MONDAY: APRIL 30, 2012 75 ¢RENOdailynews.com

Reno Daily News

Terrence McSwain in mourning at funeral for

fellow police officer William Grant, 44.

NEWS 5

A flock of pelicans takes up residence at Roosevelt Lake.

LIFESTYLE 3

West Town High School captures state

title in dramatic fashion with 21-14 win over

Bellebrook. SPORTS 2

Fire officials say Reno fire destroys 32 homes

PHOTO: David B. Parker/AP

PHOTO: Eileen Sullivan PHOTO: Mark Ephrom PHOTO: Matt Murphy

PHOTO: Steven Jones

Water from a fire department hose forms a cloud above a home burning during the Caughlin Fire in southwest Reno.

University researchers say more studies are neeeded before banning neonicotinoids.

By REBECCA HARRINGTON

A recent research breakthrough may have discovered the main culprit behind a worldwide disappearance of bees, plac-ing the blame of a type of insecticide. More than 1 million people have signed a petition to ban neonicotinoids produced by Bayer CropScience — a leading pes-ticide producer — which are suspected to cause Colony Collapse Disorder in bees. But University of Minnesota re-searchers who have studied the effects of neonicotinoids for years say more research is needed before the Environ-mental Protection Agency approves such a ban. Bee pollination of agricultural crops, like fruits, vegetables and field crops, ac-counts for about a third of the U.S. diet, according to the petition. CCD is marked by the disappearance of bees from the hive, often leading to the collapse of the colony. Since more than a third of produced food needs pol-linators like bees, it has been a hot topic for the beekeeping community, said Judy

All-male corps performs to Mozart’s Requiem

Texas Ballet Theater puts new spin on performancesBy LEONARD EUREKA

In his six years with Texas Ballet Theater, artistic director Ben Stevenson has led the company back from the abyss. Before he arrived, TBT was broke, leaderless, and with dwindling audiences. But he quickly rallied regional support and played his trump cards gathered over 25 years, several glittering productions that he created for the Houston Ballet while artistic director there. In addition to the classics, such as Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, and The Nutcracker, Stevenson also put on his versions of Peer Gynt, Cleopatra, and Dracula, simultaneously revitalizing TBT’s repertory and drawing new fans. His ace of trumps was a corps of bright young dancers from Houston’s Ben Stevenson Academy, who followed him here and joined the company. They brought new life and panache to performances and a unified look to productions. To celebrate these dancers, Stevenson put together an unusual program in Dallas last weekend that segregated the sexes and allowed them to shine separately. The opening section offered the second act of Swan Lake, essentially an all-female scene, followed by the Flower Festival pas de deux by Danish choreographer August Bournonville. After intermission came the world premiere of Stevenson’s extraordinary setting of the Mozart Requiem, for an all-male corps. On hearing the word “requiem,” some people might think solemn, heavy, and mournful, a bummer. But the Mozart music is alive. Grieving moments give way to joy, affirmation, majesty, even frenzy, especially in the headlong flight of the Dies Irae, “Day of Judgment, Day of Wrath.” Stevenson captured the moods of the 14 sections in unexpected dance combinations, ignoring the text for the most part and just exploring the music. The piece opened on a bare stage; the peeling wall of the Majestic Theater the only backdrop. Ten men dressed in close-fitting trousers, crewneck t-shirts, and dangling dog tags were clustered in the center, each with an arm raised,

Please See BALLET, 3APlease See BEE, 3EPlease See MOTORCYCLE, 2C

Please See FIRE, 2B

By JASON SCHIND

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — A Utah motorcyclist who was pinned under a burning car after a collision expressed his gratitude Tuesday for the help of strangers who lifted the 4,000 pound vehicle to rescue him. “I’m just very thankful for everyone that helped me out,” Brandon Wright told The Associated Press by telephone from his hospital bed. “They saved my life.” Authorities said Wright, 21, was riding his motorcycle Monday near the Utah State University campus in Logan when he collided with a black BMW that was pulling out of a parking lot. Tire and skid marks on the highway indicate that Wright laid the bike down and slid along the road before colliding with the car, Assistant Police Chief Jeff Curtis said. The bike hit the car’s hood and bounced to the ground, while Wright, who was not wearing helmet, slid under the car and then both vehicles burst into flames, Curtis said. Wright was trapped beneath the burn-ing car. A group of about 10 men and women rushed to help, tilting the car up to free him and pull him to safety. “Every one of those people put their

ing shooting a promotional video for the school when he looked out of the window and saw black smoke billowing from the road. “I turned the camera toward it and started to record,” said Garff, adding that Wright’s motorcycle was engulfed in flames. “It was a remarkable thing to see 10 to 12 people lift that car and pull him out.” The video show a crowd gathering

PHOTO: Craig Aleman/AP

PHOTO: Michael Reilly

Brandon Wright, 21, a student at Utah State University was pulled free by construction workers after the horrific crash.

Honeybees fill a hive at Golden Angels Apiary in Singers Glen, Va.

Lab debates insecticide’s role in bee-colony demise

lives in danger,” Curtis said. “Those people are heroes. You can only specu-late what the outcome would have been if they hadn’t lifted that car and waited for the emergency service personnel to get up there.” Construction workers from a campus building project also grabbed fire extin-guishers to try and put out the flames. Chris Garff, a media production specialist for the university, caught the rescue on video. The 31-year-old was on the 9th floor of a university build-

By ALEX SALINA

RENO, Nev. — The estimated num-ber of homes destroyed in a wind-fueled wildfire more than doubled on Saturday to a total of 32, but Gov. Brian Sandoval said it’s a miracle scores more weren’t lost. A re-evaluation of the 2,000-acre burn on Saturday found much more destruction and damage than initially reported, Reno Fire Chief Mike Hernan-dez said. The unusual, out-of-season blaze spread by gale-force winds and ripped through the Sierra foothills early Friday, forcing the evacuation of nearly 10,000 people. Most started returning to their homes Saturday afternoon. “This was not only a wild land, urban-interface type fire, it was also a metro fire where we had homes that were actively burning in densely popu-lated areas,” Hernandez said. Many families “had to leave in the middle of the night with very, very limited posses-sions and they are coming back to devastation, to nothing,” he said. “So our hearts and prayers go out to those families.” The governor said after a helicopter tour of the area Saturday that while the loss of homes was tragic, the 400 firefighters on the lines are heroes for saving more than 4,000 houses that could have burned

in the blaze investigators suspect was started by arcing power lines. “When you see something like that, you can’t help but be struck by the awe-some and random power of nature,” San-doval said about the blackened path of the fire that snaked along the edge of the foothills, sometimes burning one home to the ground while neighboring houses on either side went untouched. “It is nothing short of a miracle the amount of homes that have been saved,” he said. “We’re right around the corner

from Thanksgiving and I think we in this community have a lot to be thankful for.” Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., agreed. “There are a lot of people we need thank that it wasn’t worse than it was,” he said after his tour Saturday. Reno Mayor Bob Cashell praised the firefighters for a quick response and thanked the numerous communities — from sometimes hundreds of miles away for dispatching crews and engines to help. “This fire was out of control the sec-

ond it started, but in a short time the first responders were there and everybody stepped up,” Cashell said. “Elko, Fal-lon, Fernley — everyone who had a fire truck, they sent it.” Hernandez said there’s no official cause yet, but all signs point to the power lines. He said investigators ruled out the possibility that teenage partiers or a homeless campfire was to blame. The fire was 80 percent contained Saturday and should be fully mopped up by the middle of next week, fire officials said.

Rep. Mark Amodei, R-Nev., said he was impressed by the coordinated effort by so many different agencies, especially far removed from the normal summer wildfire season in Nevada. “You don’t appreciate it until you have the major metropolitan area in the northern Nevada being threatened by wildfire in late November,” he said. Kristina Wright, 22, was among the evacuees returning Saturday to her home, which was not damaged. She said she fell asleep Thursday night listen-ing to the TV weatherman’s forecast for possible snow on the valley floor where she lives on edge of the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. “I thought I’d wake up to scrape my windshield not be told to evacuate be-cause there was a fire behind my house,” Wright said. More than two miles separated some of the damaged homes as the winds with gusts in excess of 70 mph spread burn-ing embers down the Sierra front and through a patchwork of canyons and ravines on the city’s southwest side. “I watched a house catch on fire on the ridge,” said Wright, who lives in a neighborhood just below the aptly named Windy Hill about five miles south of the downtown casino district. “It was like a tornado,” she told The Associated Press. “I couldn’t stand up. I couldn’t even open my car door without it slamming me.” “The deputy said ‘Go get your ani-mals and call into work. Your neighbor-hood is next. With the way the winds are

Motorcyclist saved by heroes who lifted car

Wu, a graduate student who researches neonicotinoids at the University’s Bee Lab. “There’s a lot of different research saying a lot of different things, and I think that’s not enough evidence for the EPA to ban a particular class,” Wu said. Proponents of the EPA petition, however, hold that neonicotinoids are the main cause of CCD. Neonicotinoids are among the few systemic insecticides, meaning they get into every part of the plant, which is why they can be a problem for bees — they can get into the pollen. Ninety percent of the agricultural

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When you see something like

that, you can’t help but be struck by

the awesome and random power of

nature