Beehive destroyed at school

Wednesday, March 29, 2000 | 10:43 a.m.

Students at Bryan Elementary School in northwest Las Vegas were kept inside the school Tuesday afternoon as bee experts destroyed a hive.

About 800 children remained in the school at Cielo Vista Avenue and West Lake Mead Boulevard while the hive was destroyed as a precaution against the threat of Africanized bees. No one was stung.

Nevada Agricultural Division expert Gina Stoneking said that most of Southern Nevada's bees -- at least 70 percent -- could be considered Africanized since their first appearance in Laughlin two years ago.

She said the more aggressive bees take over the nests of European honeybees.

State experts will determine whether the swarm at the elementary school is Africanized, the aggressive breed that attacked a Las Vegas woman on Monday and stung her at least 500 times.

This morning University Medical Center spokesmen said the 77-year-old woman, who has not been identified, was in serious condition. She had been listed in critical condition Monday after Las Vegas firefighters found her covered in bees at Maryland Parkway and the U.S. 95 overpass.

Once Las Vegas Fire Department crews hosed the bees away, the woman was taken to UMC, where doctors removed the stingers with tweezers and duct tape.