Bedbugs return to the Spa City

Posted at: 09/21/2012 5:25 PM
By: Dan Bazile

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SARATOGA SPRINGS -- For Teresa Grocki, it's no the tiny vampires that caused a lot of commotion at Stonequist Apartments in Saratoga Springs, are back.

"I don't think that this type of insect is the type of insect that you can eradicate easily," Grocki said.

She's lived there for the past five years. She was very vocal last year about what she said was an infestation of bedbugs and that management wasn't doing enough to get rid of them.

"It affected me personally. When I flicked a bed bug at two in the morning off my pillow and off my neck, I got very upset," Grocki added.

"But we never had the kind of infestation it was played up to be," Board of Commissioners Chairman Eric Weller said.

Weller said the whole thing was blown out of proportion. Since then, building management brought in an exterminator and they've also developed a pest management program.

"It's called Integrated Pest Management which we got from Cornell University," Weller told Newschannel 13. "They're anthologists and we're working with them as a demonstration site."

But the exterminator recently came back to deal with more bed bugs. Management said they expected some of the bed bugs to return and the only way to deal with them is eternal vigilance. They said they're hitchhikers. You can have a clean building one day and bed bugs the next. However, this time officials said they were only found in three apartments and the situation is under control.

"It's not a building wide infestation. It's been very localize and we've gone after it immediately," Weller said.

"I'm not angry they're back. I am trying to remain calm," Grocki stated.

Stonequist Apartments has a contract with the exterminator, according to Weller. They guarantee to come back often to treat the building.