The Optimist (Abilene, Tex.), Vol. 78, No. 55, Ed. 1, Wednesday, April 25, 1990 Page: 3 of 8
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Features
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Don Heyen
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A Kansas wheat farmer
at heart
.on Heyen just doesn't fit
Ithe image of a Kansas
farmboy. Instead he looks
like a young professional in
khaki pleated pants a cardigan
sweater a button-down shirt and
tan deck shoes.
Heyen admits his tastes are' !
r. ' greatly different from his dad
who wears Dickie overalls.
But many people are shocked
to discover Heyen grew up on a
farm because of the misconcep-
tion they have about farmers as
country hicks.
The family-owned farm is near
Dodge City Kan. where the
Hcyens grow 1000 acres of
wheat and 4000 acres of other
$ crops. Heyen a biology major
has decided he wants to attend
medical school instead of help-
ing his brother manage the land
his grandfather homesteaded
years ago.
Farming "interests me but
I'm not sure if it interests me
enough to go into it" he said
about owning the farm someday.
He said a high demand exists
economically for farmers. "It's a
relaxing job" he said about
riding a tractor from 10 in the
morning to 10 at night.
-i His aunt and secretary to the
vice president of finance
Maurita Dietz remembers her
nephew's hard work on the farm
and said she thinks Heyen lives
A the part of the farmer well at
home. In the wheat harvest the
entire family works from dawn
until dusk on the combine haul-
ing the wheat to the elevator and
plowing the fields afterwards.
Heyen the youngest of three
boys and two girls came to
ACU because of a family tradi-
f tion that started with his aunts
and his mother and later con-
tinued with his oldest sister and
Killer bees preparing to buzz into
WESLACO Texas (AP)
No civil defense sirens.
No hellish plague found
in "killer bee" movies. When the
first swarm of Africanized honey
becy buzzes north across the Rio
Grande the worst sting may be
economic said scientists who be-
lieve the bees are cause for concern
but not panic.
Researchers predict the first Af-
ricanized bees will enter the Unit-
ed States from Mexico any day
now probably near the border city
ofBrownsville
-That prediction is based ori the
closest trapping of the bees 150
miles south of the border last No-(
vember at Soto la Marina Mexico
near the Gulf Coast.
Not one has been found near the
border since November but their
movement accelerates with spring
flowers providing food said Dr.
Anita Collins head researcher at
the U.S. Department of
Agriculture's Honey Bee Research
Lab at Weslaco.
These bees from an African
strain have been spreading across
South and Central America and
Mexico since they escaped from a
now-infamous Brazilian research
program in 1957- Along the way
they have killed an estimated 600
brother who attended ACU.
Other members of his family
also have attended ACU in-
cluding his cousins Vonda and
Rodney Dietz. Vonda died in a
wear accident last July and he
remembers when she worked on
the Heyen farm during the
summers and the times when
their families got together.
He was close to her but they
had not spent as much time
together in the year before her
death as he had wished. He said
he learned how quickly life can
end. Her death made him realize
that.he took advantage of people
so now he focuses more on rela-
tionships. From that point he made a
decision to tell people he loves
them. He sees the good effects
Vonda's death produced. He
said her death made students
and faculty members more aware
of the alcohol problem on cam-
pus. "There is a problem and
people are struggling" he said.
In his speech in Chapel in
memory of Vonda Heyen told
the students they need to be
responsible for what they do.
Death is present but people
think it will-never happen he
later said.
Heyen realizes grades as well
as relationships are important
now and when he leaves ACU.
His 3.94 grade point average
shows that the preppy-dressed
Kansas farmboy uses his mind
to its limit.
He laughs about being con-
cerned about his grades he
laughs about being in the
runoffs for four days when he -ran
for sophomore class senator
and was the last one to get
elected. As a freshman he volun-
teered with the Students'
Association which sparked his
people mostly in tropical South
America to earn their ominous
nickname.
Yet officials said the greatest
danger they pose to the United
States may be economic.
Africanized bees abscond from
hives to form new colonies more
regularly than the European honey
bees commonly used in the
Americas for pollinating crops and
producing honey.
The difficulty of managing Afri-
canized bees eventually will cost
U.S. beekeepers $29 million to $58
million a year the USDA
estimates
Africanized bees also are ex-
pected to reduce bee-pollinated
crop production by 5-10 percent
costing farmers more than $40 mil-
lion a year. Bee pollination adds an
estimated $792 million in value to
U.S. crops each year.
But U.S. residents along the'
border are not likely to notice
much change from the bees
beyond seeing more wild colonies
and swarms of bees looking for
nest sites said Collins who has
studied the Africanized bees for 14
years.
"That's probably the biggest
impact people are going to have"
she said. 'They'll see bees ...
Don Heyen
interest in the SA.
He hadn't even thought about
running for vice president of the
student body until about a
month before the election when
Kim Couch 1988-89 executive
vice president encouraged him
to run.
The trust Couch had in him
led this farmboy to making deci-
sions that affect the entire stu-
dent body. He said the responsi-
bility can be very stressful and
much more frequently than they're
used to."
An individual Africanized bee's
sting is no worse than that of the
European bee. Africanized bees
were tagged "killers" because they
tend to protect their colonies at the
slightest disturbance by sending
hundreds or thousands of defend-
ers out to sting and chase in-
truders. Collins said panic is unneces-
sary but some danger remains.
In Venezuela she said a swarm
chased her pnd other scientists to a
truck about 100 yards away.
Researchers are monitoring 318
bee traps in South Texas as far
west as Del Rio and as far north as
the Aransas National Wildlife Ref-
uge north of Corpus Christi to
track the bees' movement. 60000
traps have been placed in Mexico.
No one knows how far north the
bees will spread before the cold
stops their expansion. In South
America they have not moved past
about 32 degrees latitude which
north of the equator would mean
Central Texas The bees travel
250-350 miles a year Collins said.
The first confirmed trapping in
Texas will trigger an emergency
plan though it stilt is being
designed and has yet to get state
he has realized he can't please
everyone.
He constantly is reminded of
his duties by two roommates
who are executive officers.
"We've always been really good
friends" he said. Doug Hall SA
executive treasurer said the two
years he has lived with Heyen
have been great. "He was the
preppiest farmer I'd ever seen"
said Hall about meeting Heyen
as a freshman.
funding.
" 'Officials have notified bee- v
keepers of the first step in the inter-agency
Texas Honey Bee
Management Plan a quarantine
keeping anyone from moving bees
out of the state's eight southern-
most counties said John Fick one
of the state's two apiary inspectors
with the Texas Agricultural Ex-
periment Station.
Beekeepers will be called upon
to make sure their queens remain
European because the queens nave
the greatest effect on the colony's
genetic makeup. Researchers be-
lieve European bees moderate the
Africanized bees' behavior through
interbreeding
Scientists will keep an eye on
South Texas and northern Mexico
and destroy as many Africanized
swarm as possible to slow their
progress and buy time for research
Collins said.
"We're not going to try and sit
on the border and destroy every
swarm that comes across" Collins
said. "This is an attempt to reduce
these first pioneer swarms. But at
some point we're going to be
overwhelmed."
Professional beekeepers are wor-
ried public fear of the bees could
cause a backlash in strict regulation
RobynStulUOptlmM
He's been successful in look-
ing different than a farmboy
and this summer Heyen will try
his hand at looking Texan as he
begins to establish Texas
residency. He has applied to
Texas medical schools and leans
toward a pediatrics specialty.
Someday he will tell his pa-
tients about growing up on a
Kansas farm and they too will
be surprised.
by Rebekah Gibbs
Texas
of hives particularly near cities.
Scientists and beekeepers shun
the "killer bee" appellation and
the Texas Beekeepers Association
has launched a public relations
campaign to tell people the Afri-
canized bee will not be out sear-
ching for victims. Fifteen to 20
people already die in the United
States each year from allergic reac-
tions to bee stings the association
points out.
"There has been enough publici-
ty that it's a killer bee and they've
used the science fiction the movie
version and people believe that
stuff" said Marilee Mace w.ho
operates a crop pollination
business in Edinburg with her
husband Glenn president of the
beekeepers association.
"You'd be surprised. Now when
anybody sees several bee hives
together they say 'Get those out of
here they must be bad' " Mrs.
Mace said.
Collins said beekeepers will re-
main the strongest line of defense.
"It's very important that we
keep a healthy beekeeping in-
dustry because if we lose those
bees then we have to live with
whatever has moved into that
void" she said. "And we don't
want to do that."
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The Optimist (Abilene, Tex.), Vol. 78, No. 55, Ed. 1, Wednesday, April 25, 1990, newspaper, April 25, 1990; Abilene, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101576/m1/3/: accessed April 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Abilene Christian University Library.