Be wary of bees; leave them be

You may have noticed that spring is a prime time for the re-emergence of bees in our area. Sometimes you will see many of them — and by many, I mean thousands.

We receive a great number of calls about the sightings and swarming of these very important members of the community. Most people will agree on two things: We need them for numerous reasons, and we generally like them when they aren’t near us.

Spring is when you will notice a process called swarming, a time when up to 60 percent of the worker bees leave the original hive location with the old queen bee. This phenomenon usually lasts between two and three weeks, depending on the area; however, after-swarms can happen through the producing season.

Swarming is a natural means of reproduction of bee colonies and the original colony will grow from one to as many as three colonies. The swarms usually gather in a tree or branch not far from the original hive. They cluster about the queen and await notice from the scout bees for a suitable location for the new nest. This intermediate stop is not for permanent habitation and they will normally leave within a few hours to a suitable location.

Please do not disturb the process and stay well away from any large clusters of them. As you may guess, bees are not easily herded and attempts to move them to a different location can have deadly consequences.

We will be happy to place cones and tape off sidewalks near especially high-traffic areas, but they are usually gone before we can gather the personnel and the barricades necessary to do so.

There is no visual difference between regular bees and the more aggressive African bees. Educate your family to be aware and move away if you see or hear large amounts of them. They provide an invaluable service in the food chain so we need to be tolerant during their natural routines.

March 16. Alarm: Holdup alarm received and a responsible party could not be located at 8:28 a.m. in the 1200 block of Park Street.

Welfare check: The caller states an elderly neighbor’s dog has been barking nonstop for several hours and they would like us to check on him at 10:54 p.m. in the 600 block of Lido Drive.

Thought for the day: The construction workers recover slowly from the semi SWAT response and promise they won’t push the button again.

March 17. Suspicious: The caller reports a dark sedan driving from house to house in the neighborhood and checking doors at 8:28 a.m. in the 1400 block of Stacey Lane.

Fire: Visitors enjoying their lunch find their vehicle rapidly approaching the well done stage outside at 12:02 p.m. in the 500 block of Nevada Way.

Thought for the day: Keep doors locked at all times, even when you are home.

March 18. DUI: Officers remove their second impaired driver of the night at 2:31 a.m. in the area of Veterans Memorial Drive and U.S. Highway 93.

Traffic stop: The driver is not the first, and probably not the last, to receive a costly reminder that a no-left-turn arrow means just that at 8:48 a.m. in the 1200 block of Nevada Highway.

Thought for the day: A little tongue-in-cheek here: Let’s refer to this as a “Mc-Reminder.”

March 19. Assist: The elderly man is concerned for his wife who has gone out for a walk in her housecoat at 3:17 a.m. in the 1500 block of Mancha Drive.

Burglary: The resident returns home to find the front door has been compromised and a burglary occurred while he was away at 11:39 a.m. in the 1300 block of Alpine Drive.

Thought for the day: Thankfully the confused woman was simply waiting in the passenger seat of the garaged vehicle for an early appointment (not that early though).

March 20. Assist other department: Officers are on scene to assist paramedics with a subject who fell resulting in heavy bleeding and broken teeth at 4:34 a.m. in the 600 block of Wells Road.

Noise: A neighbor prefers the alarm clock to multiple motorcycles revving engines at 6:33 a.m. in the 700 block of Elm Street.

Thought for the day: I would think if the bikes aren’t warmed up after an hour, it’s time to take the car.

March 21. Assist: The resident has located his misdelivered package but requests officer assistance in retrieving it at 9:32 a.m. in the 600 block of Avenue B.

Family disturbance: The call begins with a violation of a protection order and ends with the adverse party fleeing the scene and breaking his ankle in the process at 1:56 p.m. in the 500 block of Avenue I.

Thought for the day: Some prices of noncompliance with the law are more painful than others.

March 22. Noise: The caller states a vehicle alarm is annoying enough without it being at this time of the morning at 5:22 a.m. in the 600 block of Kings Place.

Theft: The caller is reporting the theft of several pieces of expensive equipment at 8:42 a.m. in the 600 block of Valencia Drive.

Thought for the day: It is so nice when the neighbors all have security cameras and footage to go with it.

Call of the week: Assist other: The hysterical caller has witnessed a vehicle run over a woman but has absolutely no idea where he is or where the woman was and is focused on chasing down the involved vehicle. Thank goodness this was an over-exaggeration of circumstances and the officers were able to sort things out regarding a road-rage incident occurring at 5:44 p.m. March 18 in the area of mile marker 1.5 on U.S. Highway 93 in Arizona.

Tina Ransom is a dispatcher with Boulder City Police Department. She is coordinator of the Boulder City Citizen’s Academy.