Photo Courtesy of WSOC-TV
WHAT'S ALL THE BUZZ ABOUT?
Bees to be evicted from church steeple Monday afternoon

BY JON MAYHEW
Publisher

July 14, 2008

LINCOLNTON -- Crime scene tape surrounds the historic St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Lincolnton Monday morning. People with cameras stand in groups, taking pictures of the outside of the historic structure. People driving by the intersection of Cedar and Pine Streets slow down and point upwards.

With all of the activity going on, people are wondering what the "buzz" is all about.

For the past 30-plus years, bees have called the steeple at St. Luke's home, with a hive that's been growing in size over the years. Today, those bees are served their "eviction" papers, courtesy of Salem Church Road's Bugg Busters.

Unfortunately, the tenants cannot be saved because beekeepers across the state weren't willing to go 80-plus feet into the air to harvest the queen.


Honey from a 30-plus year old beehive drips from the wall and ceiling
to the entrance of St. Lukes Episcopal Church in Lincolnton Monday morning.
Workers with Bugg Busters will remove the hive, honey and bees this afternoon from the steeple of the church.
Photo by Jon Mayhew/The Carolina Scoop

The event starts at 3 p.m. and The Carolina Scoop will provide coverage of the removal of the original steeple top, as a worker will be lowered down into the steeple to remove the bees, hive and honey.

"We first noticed honey dripping down the walls and floor," said church groudns keeper and member Roy Drinkwater. "It's been up there for a long time." Drinkwater added the bees don't cause a disruption during services at the church, whcih was first built in 1835.

However, the honey dripping onto the walls and floor is a nusiance, especially since the church is on the National Registry of Historic Properties.


Bugg Busters will start the removal of the bees after 3 p.m.
Photo by Jon Mayhew/The Carolina Scoop

This afternoon, two workers with Bugg Busters will go some 80 feet into the air and take the 350-pound bronze top off of the steeple. Then, one of the workers will be lowered into
the steeple -- presumably upside down -- to begin the process of cleaning up the area.

Besides bees, workers expect to find bats. However, the bats can't be disturbed; the bats are federally protected and it's their mating season.

"It's considered a mating habitat," said Bugg Busters General Manager John Greene.

The work is expected to cost some $10,000 and take about three or four days.

The Carolina Scoop will have more on this story Tuesday.