CAMARILLO : 12th Malathion Spraying Completed

Agriculture officials have successfully completed their 12th aerial spraying of the pesticide malathion over eastern Camarillo in the continuing battle against the crop-destroying Mediterranean fruit fly.

Over the objections of about a dozen protesters who picketed the offices of the Cooperative Medfly Project at Camarillo Airport from 3 to 5 p.m. before Tuesday night’s spraying, four helicopters departed the airport at 9 p.m. and completed their mission about four hours later.

“We don’t know what group or groups they were from,” Doug Hendrix, a Medfly project spokesman, said about the protesters. “They asked a lot of questions and we answered them. They have a right to demonstrate and we support their right to do so as long as things remain peaceful--and it did.”

Hendrix said the aerial spray operation was conducted over the 16-square-mile Medfly eradication zone in near-perfect weather conditions. The next spraying is set for May 9 at 9 p.m.