Scholar earns ECA award
Ryan Roman, a North Lenoir High School graduate, has been awarded a $750 scholarship by the Neuse Extension and Community Association Club.
Anne Gaddis, president of the Club, and Carolyn Sutton, chairwoman of the club’s Scholarship Committee, presented the scholarship.
Roman is enrolled at Lenoir Community College. He is the son of Steve and Lori Roman.
Gardening Guru: Fall fire ants are area problem
Our area is seeing numerous late season fire ant mounds. They build them in many places, including near buildings, trees, sidewalks and shrubbery.
Fire ant mounds can be recognized because there is no central opening, as compared to native ant mounds with a typical hole in the center.
Fire ants emerge quickly when disturbed and begin biting and stinging. They are dark reddish and brown in color and have shiny black abdomens. They vary in size from about one-sixteenth to about one-fourth of an inch.
Unlike other ants, fire ants will run up vertical surfaces.
Homeowners should consider treating with baits or mound drenches at this time of year. Lawns with fewer than five mounds in one-fourth of an acre can treat individual mounds, which gives quick knock down and helps preserve native ants.
It is less expensive for homeowners to treat the entire yard with a broadcast application if there are a high number of mounds.
Insect control chemicals used as active ingredients in fire ant baits include abamectin, fenoxycarb, fipronil, hydramethylnon, indoxacarb, metaflumizone, s-methoprene, pyriproxyfen and spinosad.
Hydramethylnon-based products will work very slowly as temperatures continue to drop. Indoxacarb bait will give faster knockdown of the mounds.
Check product labels before applying. Some fipronil-based granular insecticide products may restrict use to one (two pounds per acre) application per year.
Note these tips for applying bait: Fresh bait (less than a year old) is more effective; apply when ants are actively foraging for food, usually between 65 to 90 degrees F; broadcast when there is no chance of rain for a minimum of four hours.
Fire ants cannot be completely eliminated because not all infested areas can be treated. Look for the method that works best for you. Chemical control lasts as long as the insecticide is effective.
Re-infestation is common as new ant colonies move into the area.
Peg Godwin is horticulture agent, Lenoir County Cooperative Extension Center. Reach her at Peg_Godwin@ncsu.edu or 252-527-2191.
Lawyer joins Tryon Palace Commission
NEW BERN – Gov. Pat McCrory has appointed John C. Bircher of White & Allen, P.A. – a law firm in Kinston, New Bern and Snow Hill – as an at-large member of the North Carolina Tryon Palace Commission.
Bircher earned a Bachelor of Science from UNC and his Juris Doctor from the Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law at Campbell University. He is licensed to practice before all state and federal courts in North Carolina, the Northern District of Georgia and the state courts of Tennessee.
He is a member of the National Association of Bankruptcy Trustees, the Bankruptcy Sections of the North Carolina and Tennessee Bar Associations, The Eastern North Carolina Inn of Court and the Eastern Bankruptcy Institute. He was editor of the N.C. Bar Association Bankruptcy Section newsletter and The Disclosure Statement.
Bircher serves on the Bankruptcy Council for the NCBA, and is chairman of the CLE Committee. He is certified as a specialist in Business and Consumer Bankruptcy Law by the N.C. State Bar Board of Legal Specialization. He practices in the New Bern office.