Bees and bedbugs invade dorm rooms

While the pesticide spraying on Aug 28th neutralized any threat of West Nile Virus-infected mosquitos invading Eastern’s campus, other nuisances were already leaving their mark, literally.

Less than two weeks apart, infestations of bees and bedbugs in Gallup and Sparrowk halls, respectively, were discovered and treated by exterminators.

Before most students returned to campus, housekeeping discovered several dead bees in a room in Gallup D and informed plant operations.

“They were discovered and eradicated,” Executive Director of Campus Services Carl Altomare said.

As soon as we were aware of them we had our exterminator company make sure they were gone,” Altomare said.

The bees had infiltrated one of the room’s walls and built a large nest. Sophomore Sam Gillett, who serves as the RA of Gallup D said he would guess a couple hundred bees were in the walls, due to the large piece taken out of the wall to remove the bees.

“Apparently, Gallup has had a lot of bee problems,” Gillett said.

This is not the first time Gallup has encountered this type of resident.

Last year bees were discovered in Gallup B while students were living in the room.

“We had to work with that,” Gallup RD and Housing Coordinator Leah Mulhearn said. “People living there made it more challenging. [The bees] seem to like the walls. They are real, traditional drywall walls, with space for them to get in there.”

The situation delayed Gillett’s checking and cleaning of the room a few days but was cleared up before its current residents moved onto campus.

Junior Thea Lamberson, who lives in Sparrowk, wishes the same could be said of the bedbugs discovered in her room.

Being a student chaplain, she moved in two weeks before most students and found the tiny critters in her sheets.

At first she didn’t realize they were bedbugs and killed the few she saw. A few days later, Lamberson said she started to feel itchy and found several red dots on her body.

“If they have someone to bite, they won’t look for another source,” Lamberson said. “I sacrificied my body for my roommate.”

On Aug. 29, Lamberson went to the Health Center to determine what was wrong. She said that the doctor appeared excited by the discovery, since he had never seen it before.

Lamberson and her roommate were forced to leave their rooms and move to different buildings. Their mattresses and mattress pads were burnt, while their belongings were packed in air-tight garbage bags.

Treatment involves three seperate sprayings over a four week time span, so Lamberson cannot move back to Sparrowk for another month.