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Judge Makes Ruling on Pesticide Use for Delta Family

by KREX News Room
by Amanda Brandeis

Story Created: Jul 8, 2012 at 6:24 PM MDT

Story Updated: Jul 9, 2012 at 8:31 AM MDT

DELTA COUNTY, Colo.- The Hopper family has lived in Hotchkiss for over 40 years.

In 2006 Georgia Hopper became extremely ill with West Nile virus, which she says still affects her today.

The Hoppers have been spraying their land with pesticides in order to prevent mosquitoes potentially carrying the deadly virus from breeding.

In 2010 their neighbors, Gordon MacAlpine and Rosemary Bilchak, took them to court in hopes of stopping their pesticide use completely.

MacAlpine has leukemia and says pesticides can suppress his immune system. The family also says the pesticides can cause their farm to lose organic status.

However, the Hoppers and their lawyers say their neighbors never had organic status to begin with.

The Hoppers say although the judge imposed some regulations on their pesticide use, they don’t see the ruling as a loss. They have already been doing many of the things the judge asked of them.

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