Lightning Bug catchers say it was a dim season

The hot, dry weather that has typified this summer in Tennessee has been hard on people working outside, many crops, livestock, reservoir levels -- and now lightning bug catchers. Analytical Luminescence Labs buys bugs by the ounce and its buyer made his annual trip to Oak Ridge yesterday. The company uses organic material from the insects to test for bacterial contamination of food. The material is also used for genetic research into diseases, including cancer and Alzheimer's.

Buyer Dwight Sullivan says the insects don't like to come out in hot, dry weather. That's caused a slight increase in the price the lab pays for them -- ten dollars, 50 cents per ounce.

Judy Ward of Johnson City has been catching the bugs since the company started buying them. Ward says she and her children were catching more than a hundred per night last year. This year, it was closer to 25 each night.

They got only about 36 dollars for their bugs.