DAILY LOBO new mexico
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November 11, 2010
The Independent Voice of UNM since 1895
Bed bugs creep back into Albuquerque by Kallie Red-Horse kallie69@unm.edu
Bed bugs suck. Though previously eradicated, a resurgence of the nighttime pests has Albuquerque crawling with them. David Swanson, of Patriot Pest Control, said college students are at the highest risk of getting bed bugs. “College students seem to be a little more prone to it due to the nature of the college lifestyle, generally,” he said. “People tend to stay at other people’s houses more often, which certainly helps spread the bed bug.” Bed bugs have not been a problem at UNM residence halls, said Brian Ward, associate director of facilities. “We have had no reports of bed bugs,” he said. “We have had some questions, and we have gone and they were not bed bugs. If we look historically, we have had fewer calls for pest infestations and things.” Student Jsh’nei Romero said she has not come across the bugs so far, but was appalled at the thought of discovering one. “I would probably freak out,” she said. “I would definitely wash my sheets immediately.” The pests’ mobility is at an alltime high, Swanson said, because of increasingly mobile lifestyles. “It’s not just people staying in local towns anymore,” he said. “It’s international travel too that
is causing this influx. Looking forward, it is never going to be like it was when we had them extinct in this country, so we need to develop and look forward.” Ward said UNM resident halls take precautions to prevent bug infestations. “We do have several ongoing maintenance programs for pest control, and we also do spot treatments,” he said. “Our mattresses are commercial grade and made for residence halls. They are made of a plastic substance that makes it difficult for bed bugs or any other kinds of bugs, and they are cleaned whenever students check in or check out.” As an on-campus resident, student Gianna Sanchez said it is important for UNM Housing to regularly exterminate the dorms. “I would expect them to hire an exterminator to get rid of them,” she said. “If there are bed bugs, they should exterminate more often because so many different people sleep in those beds at different times.” If you do contract bed bugs, it is your responsibility to get it taken care of immediately, Swanson said. “Don’t be embarrassed if you have them. Get them taken care of right away,” he said. “People will try to go to Home Depot and take care of it themselves, but they are not going to stop the problem effectively, and if anybody comes over, they are going to be contaminated, too.”
Find them:
Underneath: chairs, couches and other furniture pet bedding,area rugs and edges of carpets, between the folds of drapery or curtains Between: cushions of upholstered furniture Behind: baseboards, electrical switch plates around the door and window casings Also: under loose wallpaper, paintings posters etc, in the drawers of night stands, dressers, etc, in cracks in the plaster, in telephones, radios, clocks, smoke detectors and similar places
Kill them:
For more information: cabq. gov/envhealth/ bedbuginfestation. html
S P E R ATE
by Barron Jones
bjones36@unm.edu
Dylan Smith / Daily Lobo Street art covers the Acme Arts wall at the Acme Iron & Metal Company Inc. Artists can legally paint at the site. See page 6 for the full story.
issue 57
Extreme temperatures
Illustration by Adam Aparicio
ti m e s
volume 115
Steam cleaning
Eliminate hiding places and
DE
Daily Lobo
Pesticides
access points
Libraries cut back on expenses, staff
VAN GOGH OR VANDALS?
Inside the
Hire a professional
Caught reading
NATO members killed
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Budget cuts caused UNM’s ranking among research libraries to plummet and claimed five permanent positions, making the accommodation of this year’s 1.8 million projected visitors more difficult. University Libraries ranks 78 out of 113 research universities, according to the Association for Research Libraries. The ranking measures total expenditures for print, electronic books, journals and other media and is down from the previous ranking of 59. UNM spent $5 million less than the $11.4 million average other major research universities spend, according to the ARL. Martha Bedard, University Libraries’ dean, said the library makes do with what it has.
“Obviously, with a relatively small and reduced budget, that affects our ability to buy materials,” she said. “It is unfortunate because we are so far below the American Research Association Library ranking. One of the impacts is that we keep going further and further down. We are already way down there.” University Libraries’ labor reductions are part of budget cuts that began in 2008, totaling more than $950,000 and reducing the department’s staff from 127 to 91 full and part-time employees. During the same time, the department experienced a spike in visitors from 1.2 to a projected 1.8 million, Bedard said. She said that fewer staff members equals fewer available services. “We are working hard to get our folks employed on the front lines,” Bedard said. “We lost all these people, so we have to allocate manpower where needed most.” Like other departments, University Libraries also reduced telephone expenditures, training
see Libraries page 5
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