BEEING DEFENSIVE: Making honey is a tough...
BEEING DEFENSIVE: Making honey is a tough business these days. The number of hives here is down 50% from five years ago. Part of the problem, says Jim Ludiker of the Orange County Beekeepers Assn., is competition from overseas honey prices. Also, a bad case of mites has cut into local bee populations. . . . But there may be an upside: Ludiker says the mites could be a deterrent against the Africanized honey bee (the dreaded “killer bees”) expected to reach California later this year.
SWEET MEMORY: Author Malcolm Cook MacPherson taps his childhood memories of growing up in Orange County for his new book, “In Cahoots: A Novel of Southern California, 1953” (E1) . . . . MacPherson, who now lives in North Carolina, recalls the fun of standing in an orange grove on the side of a road and throwing an orange into passing convertibles: “They’d always slam on their brakes and chase us into the groves. They never caught us, though.”
BETTER TIMES? It’s starting to look like old times in the south Orange County housing market. Dana Point was typical of the trend last weekend: People camping overnight to get on a waiting list for Kaufman and Broad’s new 144-unit single family home development--$250,000 and up--near The Links at Monarch Beach golf course. . . . Says city planner Lance Schulte: “We haven’t seen that kind of activity (in Dana Point) in awhile.”
GOING TRADITIONAL: At the Fred Moiola School in Fountain Valley, some eighth-grade students were dressed to the nines for their recent graduation ceremony. And some girls’ gowns slit up the sides raised many an official eyebrow. . . . Now the Fountain Valley School District board wants to bring back the traditional graduation gown to Moiola. Trustee Larry Crandall says some youths may feel out of place because they cannot afford elaborate clothes: “All students should wear the same gown.”
Hive Dive
The number of bee colonies in Orange County is only half what it was five years ago: 1989: 3,647 ‘93: 1,806 Source: Orange County agricultural commissioner