Monday, March 25, 2002
Though he was mad as a hornet last year about not getting paid, the Leetonia man is ready to inspect bee colonies again.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- The bee inspector is back.
After being gone for a year because of confusion over how to pay him, John Beilhart is expected to be appointed again this week as Mahoning County's apiary inspector.
That's good news for beekeepers, who are a vital part of the county's agricultural community.
"We need someone in that position," said Patrick Brown of Lowellville, president of the Columbiana-Mahoning County Beekeepers Association. "People don't really understand how important it is."
Inspections required: The Ohio Department of Agriculture requires counties to have someone to inspect apiaries for mites and other diseases. Beilhart, who lives in Leetonia in Columbiana County, was hired in 2000.
The post had been vacant for two years before that because no one was willing to fill it. The job is seasonal, usually from mid-April to late September, which coincides with the crop-growing season.
Beilhart worked about two months in 2000, then stopped doing inspections because he wasn't getting paid. Commissioners said the problem was confusion over whether to pay him as an independent contractor or a county employee.
Beilhart, who operates JFB's Honey Farm on state Route 558, said he finally got a lump-sum check last year for the nearly $800 he was owed from 2000. Then he never heard anything from commissioners about continuing.
None last year: Beilhart didn't do any inspections last year because he was not reappointed. Without an inspector, beekeepers just "winged it and hoped for the best," Brown said.
J. Kevin Sellards, county human resources director, said he was under the impression that Beilhart no longer wanted to work for the county because of the payment snafu.
Beilhart said that was never the case.
The buzz over his money is behind him, and he's willing to work again.
Sellards said Beilhart will be a county employee, paid $16.50 an hour.
Commissioner David Ludt said he's glad to have Beilhart back on board.
"He did an excellent job for us," Ludt said. "The state requires us to do this; he's willing to do it and we need him."
The apiary inspector checks bee colonies, or hives, for possible diseases. A colony generally consists of one queen and some 50,000 to 60,000 worker bees.
According to figures from the ODA's apiary division, there were 58 colonies in Mahoning County last year, none of which were inspected.
These are colonies kept by professional and hobby beekeepers for the purpose of producing honey and providing pollination for farmers, not standard beehives found on or near homes and other buildings.
Important to crops: Brown said agriculture is one of the county's leading industries and that bees are an important ally in crop production because of the pollination they provide for plants, especially fruit trees.
He said Mahoning County is ranked 11th in Ohio for production of apples and strawberries, and is also high on the list of vegetable producers.
Brown said 95 percent of Ohio's wild bee population has been wiped out by disease since 1995, which leaves beekeepers as the primary source of bees.
"The bottom line is that bees are the only way certain vegetables and fruit crops can produce," Brown said in a letter to commissioners. "And if bees were killed off by disease, the economy of our county would reflect their absence."
bjackson@vindy.com