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Date: Mon, 01 Sep 2014 14:58:10 -0700
From: Richard Childers <fscked@sbcglobal.net>
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To: ray.smith@co.humboldt.ca.us
Subject: An update on 137 12th Street, Fortuna CA 95540
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Ray,

We spoke last a few months ago, when I was trying to convince the 
management of 137 12th Street to spray for bedbugs.

(And thanks, again, for coming out to see the problem, firsthand.)

An update on that: the apartment management delayed for several weeks 
while they got several opinions from several different exterminators. 
Several of the exterminators found signs of infestation in all of the 
buildings. The manager of the apartment complex said she saw a bedbug 
crawling on the wall of the laundry room, too.

The apartment complex management replaced the manager - and sought other 
exterminators.

They settled on Terminex - which came all the way from Redding.

The first time Terminex came they forgot a sprayhead. They also did not 
remove the wall plates and spray behind the walls, in the cavities - 
removing the wall plates was the property owner's job ... the property 
owner had delegated it to the tenants, most of whom did not have 
screwdrivers ... and so a low-grade application of toxins resulted, 
perhaps none at all - I'm not sure.

The second time, Terminex did it right, as far as I know - again, I 
wasn't inside, when they were. A spirited debate had convinced the 
apartment management that it was their responsibility not to put small 
children at risk with exposed electrical outlets and switches.

I have a request in to the maintenance guy as well as PPM, the property 
managers - both requests in writing - for an update on the status of the 
extermination effort. I have received no reply to my questions.

I will call Terminex next, and see what they have to say about the 
situation.

School has started. It does not seem unreasonable to be concerned about 
the children at 137 12th Street taking bedbugs to school.

I discussed this with the secretary of the local elementary school last 
week and learned that there had been a girl coming to the school last 
year, from the apartment complex, who had been covered with bedbug bites.

If this is the same girl that lived in the apartment before us, her last 
name would be (based upon mails erroneously delivered to this address) 
"Utterback" - and it would seem that she is at risk for child abuse - if 
having one's household infested with bedbugs is a form of child abuse, 
that is.


Regards,

~richard
707-725-7995