Corona Medfly Spraying Called a Success : Agriculture: The city is quiet during the first of up to eight aerial applications of malathion over an 18-square-mile area. Approaching storm may hamper effectiveness.

RIVERSIDE —  As the dispute over the aerial spraying of malathion over Corona and Norco continues, state agriculture officials declared the first airborne application of the Medfly-killing insecticide to be a trouble-free success.

Officials said Wednesday that the effectiveness of the malathion might be compromised by an approaching rainstorm because heavy downpours may wash away the corn syrup bait. But officials plan as many as seven more air attacks on the Medfly between now and June to try to eradicate the destructive pest from the area.

The next aerial spraying will occur in about three weeks, said Larry Hawkins, spokesman for the joint state-federal Cooperative Medfly Project.

A trio of malathion-laden helicopters flew tediously over an 18-square-mile area of Corona and Norco for 4 1/2 hours, finishing just after 1:30 a.m. Wednesday. Officials from both Corona City Hall and the Medfly Project said they were pleased there were no disruptions of the flyovers.

“It was an extraordinary quiet evening,” said Corona City Manager Bill Garrett.

Corona City Hall had received several anonymous phone calls from people threatening to shoot the helicopters out of the sky as they passed over, Garrett said. “I never did think our law-abiding citizens were going to resort to those kinds of actions,” he said.

About 3,500 people called the Medfly hot-line telephone number Tuesday to ask about the spraying, and a minority of those leveled complaints, Hawkins said.

“That was about what we expected,” he said.

Among the most common subjects of complaints heard by state and city officials alike were the number of helicopters over Corona and Norco on Tuesday evening. In addition to the three spraying aircraft flying at an altitude of about 500 feet, and a command chopper that tailed behind, six media helicopters flittered above them to shoot video.

“I’ve gotten calls up the kazoo about all those helicopters,” said Corona City Councilman Jeff Bennett. “Everyone thought it was crazy.”

The most significant complaints to City Hall were allegations that the Medfly helicopters spewed the malathion-laced bait outside the designated spray zone.

Hawkins said spray monitors worked through the night to watch where the droplets fell and found nothing amiss. The helicopters were directed by a satellite guidance system that indicated to the pilots where to begin and conclude each pass, he said.

The operation lasted longer than the expected 3 1/2 hours, Hawkins said, because the pilots decided to return twice--instead of just once--to March Air Force Base near Riverside to refuel.

Even before the operation began, the city was unusually still. Waitresses at local restaurants complained of poor business, and once the flying began, the normal flow of calls to the Corona Police Department all but stopped.

“The status board is all green,” Police Lt. Sam Spiegel remarked at one point in the evening. “That means we’ve got no calls, and every one of our units in the field is free. That’s unusual.”

Wednesday morning, local carwashes were busy cleaning vehicles of the pinkish-brown droplets, about the size of pinheads.

Corona city maintenance crews showed up for work early Wednesday to hose down play equipment in city parks and water the grass to dilute the malathion, Garrett said. “We want people to feel safe in the parks,” he said.

Garrett said the city plans to challenge additional sprayings. It maintains that the long-term public health effects of malathion are unknown.

The state said the spraying was necessary to keep the Medfly from jeopardizing the state’s $18-billion agriculture industry.