Europe’s smaller airports ‘under threat’ if fuel shortages cause many cancellations
Europe's smaller airports may not survive fuel shortages linked to the Middle East crisis.
The Guardian World1 min read
Beekeeper jailed after releasing insects on authorities trying to evict her friend
TL;DR
A Massachusetts beekeeper, Rebecca Woods, was sentenced to six months in jail for releasing her bees on sheriff's deputies during an eviction attempt for a friend. Several deputies were stung, and one required hospitalization.
Key points
- Rebecca Woods jailed for six months
- Released bees to prevent friend's eviction
- Several deputies stung, one hospitalized
- About a thousand bees died during the incident
Mentioned in this story
Rebecca WoodsMassachusetts
A beekeeper has been jailed for six months after she set swarms of her insects on sheriff’s deputies attempting to carry out an eviction at a friend’s house.
Rebecca Woods insisted she only released her truckload of hives to allow the bees to enjoy the “lovely, flowering landscape” near the home of an elderly friend and cancer patient.
But a district court in Springfield, Massachusetts, heard that Woods, 59, admitted under questioning that she was trying to save him from eviction by freeing the bees in the presence of the deputies who had shown up to serve papers.
Several officers were stung on their heads and faces, and one required hospital treatment, the New York Times reported.
Additionally, about a thousand of Woods’s bees died during the encounter, many of them crushed when several hives toppled as she wrestled with deputies trying to arrest her, and others because female honeybees die after delivering their sting.
“This was unlike anything our team has ever experienced,” Nick Cocchi, the Hampden county sheriff, said of the incident, which was captured on video released by his office and posted to YouTube by MassLive.
In the footage, several deputies are heard shouting “hey” at Woods, and one says: “She’s opening the bees!”
One deputy is seen frantically waving his arms, trying to shoo the insects away.
Woods, who put on her beekeeper’s suit during the incident, had driven up to the property with the hives stacked on a trailer pulled by her blue SUV, and proceeded to lift the lids of a number of them. During an ensuing tussle, she was thrown to the ground by two deputies and arrested as a large swarm of bees flew around the property’s front yard.
The court heard that Woods was told during the encounter that some deputies were allergic to bees, and that she replied: “Oh, you’re allergic? Good!”
Mary Saldarelli, Woods’s lawyer, told the Times that her client’s words were “a reaction to having your face put down in the pavement and being shoved there and kept there”.
Her reason for going to the property, Saldarelli added, was that Woods had experienced several evictions herself and wanted to protect people from predatory lenders who charged extortionate rates on non-mainstream mortgages.
Her friend was a man in his 80s who was undergoing cancer treatment, she said, and had gone to a local library to see about filing a motion to halt the eviction, while Woods drove the bees to his house.
Q&A
Why was Rebecca Woods jailed for releasing bees?
Rebecca Woods was jailed for six months for releasing her bees on sheriff's deputies to prevent the eviction of her elderly friend.
What happened to the deputies during the bee incident?
Several deputies were stung by the bees, and one deputy required hospital treatment due to the stings.
How many bees died during the eviction attempt?
Approximately a thousand of Woods's bees died during the encounter, many crushed during the struggle with deputies.
What was Rebecca Woods's intention in releasing the bees?
Woods claimed she released the bees to allow them to enjoy the flowering landscape and to help her friend avoid eviction.
