2008 Woodie Awards
Crickets' duration, not amount, reason for discomfort
Laura Acuff, Student Reporter
Issue date: 9/7/07 Section: News
- Page 1 of 3 next >
They invade the dorms, infiltrate classrooms and creep through corridors as they arrive each year by the thousands. But they are not students-they're crickets. Although the crickets are annual fall visitors in Abilene, because of the extensive rainfall
this year, residents can expect an even longer visitation from the winged insects, and ACU faculty and students are preparing for the duration.
"There are more crickets than people to deal with, so in that
sense, it's a struggle," said Bob Nevill, director of physical resources. "I don't know if it's any worse than it has been in the
past. It's longer. The difference between a million crickets and
1,200,000 crickets is really not observable so much, but the difference between a month infestation and two months is very
noticeable, so that's what we're aware of; that's the pressure."
Nevill said Physical Resources is limited in its response to the
problem. During the summer, lights around campus could be
turned off to discourage the bugs, but when students arrived,
safety concerns necessitated the lights stay on, making spraying insecticide and caulking cracks and holes in buildings the best of few remaining solutions.
"We don't like to use pesticides too much because it's an
indiscriminate killer," Nevill said. "It kills the beneficial insects as well as those we want to get rid of, so we have to be pretty careful about it."
Nevill also cited allergies of some students and faculty to the
chemicals used in insecticides as another deterrent to spraying,
especially indoors. After spraying, additional issues are presented by the crickets' decaying, odorous carcasses. In a few instances, the smell alone has been enough to drive faculty out of their offices until cleaning could be arranged, Nevill
asserted, and as still more rainfall continues to drive crickets indoors, insects dying where they cannot be found or extricated
unearths fresh concerns.
"I can hear them in the walls," said Jessica Williams, freshman undeclared major from Atlanta and Gardner resident. "They're in the building, they're in the walls, and that's not really
this year, residents can expect an even longer visitation from the winged insects, and ACU faculty and students are preparing for the duration.
"There are more crickets than people to deal with, so in that
sense, it's a struggle," said Bob Nevill, director of physical resources. "I don't know if it's any worse than it has been in the
past. It's longer. The difference between a million crickets and
1,200,000 crickets is really not observable so much, but the difference between a month infestation and two months is very
noticeable, so that's what we're aware of; that's the pressure."
Nevill said Physical Resources is limited in its response to the
problem. During the summer, lights around campus could be
turned off to discourage the bugs, but when students arrived,
safety concerns necessitated the lights stay on, making spraying insecticide and caulking cracks and holes in buildings the best of few remaining solutions.
"We don't like to use pesticides too much because it's an
indiscriminate killer," Nevill said. "It kills the beneficial insects as well as those we want to get rid of, so we have to be pretty careful about it."
Nevill also cited allergies of some students and faculty to the
chemicals used in insecticides as another deterrent to spraying,
especially indoors. After spraying, additional issues are presented by the crickets' decaying, odorous carcasses. In a few instances, the smell alone has been enough to drive faculty out of their offices until cleaning could be arranged, Nevill
asserted, and as still more rainfall continues to drive crickets indoors, insects dying where they cannot be found or extricated
unearths fresh concerns.
"I can hear them in the walls," said Jessica Williams, freshman undeclared major from Atlanta and Gardner resident. "They're in the building, they're in the walls, and that's not really
Be the first to comment on this story