Darts and laurels (5-30-15)

Published 12:06 am Saturday, May 30, 2015

Dart — or stinger — to the bees infesting Keppel Auditorium at Catawba College. The little buzzers have forced the relocation and rescheduling of Catawba’s own graduation exercises and those of the Rowan-Salisbury School System, which typically holds a number of commencement ceremonies in Keppel. Now, Pops at the Post organizers are scrambling to find an alternate venue for the concert in case of rain. Again, that’s typically been Keppel. All this could make folks mad as a hornet, but officials at Catawba College deserve laurels for taking a measured, humane (bee-mane?) approach to ridding Keppel of its case of the hives. The college has contracted with Animal Control Experts LLC to lure the bees into bait boxes and relocate them to more suitable environs, as well as seal up the building so no swarms can return. The cost is $30,000 — about the same as it would have cost the college to simply kill the bees and have it done more quickly. But Catawba President Brien Lewis said the goal “was to do things the right, proper and most sustainable way.” For folks worried about the potential effects of widespread bee colony loss, that’s honey to the ears.

•  •  •

Laurels to Wendy Thompson, a second-grader at Faith Elementary School who saw a need and decided to do something about it. Because of health issues experienced by her mother and brother, Wendy has spent more time in hospital waiting rooms than any second-grader would want. While at Novant Health Rowan Medical Center, she noticed that while there was plenty of reading material for adults, it was lacking for children. So Wendy asked her teacher if her class could do something to remedy that, and so was born the “Reads for Peds” project. The class set a goal of collecting 100 gently used books to donate — starting with their own shelves at home — and far eclipsed that mark, taking more than 300 books to the hospital. Wendy said she simply wanted to give children visiting the hospital something to occupy their time and their minds “if they felt scared.” She and her classmates did more. They showed those children they are cared for, and Wendy showed what one little girl can do to make a big difference.

•  •  •

Dart to whoever vandalized more than 50 cars at Gerry Wood Kia this week. As property crimes go, this one seems particularly malicious, if not personal. We hope police catch the person who did it, and that it doesn’t happen to anyone else.