For many years now I have been following the plight of the honeybee. It has been distressing to read about the collapse of bee colonies all over America and now our little island. However, I was the most distressed to hear that a group of islanders have taken it upon themselves to threaten and intimidate island business owners and their employees if they don’t stop selling the suspected bee-killing products.

There are so many things wrong with this that it is hard to number them all. First and foremost is the idea that in a time of crisis the first thing you are going to do is threaten your friends and neighbors? Are you really sure that that is the solution to the problem? Even if the island businesses were to stop selling the suspected bee-killing products, islanders could just go buy them in Seattle. What is next? Are you going to go door-to-door intimidating your neighbors? Stop people as they come off the ferry to search for pesticides and plants bought from Home depot or Lowe’s (that might have been treated with the bee-killing products)? The idea that you can threaten or intimidate others into doing what you want or think is best is appalling and should not be tolerated.

If you are so concerned about the bee problem, wouldn’t it be best to try and educate people? Hold seminars about the bee problem. Join a grass-roots organization focused on this problem (I know there are some out there). Write your congressman; start a petition; go to Washington! The ideas are endless and many of them can work.

On the island we hear so much about our sense of community, our working together to solve a problem. We need to be the type of community that will not tolerate our friends and neighbors, business owners and employees being threatened or intimidated for any reason ever.

— Natalie Winters