 oo
.34
.31
.32
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550 00
400 oo
410 oo
300 oo
All Diamond Anniversary Bands are 50% off
Certified Rounds
with EGL Certificates
Weight p r , ce
.54 F/VS1 $1998°°
.56 F/VVS1 268800
.57 G/WS2 2109 00
.57 G/WS1 239400
.57 F/WS2 2736°o
Marquise Cut
Weight
1 00
—.■•79-
.73
.72
.63
.50
.47
.46
.45
.45
.44
.24
“Softj-
Price
$3099 25
4738-00
Sold
2250 oo
2175 oo
1575 oo
1550 oo
980 0°
860 00
654 64
950 00
677 00
225 00
Ovals
Weight
—kr§4-
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SoHd
Price
$362920-
Sojd
101-900-
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.58
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1350 0°
12760°
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12100°
SCO 00
Pear Shapes
Weight
1.00
.77
.47
.40
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1750°o
900 00
572 00
Emerald Cut
Weight
.86
.72
Price
$30500°
1900°°
Radiant Cut
Weight
.53
Price
$149500
ALL 14K Gold Bands Sold by Weight. $20 a gram
Aggie Rings
Weight
Price
.05/.06
$45oo
.08
60 00
.13
105 00
.15
125 00
.20
195oo
FREE Mounting on .05 or
larger for Aggie Rings Till
14K Gold Chains
Sale ends Sat. May 11th
BRACELETS & EARRINGS
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ALL PEARL JEWELRY
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ALL DIAMOND, COLOR STONE
BRACELETS, EARRINGS AND
RINGS 50% OFF
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SALE ENDS SAT. MAY 11th
ALL GOLD & CZ
FASHION JEWELRY 60% OFF
Tak<
Steve Alv
Dress Down
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