El Cajon Crowd Jeers Officials Over Spraying : Mexfly: State’s explanations fail to stem residents’ anger over next week’s planned aerial malathion application.

County and state agriculture officials were confronted with a barrage of complaints Thursday night as more than 1,100 concerned El Cajon residents transformed an “informational” meeting about the pesticide malathion into an emotional free-for-all.

One by one, dozens of El Cajon residents stepped to the microphone in the Granite Hills High School gymnasium and begged officials to call off the aerial malathion spraying now scheduled for next week.

“It is high time that the people are given a vote in this,” said one El Cajon resident. “If they say they don’t want the aerial spraying, for God’s sake, don’t do it.”

But the agricultural officials, although apologetic, held their ground.

“I know that we’re imposing on all of you, and I’m sorry that we’re doing that,” said William Routhier, San Diego district manager of the state Department of Food and Agriculture. “We want to get in here, get out of your lives and stop inconveniencing you.”

Packed inside a school gymnasium--so crowded that no one else was allowed in after 8:30 p.m.--the audience responded to each explanation with boos and hisses, turning the meeting into an anti-malathion rally.

Some people carried placards: “Say Nay to Spray,” “No Fumigation Without Representation,” and “Aerial Burial.” Several wore gas masks and surgical masks. Some stomped their feet and chanted, “Do Not Spray!” And most, if not all, were very angry.

“I’m so mad I don’t know what to do,” said one woman who appeared at the microphone with her small son. “When my son lies, I put him in time-out. What can I do with you?”

At one point, Dr. Herschel E. Griffin, an environmental epidemiologist, was roundly jeered. He shot back: “If you’ll shut up, I’ll be able to be heard back there. Don’t dish it out if you can’t take it.”

Under a plan approved by Gov. George Deukmejian this week, helicopters laden with malathion-laced bait will make the first of three scheduled flights Monday evening, dousing a 16-square-mile residential area believed to be infested with Mexican fruit flies, or Mexflies.

From April 25 to May 5, three Mexflies were trapped within a quarter mile of John F. Kennedy Park in El Cajon, just south of Interstate 8. Because of the fly’s potentially devastating effects on citrus and other types of fruit, state and federal officials are determined to act quickly to contain the infestation.

El Cajon city officials have contended, however, that, since no new Mexflies have been trapped since May 5, the problem is under control--a sentiment widely echoed Thursday night. In the Thursday night session, Routhier tried to calm the crowd by saying that only six helicopters will fly overhead for just two hours, and that the spray will be dry within 20 minutes. “It’s a simple operation,” he said.

But several in the crowd were unconvinced, believing that the spraying was prompted by a powerful agricultural lobby. “They have lots of money and lots of power in Sacramento and in Washington,” charged one resident.

Despite Routhier’s advice for people to stay inside during the spraying, one woman encouraged residents to stand outside and shine flashlights at the helicopters. “Your actions can stop spraying,” she said.

In a press conference before the meeting, Richard Nadeau, director of San Diego Greenpeace Action, predicted that this first-ever aerial spraying in San Diego County will open the door to more spraying.

“Once we get on the pesticide treadmill, it will be difficult to get off,” Nadeau said.

Meanwhile, the El Cajon city attorney’s office was preparing to file suit to try to block the spraying. On Tuesday, the El Cajon City Council voted unanimously to sue the state of California unless Gov. George Deukmejian calls off the spraying by today. But a spokesman for the governor made it clear that he will not back down.

A court hearing is scheduled for 3 p.m. today in El Cajon on the city’s request for a temporary restraining order to delay the spraying until a hearing on the suit can be held, said Steve Eckis, deputy city attorney.

Legal challenges filed in other Southern California locales have been unsuccessful.

Nonetheless, Eckis said he was optimistic Thursday because El Cajon is taking a different route than that taken in the other cases.

“There is a state law that says that the director of the Department of Food and Agriculture may commence aerial spraying only after he has used all other available non-pesticidal alternatives ‘to the maximum extent possible,’ ” Eckis said. “We don’t think he’s done that.

“The way the state implements that law is to go out and use a few alternatives and then immediately follow it with aerial spraying,” Eckis added. “We think they’ve grossly misinterpreted this law and are in direct violation of the Legislature’s intent.”

About the size of a housefly, the yellow-brown Mexican fruit fly is a pest found from Mexico to Central America. Using a sharp appendage on its rear to inject eggs into fruit, a single adult female is capable of laying up to 1,000 eggs in several locations. When they hatch, the maggots mature by feeding off the fruit.

Two hot lines have been established to answer questions about malathion. For health questions, call 1-800-439-6359. For agricultural questions, call 1-800-427-6359, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.