Beekeeper who stole headlines during the OJ trial

Veils off to David Mendes, a beekeeper from Florida, who in 1994 managed to block the New York State Thruway for hours when he had an accident and his migrating beehives took flight from his vehicle. It happened during the OJ Simpson trial and Mr Mendes stole top billing on the news for a while. “People just love to hear about bee disasters”, he says.

This little nugget of an anecdote appears in an excellent New York Times article on migratory beekeeping. Here's another excerpt:

Each spring, the Hackenburgs and a dozen or so other East Coast beekeepers embark on a six-month journey from Florida to Maine. Along the way they stop in orange groves in Florida, apple orchards and squash and pumpkin fields in Pennsylvania, blueberry barrens in Maine, cranberry bogs in Massachusetts, clover fields in upstate New York and other places favored by bees. Farmers pay the beekeepers to place hives in blossoming fruit and vegetable fields.

The bees pollinate the plants (greatly improving crop yields), and the beekeepers keep the honey made from the collected nectar. Out West, a similar migration is made by beekeepers who drive through Texas, the Dakotas, California and Oregon.