FULLERTON : Council to Consider Medfly Proposal

The City Council tonight will take up a proposed resolution asking the state to consider methods other than aerial pesticide spraying to eradicate the Mediterranean fruit fly.

As proposed, the resolution stops short of asking the state to stop spraying the area with malathion, as several other Orange County cities in the fruit fly spraying zone have done.

Council members considered the resolution at a meeting earlier this month, but action on it was postponed because they wanted more time to review it.

Councilman Don Bankhead suggested that the resolution be changed to take a stronger stand against aerial spraying.

“Until the state has proven to us beyond a reasonable doubt . . . that (malathion) is not hazardous to our health, the spraying should be postponed,” he said.

Councilman Richard C. Ackerman said he supports the aerial spraying and would vote against the resolution.

Fullerton resident Randall Toler, chairman of a local political organization called the Green Party, asked the council in January to adopt a resolution opposing the spraying.