X-Mozilla-Status: 0001 X-Mozilla-Status2: 00800000 X-Mozilla-Keys: Message-ID: <53C95C44.2060707@sbcglobal.net> Date: Fri, 18 Jul 2014 10:41:24 -0700 From: Richard Childers User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; FreeBSD i386; rv:10.0.3) Gecko/20120327 Thunderbird/10.0.3 MIME-Version: 1.0 To: "Smith, Ray" Subject: Re: Update: Fortuna: 137 12th Street, #4A References: <53C2E6C0.5070206@sbcglobal.net> <53C5AADB.80902@sbcglobal.net> In-Reply-To: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Thank you, sir. It appears that the infestation is in all of the buildings - even the laundry room - that's seven buildings, total. The manager told me she saw a bedbug on the wall in there, a few days ago. I've been speaking with my sister-in-law, who is visiting here from New Zealand. She is astonished at the lack of government involvement. In New Zealand there would be a tribunal hearing conflicts over housing and ordered renumeration - no lawyer, no $5000 fee up front, no long, drawn-out civil action required. She said that there were also laws which imposed certain requirements upon those whom would rent buildings to other citizens, including a detailed inspection by the local government, before the property could be rented, each time, before it was rented - and if the owner ceased cooperating with the government requirements, their license for renting their property was withdrawn. There are people here who work at either Safeway or Ray's, as well as people who work at Burger King, Dollar Tree, and who knows where else. The risk to the public - what the British like to call 'the commonwealth' - is enormous. It would seem there are good reasons for the government to interest itself in this arena. Thanks, again, ~richard On 07/18/14 08:32, Smith, Ray wrote: > 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 property owner provide pest service for all four units in your complex. Call with questions. > Ray > > Raymond Smith, REHS II > Humboldt County Environmental Health > Consumer Protection Program > 707-268-2232 > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Richard Childers [mailto:fscked@sbcglobal.net] > 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 state if I needed a written confirmation. > > The exterminator, David, from Woods Pest Control, was here today for an onsite inspection. He confirmed bedbugs in our apartment and the one next to us on the first floor. The guy above us, on the second floor, wouldn't let him 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 another 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 the second one apart yet, but I expect more. > > My wife's sister is visiting from New Zealand. She grew up in China. She says bedbugs were a problem when she was a teenager, in the 1970s. She says she remembers her grandmother pouring boiling water onto furniture to exterminate bedbugs. I thought I'd share that with you - low-tech, but perhaps not 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 >> identity of the insects. >> >> The (1) feces marks on the box spring mattress that we disposed of, >> 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 >> red-orange in color - all these attributes strongly suggest, to me, an >> infestation of bedbugs. >> >> I recall your saying that the size made the identification suspect - >> that they were too large to bed bedbugs. >> >> However, Wikipedia reports that adult bedbugs can be up to 3/16" of an >> inch in size - that's almost a quarter inch. >> >> My sense is that the property manager at the time - Richard Henson, at >> last report, residing in Rio Dell - did something to get rid of all >> the adult bugs, but didn't get all of the eggs with his low-cost >> approach to pest control. The resulting eggs hatched shortly after we >> moved in, and are now adults, laying eggs and creating the second >> generation. >> >> (Mr. Henson is semi-illiterate; he dropped out of school some time >> around the 4th grade, if his spelling is any indication.) >> >> This second generation of bedbugs was interrupted, in my wife's room, >> 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 >> cleaning a significant portion of her room ... I just found another >> bug, on the wall, n her room. >> >> I promptly sprayed it with poison and left it where it was for the >> exterminator to identify. >> >> When you were inspecting the room you noticed one bug - wedged in the >> exact corner of the bedroom, behind the door, where the two walls and >> their intersecting floor trims created a tiny corner - and, I recall, >> 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 >> exterminator would see it. >> >> I looked, this morning, and noticed that the bug in the corner was >> gone. Perhaps I should have sprayed it. >> >> >> And so I am confident, again, that there is an infestation of bedbugs >> forming - and that there is enough evidence to warrant intervention. >> >> I say this because I suspect there is resistance against saying this - >> 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 >> bedbugs where one finds them, and gradually, let a mosaic grow, and >> grow, and grow, in size, and density ... until it can be photographed, >> and shared. But that's a long time to wait - it's not in the interests >> of public health to wait that long, I feel.) >> >> It's my unpleasant duty to be point man, and it's your unpleasant duty >> to pass the word to your management ... but I'm convinced we need to >> get a handle on this. This cannot possibly be the only outbreak in >> Humboldt County. >> >> We need to get the word out - educate people, so they recognize it >> when they see it, and so they respond to the problem in an informed >> fashion, instead of hysteria, and bigotry, and political grand-standing. >> >> Why? >> >> Because the same people who live in the tenements down on the Fortuna >> flats, work up the nice houses, up on the hills - and it's only a >> matter of time until there are outbreaks of bedbugs in the nicest >> 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 >> Fortuna-specific issue - because bedbugs don't respect legal boundaries). >> >> It might have already happened. Your comrade from Fortuna mentioned >> seeing something like that on his arm, outside his house. We segued >> into a discussion about not taking dogs to Samoa Beach any more. But >> the bedbugs could already be spreading. >> >> I hate to use the word "proactive" - but as a computer guy, what I do >> is look for problems, open tickets describing those problems, assign >> them to myself, and then fix them. Ideally I fix the problem before >> the customers even know it exists. My customers rarely understand what >> I do for them - but the few that do know that I am looking out for >> them, and they appreciate it. They tend to be very technical people, >> 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 >> did and what he really knows, but I don't know if there is legal >> authority for a criminal probe. >> >> He already has a criminal record, if it's germane. >> >> >> Regards, >> >> ~richard >> 707-725-7995 >> > This e-mail message and any attachments are intended only for the use of the addressee named above and may contain information that is privileged, confidential and exempt from disclosure under applicable law. If you are not the intended recipient, please reply to sender to announce the error, and then delete this message. You are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying or distribution of this message is strictly prohibited and may result in criminal or civil charges. Thank you.