Horrible Whodunit: Vandals Destroy Tens of Thousands of BeesHeather Callaghan So imagine the horror of beekeeper Stephen Mantell when he went into his back yard this weekend to find his hives strewn about and wrecked. Natural or animal causes didnt add up he found footprints on the hive boxes that contained the living cargo. Who would have the motive to do such a thing? With or without meaning to, even the newscasters cant help but hint at whom the perpetrators might be. Stephen went to care for his bees this past weekend only to see 10 years worth of special care evaporated. Multiple tens of thousands of bees are lost he estimates 30,000 have died and the number will keep growing for awhile. I built these form scratch the money isnt the big issue its just killing something like that there is no sense in it. Footprints showed evidence that made him believe someone had kicked down the wooden structures containing the hives, many of which were discovered in the nearby creek. He was able to reassemble some of the wreckage but has experienced a 25% loss. For 10 years, the hives were quietly tucked behind his Murrells Inlet, South Carolina home. Wouldnt you know it just so happens In the last two months, Mantell had received a letter from his home owners association (HOA)Chicora Development,requesting that he remove his hives. He responded to them highlighting the fact that the hives do not violate any HOA regulations. Before a resolution could be reached, his hives were destroyed. And Mantell doesnt expect anything to come from the police report he filed. He said that whoever did not like his bees, found a better way to get rid of them. Weve written about conflicts people have when what they do on personal property is threatened by city ordinances law within city limits. For instance, the little boy who could not have a free library lending box in the front yard. If youre one of 62 million people in the U.S. who belongs to an HOA, youre under yet another set of jurisdiction rule of law within housing limits. While HOAs are subject to statutes regarding non-profit corporations, they arent really regulated their word stands. HOA standards are supposed to be beneficial and the people who pay their dues expect to have a voice, but that isnt always the case. Imagine getting threatened with a foreclosure lien and $8,000 in fines not because you didnt pay your dues but because you placed an American flag near your doorstep. Or how about getting sued by your HOA for planting flowers? If raising an eyebrow in the HOAs direction seems extreme, look what happens when WBTW News13 tries to get answers about Chicora Developments rules: WBTW-TV: News, Weather, and Sports for Florence, SC Recently, two activists who were accused of freeing mink from a corporate fur-farm were tracked, watched and arrested by the FBI and indicted as terrorists! How? Under this law the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act. But when vandals kill off a beekeepers bees another threatened population? Nothing. It appears that some corporations people are more equal than others. Heather Callaghan is a natural health blogger and food freedom activist. You can see her work atNaturalBlaze.com and selfnewsPost.com. Like at Facebook. Recent posts byHeather Callaghan: 