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From: "Smith, Ray" <RSmith@co.humboldt.ca.us>
To: Richard Childers <fscked@sbcglobal.net>
Subject: RE: Update: Fortuna: 137 12th Street, #4A
Thread-Topic: Update: Fortuna: 137 12th Street, #4A
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Date: Fri, 18 Jul 2014 15:32:45 +0000
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Hello Richard,
Yes we also confirmed the bugs are bedbugs.  I am back in the office today,=
 and will contact Gary Goade (City of Fortuna).  We will require that the p=
roperty owner provide pest service for all four units in your complex.  Cal=
l with questions.=20
Ray

Raymond Smith, REHS II
Humboldt County Environmental Health
Consumer Protection Program
707-268-2232


-----Original Message-----
From: Richard Childers [mailto:fscked@sbcglobal.net]=20
Sent: Tuesday, July 15, 2014 3:28 PM
To: Smith, Ray
Subject: Re: Update: Fortuna: 137 12th Street, #4A

Ray,

I took a sample to the Humboldt County Department of Agriculture office, at=
 the Humboldt Hill exit off 101.

They confirmed the diagnosis - bedbugs. They offered to send them to the st=
ate if I needed a written confirmation.

The exterminator, David, from Woods Pest Control, was here today for an ons=
ite inspection. He confirmed bedbugs in our apartment and the one next to u=
s on the first floor. The guy above us, on the second floor, wouldn't let h=
im in. That's a separate topic - I'm not sure he'll let you in, either.

David noticed bedbugs in the front unit, too, and maybe other units - you'd=
 need to call him and ask. I was not able to get an invoice.

PPM, the property management company, is delaying - they are scheduling ano=
ther inspection by a competing company, Terminex, looking for the cheapest =
deal. I have expressed my frustration at their indifference to what, to me,=
 is a question of public health.

I found several bedbugs in the frame of my kids' bunkbed. I haven't taken t=
he second one apart yet, but I expect more.

My wife's sister is visiting from New Zealand. She grew up in China. She sa=
ys bedbugs were a problem when she was a teenager, in the 1970s. She says s=
he remembers her grandmother pouring boiling water onto furniture to exterm=
inate bedbugs. I thought I'd share that with you - low-tech, but perhaps  n=
ot to be discarded too quickly.


Regards,

~richard


On 07/13/14 13:06, Richard Childers wrote:
> Ray,
>
> Thanks for coming out to see our pest problem, Friday morning.
>
> I'm looking forward to hearing what your entomologist says about the=20
> identity of the insects.
>
> The (1) feces marks on the box spring mattress that we disposed of,=20
> the (2) nocturnal, (3) biting habits of the insects in question, the
> (4) presence of eggs in the seams of the box spring mattress, and the
> (5) anatomy of the organism in question - extremely flat and=20
> red-orange in color - all these attributes strongly suggest, to me, an=20
> infestation of bedbugs.
>
> I recall your saying that the size made the identification suspect -=20
> that they were too large to bed bedbugs.
>
> However, Wikipedia reports that adult bedbugs can be up to 3/16" of an=20
> inch in size - that's almost a quarter inch.
>
> My sense is that the property manager at the time - Richard Henson, at=20
> last report, residing in Rio Dell - did something to get rid of all=20
> the adult bugs, but didn't get all of the eggs with his low-cost=20
> approach to pest control. The resulting eggs hatched shortly after we=20
> moved in, and are now adults, laying eggs and creating the second=20
> generation.
>
> (Mr. Henson is semi-illiterate; he dropped out of school some time=20
> around the 4th grade, if his spelling is any indication.)
>
> This second generation of bedbugs was interrupted, in my wife's room,=20
> but it's likely to be flourishing elsewhere in the building.
>
> Why would it not?
>
>
> I am writing, now, because although my wife did a stellar job of=20
> cleaning a significant portion of her room ... I just found another=20
> bug, on the wall, n her room.
>
> I promptly sprayed it with poison and left it where it was for the=20
> exterminator to identify.
>
> When you were inspecting the room you noticed one bug - wedged in the=20
> exact corner of the bedroom, behind the door, where the two walls and=20
> their intersecting floor trims created a tiny corner - and, I recall,=20
> you pointed it out to your companion, the Fortuna property inspector.
> We all assumed it was dead and left it there to see if the=20
> exterminator would see it.
>
> I looked, this morning, and noticed that the bug in the corner was=20
> gone. Perhaps I should have sprayed it.
>
>
> And so I am confident, again, that there is an infestation of bedbugs=20
> forming - and that there is enough evidence to warrant intervention.
>
> I say this because I suspect there is resistance against saying this -=20
> but, as scientists, and engineers, and public health professionals ...
> we all know that the problem has to be described before it can be solved.
>
> (Probably the starkest illustration of the problem is to spray the=20
> bedbugs where one finds them, and gradually, let a mosaic grow, and=20
> grow, and grow, in size, and density ... until it can be photographed,=20
> and shared. But that's a long time to wait - it's not in the interests=20
> of public health to wait that long, I feel.)
>
> It's my unpleasant duty to be point man, and it's your unpleasant duty=20
> to pass the word to your management ... but I'm convinced we need to=20
> get a handle on this. This cannot possibly be the only outbreak in=20
> Humboldt County.
>
> We need to get the word out - educate people, so they recognize it=20
> when they see it, and so they respond to the problem in an informed=20
> fashion, instead of hysteria, and bigotry, and political grand-standing.
>
> Why?
>
> Because the same people who live in the tenements down on the Fortuna=20
> flats, work up the nice houses, up on the hills - and it's only a=20
> matter of time until there are outbreaks of bedbugs in the nicest=20
> parts of town (the ones that are, technically, outside of city limits
> - but that's why it' a county-wide problem, and not just a=20
> Fortuna-specific issue - because bedbugs don't respect legal boundaries).
>
> It might have already happened. Your comrade from Fortuna mentioned=20
> seeing something like that on his arm, outside his house. We segued=20
> into a discussion about not taking dogs to Samoa Beach any more. But=20
> the bedbugs could already be spreading.
>
> I hate to use the word "proactive" - but as a computer guy, what I do=20
> is look for problems, open tickets describing those problems, assign=20
> them to myself, and then fix them. Ideally I fix the problem before=20
> the customers even know it exists. My customers rarely understand what=20
> I do for them - but the few that do know that I am looking out for=20
> them, and they appreciate it. They tend to be very technical people,=20
> like myself.
>
> It seems to me that we need to be proactive about this infestation.
>
>
> It would be nice to light a fire under Richard Henson and see what he=20
> did and what he really knows, but I don't know if there is legal=20
> authority for a criminal probe.
>
> He already has a criminal record, if it's germane.
>
>
> Regards,
>
> ~richard
> 707-725-7995
>

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