North Texas

Good Samaritan Helps Elderly Woman Who Battled Bees for Years

North Texas neighbors have come to the aid of an elderly woman whose home was being surrounded by thousands of bees.

After battling the buzz for years she's finally almost free thanks to a good Samaritan.

The big thing about a city like Cleburne is a love for the home team. You can't go far without getting stung by Yellow Jacket Pride.

"It's yellow jacket. Not bee," Florence Lett chuckled.

That's an important distinction in one corner of Cleburne, where bees became all the buzz this week.

"Somebody over here got stung, because they go too close to the bees," Imanol Villegas said.

It's been an almost decade-long battle at Lett's house.

"They've been in the tree probably five years," Lett said. "It's been probably eight years ago they got in the house."

The 84-year-old sits safely in her house.

"I've had back surgery," she explained. "I have nine screws in my back."

Getting chased by bees is not an option for her, but they've had their run at others.

"They chased the girl that used come and feed the dog when I was in rehab," Lett recalled. "The mailman got to where he was afraid of the bees."

When the largest hive gutted the tree outside her house, it came crashing down and she needed help.

"I've spent over a thousand dollars on that tree," Lett said.

But help came from just across town.

"She had called and tried to get an exterminator and she couldn't afford it," Ted Dusten said.

As luck would have it, Dusten had just started his own bee removal and relocation program, and he was more than happy to help a neighbor in need.

"I really bless him because it's really expensive to get a beekeeper to remove bees, and he's just doing it for free," Lett said with a smile. "He's prince of a fellow. He really is."

He used his equipment to remove the bees and even most of the tree for free.

"I vacuumed about three pounds of bees," he explained. "Maybe 5,000 (bees)."

He helped save a house and hive all with human kindness, sending the bees to a new home.

"There's plenty of stuff for them to feed on and no one is going to mess with them," he explained.

There are still a new bees sticking around Lett's house.

"We're hoping they will just finally fly away and just relocate," she laughed.

In a city in love with the yellow jackets, maybe there's room for a few bees.

"Well, it doesn't sound as good to say, 'Go Bees,' you know," Lett laughed.

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