Pest Control

There are "natural" approaches to flea control that can be quite effective if used routinely once a pet is free from parasites. In his excellent book, Dr. Pitcairn's Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats ($10.96, Rodale Press, Emmaus, Pa. 18049), Richard Pitcairn, a holistic veterinarian, recommends first that the animal be bathed frequently with a natural pet shampoo that contains flea- and insect-repellent herbs, such as rosemary, rue, wormwood, pennyroyal, eucalyptus and citronella.

Sydney performed flawlessly. She honed in on her target, sniffing with trained sensitivity for just one substance. Not cocaine. Not guns. Termites. Sydney, an 18-month-old beagle, is one of about a dozen dogs on the East Coast trained to detect termites even before the insects make visible mud tunnels, according to her owner, Thomas M. Reardon, who owns Reardon Associates, Ltd., a Wilmington pest control company. The dog, trained by an Annapolis, Md., dealer to detect wood-destroying insects such as termites and carpenter ants, can pick up the distinctive odor behind walls or under floors.

Margaret Hsiang was bugged by the roach she found in her school locker a few years ago. Hsiang, who will be a senior at Eastern Camden County Regional High School, was partly to blame since the six-legged visitor was after Doritos crumbs left there. "Pretty gross," said Hsiang, 16, of Voorhees. "I didn't go there for a day or two. " Since then, Hsiang has done much to eliminate roaches and other intruders, as well as promote safer pest-control strategies, at the Voorhees school.

Skunks have taken over several eastern Montgomery County towns. That's not a political statement. It's a smelly reality in these parts. Families of the black-and-white creatures have been spotted walking along roads in Jenkintown, Abington, Cheltenham and Springfield. Their signature, pungent odor permeates the air. And as the locals discover dens beneath their porches and decks and burrowed in the shrubbery, they are struggling with how to deal with this population. Most local animal-control officers are referring specific complaints to private pest-control firms that will trap and dispose of the skunks for a small fee - usually between $50 and $100.

Deborah Boroughs was driving to work west on the Schuylkill Expressway between the Vare and University Avenue exits when she saw a billboard showing a frightened middle-aged man perched on a chair with a phone to his ear. And the words: Ehrlich, The 911 of Pest Control. "My first reaction was that I didn't see that right, that no one could be that insensitive," the nurse from Wallingford said, shocked that a business would be exploiting the World Trade Center tragedy. So she looked again the next day. And she still saw exterminators using Sept.

Martin Overline, in charge of Penn's pest control, said he has seen as many as three hawks at once flying around the campus. Redtail hawks have adapted well to the urban environment, said Matt Sharp, Academy of Natural Sciences ornithologist. Mice are a big part of their diet, he said.

When Mount Laurel resident Frank Benedetti wanted to get rid of some pesky squirrels nesting above his bedroom last December, he turned to the Yellow Pages and . . . "let my fingers do the walking. " It took him only a few steps to reach All County Pest Control. Benedetti said he paid the firm's owners, Vincent and Gwen Meloni, $250 to remove the squirrels and received a one-year warranty against their return. But the squirrels, he said, did return. As for All County, its representatives returned once, then not at all. Yesterday, Burlington County Consumer Affairs director Renee Borstad announced that Benedetti was one of nine county residents who had complained to her office about All County, which lists numbers in the Cherry Hill, Cinnaminson, Delran, Marlton and Moorestown phone books.

Harry J. Otterson, 77, of Northeast Philadelphia, a former Philadelphia police officer who had a long career in the pest-control business and quite literally invented a better mouse trap, died Dec. 10 at his son's home in Trooper, Montgomery County, from complications of heart disease. For more than 20 years Mr. Otterson owned and operated the White Rose termite- and pest-control company, which served a six-county area in Central Pennsylvania. Mr. Otterson's slogan was, "If the bugs don't go, call Harry O," recalled his former wife, Agnes DeLacy, with whom he ran the business, and with whom he raised three children and six foster children.

Goodbye, pesticides. Hello, ladybugs. Lawmakers are considering legislation that would revolutionize pest control on school grounds, putting into practice methods that activist parents have been pushing for years, and that some school districts have already employed. The Pennsylvania legislature is poised to act this session on a bill that would require state school districts to control and reduce pesticide use through a concept called integrated pest management. Last week, U.S. Sen. Robert Torricelli (D., N.J.)

When the Chester County Health Department puts its restaurant inspections online in early January, the reports might offer a fuller appreciation of dining in the county. The Dilworthtown Inn is one of the most highly regarded restaurants in the county. But consider a Nov. 16, 2006 report by the Health Department's Bureau of Environmental Health Protection. In response to a complaint, an inspector found "many dead roach-like insects observed on glue boards in the basement," but none in the kitchen.

It is an enchanting spread, Blue Elephant Farm, 75 sloping acres, dappled with stone stables, a barn-red barn or two, the occasional sculpted elephant rising in the fields. This is where - on the outskirts of Newtown Square, Delaware County - the urban-farmhouse restaurant called Supper, at 10th and South, procures its "daily [vegetarian] harvest menu. " What Supper's chef Mitch Prensky picks that morning (well, he may skip a day or two), is what you get that night: See those waxy Romanian peppers?

The 90 or so landscapers toiling over the bent grass at Aronimink Golf Club for this week's AT&T National tournament aren't the only ones charged with keeping the course immaculate. Curled up in an office during most of the golfing hours and flitting about dozens of cedar-and-redwood nest boxes scattered around the course are, respectively, a border collie who runs Aronimink's Canada goose patrol, and flocks of bluebirds and swallows whose presence is courted for their insect-eating prowess.

Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square will work with West 8, a Dutch landscape architecture and urban design firm, to develop a comprehensive master plan to guide the famous public garden's growth over the next 40 years. The plan will address traffic and parking needs, pedestrian flow, facilities for expanded educational and fine arts offerings, maintenance and infrastructure, and ways to "expand the Longwood experience. " That could mean greater emphasis on technology and capitalizing on the garden's little-known assets, such as the 400-acre, working farm that was the original dairy farm of Longwood founder Pierre S. du Pont.

Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square will work with West 8, a Dutch landscape architecture and urban design firm, to develop a comprehensive master plan to guide the famous public garden's growth over the next 40 years. The plan will address traffic and parking needs, pedestrian flow, facilities for expanded educational and fine arts offerings, maintenance and infrastructure, and ways to "expand the Longwood experience. " That could mean greater emphasis on technology and capitalizing on the garden's little-known assets, such as the 400-acre, working farm that was the original dairy farm of Longwood founder Pierre S. du Pont.

Harry J. Otterson, 77, of Northeast Philadelphia, a former Philadelphia police officer who had a long career in the pest-control business and quite literally invented a better mouse trap, died Dec. 10 at his son's home in Trooper, Montgomery County, from complications of heart disease. For more than 20 years Mr. Otterson owned and operated the White Rose termite- and pest-control company, which served a six-county area in Central Pennsylvania. Mr. Otterson's slogan was, "If the bugs don't go, call Harry O," recalled his former wife, Agnes DeLacy, with whom he ran the business, and with whom he raised three children and six foster children.

When the Chester County Health Department puts its restaurant inspections online in early January, the reports might offer a fuller appreciation of dining in the county. The Dilworthtown Inn is one of the most highly regarded restaurants in the county. But consider a Nov. 16, 2006 report by the Health Department's Bureau of Environmental Health Protection. In response to a complaint, an inspector found "many dead roach-like insects observed on glue boards in the basement," but none in the kitchen.

Wesley G. Humphreys, 73, owner of Humphreys Exterminating Co., a self-made millionaire whose success story is one of rags to bugs, died of lymphoma Thursday at Abington Memorial Hospital. He lived in Meadowbrook, Abington Township. Mr. Humphreys, one of eight children, was born in Germantown on the brink of the Great Depression. His father lost his job and joined the Works Progress Administration, and soon the family moved to Atco, near strawberry fields. By age 8, Mr. Humphreys was picking berries 10 hours a day. By 15, he had worked at fruit and grocery stores, drugstores - anywhere he could get a job. Tired of dodging the truant officer, he quit school at 15 and worked as a soda jerk.

Deborah Boroughs was driving to work west on the Schuylkill Expressway between the Vare and University Avenue exits when she saw a billboard showing a frightened middle-aged man perched on a chair with a phone to his ear. And the words: Ehrlich, The 911 of Pest Control. "My first reaction was that I didn't see that right, that no one could be that insensitive," the nurse from Wallingford said, shocked that a business would be exploiting the World Trade Center tragedy. So she looked again the next day. And she still saw exterminators using Sept.

Every year, the ants came marching into the Upper Moreland High School band room. And every year, the school would try to get rid of them. Then the district discovered the problem wasn't with the ants - it was with the larger, snack-eating, teenage kind of pest. "The band is just notorious for sitting around and eating food," said Michael Braun, business manager for the Upper Moreland School District. "The same with the student council room. We just don't allow them to eat there anymore.

Flanked by educators and environmentalists, Gov. McGreevey yesterday signed what he called "a long overdue bill" stopping the use of chemical spraying in New Jersey for pest control - except as a last resort. If state-approved pesticides are used, school officials must notify each parent and staff member 72 hours in advance, and students will not be allowed onto school grounds until seven hours after their use. Environmentalists and educators hailed the new law as the toughest one in the country regulating schools' use of chemical sprays, which, in large doses, researchers have linked to cancer, asthma and nausea.