When Gov. Jay Inslee visited the fire ravaged communities of Bridegport, Malden, and a retirement center in Omak, he brought with him crates of honeycrisp apples grown at the governor's mansion to present as gifts to residents, apparently some sort of coddling, assuaging gesture, something like, "sorry you lost everything, here, have some apples I grew myself."

Oh, and they're riddled with apple maggot larvae.

Dandy.

It would be funny it if wasn't so serious.

Douglas County WA officials on their Facebook page:

I know he meant well, but how many decades have the sings been up all over the Interstates about leaving and entering apple maggot quarantine areas?

SounderBruce
SounderBruce
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These fast spreading, obnoxious insects can only be eradicated with massive pesticides, or in the worst cases, the campaign of cutting and burning trees needs to be deployed.

Of course he was trying to be compassionate and comforting, but that could seriously backfire as it appears Inslee's pretty much ignorant of fairly common Washington agriculture laws and policies, moreover, the lack of knowledge and oversight by his staff, could potentially lead to a major issue for some Washington apple growers and farmers.

There are 18 counties, mostly east of the Cascades, where it's illegal to bring in homegrown or hand picked apples, due to massive west side infestations of the apple maggots. These "clean" zones are where our state's second biggest crop is grown.

C'mon Jay, this looks worse than you in that mask exactly positioned in front of George Washington's face on the state seal, remember that one?

NWPB
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