Update of the bedbug infestation

By Karin Keefe

That old children’s rhyme, “Sleep tight,
don’t let the bedbugs bite” doesn’t sound
so quaint these days. Not when the
number of reported cases in Vancouver
on the website bedbugregistry.com is
approaching the 2000 mark — the figure
was at 1944 as of last week. Not when
stories in the news describe levels of
bedbug infestation not seen in 40 years.
It was thought bedbugs were eliminated
as a pest in North America. Then cases
started appearing in the beginning of the
2000s.

Vancouver has been hit hard. In
comparison, New York has 4000
registered cases and Toronto 2270,
making Vancouver’s problem much
worse when you consider the percentage
per capita.

Pest control companies say that
they find bedbugs in houses all over
the city — it is not just a problem in
poor neighbourhoods. The West End

- of Vancouver, with its many apartment
buildings, has the most reported cases.
Bedbugs are more likely to live in
multi-family dwellings because they
have a greater chance of being brought
in. In October, SFU had a few reports
of bedbugs in its residences and have
decided to inspect all their dorm rooms
with sniffer dogs to ensure there are no
other cases.

Once they are in a building the bugs
hide in places that can be hard to detect;
usually near beds so they can come out
and feed at night. But they can also hide
in baseboards, under wallpaper, behind
picture frames, in headboards, etc.

They can be brought in on backpacks

or luggage or second-hand furniture

and clothing or even “hitchhiking” on

a person, although they don’t live on a
human the way other insects like lice do.

The bedbug was thought to be a
problem of the past and its reappearance
has experts puzzling. The Center for
Disease Control (CDC) and the US
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
released a joint statement this past
summer recognizing the growing bedbug
problem in North America and suggested
causes and possible areas of research,
such as investigating whether bedbugs
transmit disease. It is currently believed
that they don’t but not a lot of research
has been done on them since they haven’t
been around for so long. The CDC/EPA
statement suggested three reasons for the
bug’s resurgence: resistance to pesticides,
increased domestic and international
travel and the public’s lack of knowledge
of how to deal with them.

The joint statement underlined that
diligence is required on the part of the
public if these bugs are going to be
kept under control. The many websites
providing information about how to
deal with bedbugs (a Google search will
turn up many) say to be vigilant when
staying in hotels — check the mattress and
sheets for telltale brownish-red stains that
indicate the presence of bedbugs. Don’t
put luggage on the carpet — one scientist
who studies bedbugs says he keeps his
suitcase in the bathroom when he stays
in hotel rooms, while another heat treats
his bags when he gets home. Heat and
sudden cold will kill the bugs, but the
temperatures have to be extreme to be
effective. One new apartment building in
Gastown (65 Hastings St.) is constructing
a “bedbug sauna” for the sole purpose of
killing the bugs.

Because they are so hardy (they can
survive without human blood for up to a
year) and because people don’t want to
Treport them due to embarrassment, many
experts see the problem getting worse
before it gets better.

 

 

By Kennedy Kierans

of the semester approaches, it’s not

because of a fire.

Terry Leonard, Director of Facilities
for the college, noted that fire alarms at
the New West campus have gone off four
times this semester, far more often than
would normally happen over the course
of an entire year. However, none of the
incidents represented a serious threat to
students or staff.

The most recent alarm came when
several dozen people were evacuated from
the New West campus on Sunday morning,
November 14, because of a hydraulic
leak in a pump. The other three instances
resulted from a drill, a communication
error between a contractor and security
staff, and the failure of a small sensor on
Remembrance Day.

As well, the bells have rung frequently
through the New West campus halls
because the “life safety systems” (those
systems — such as heat detectors, smoke
detectors, and sprinkler systems — in place
to protect people from danger) are verified
or tested after renovations, expansions,
or additions. Thus, they have been tested
frequently at New West over the past
couple of years.

|: you're feeling some heat as the end

 

  

While there have been issues at the
New West campus, the David Lam campus
has been fairly quiet. The only issue of
note was the testing required following the
three-story addition, home to classrooms,
labs, and offices, completed in January,
2008. In addition, all of the systems
undergo preventative testing twice a year.

To protect the health of students and
staff, the college does not run routine fire
drills during bad weather. So if the bells go
off when the weather is lousy, you know
there is what Leonard refers to as “an
emergent issue.” In short, find the nearest
exterior door, and get out.

All of these security measures are
part of the extensive plan the College
has for protecting students and staff.
The Emergency Response Plan (ERP)
is an extremely comprehensive resource
— several hundred pages in length — for
handling any foreseeable mishap or
danger, including bomb threats, hazardous
material spills, crimes in progress, and
floods. The ERP is revised every time
there is an expansion or renovation to an
existing building, and is updated annually.

While there may be threats to your
health on campus, they’re far more likely
to come from stress, lack of sleep, or too
much coffee, rather than issues in the
building itself.

 

Doug life gets their FRAG ON with their first ever video game tournament

By TK Kwon

- Ithough post-secondary life usually
consists of reading textbooks and
drinking Starbucks, it’s good to

participate in the social activities made
available by the school such as various
sport intramurals or clubs. Nevertheless,

it is very difficult for the school to offer
extracurricular activities and programs that
suits the interests of the entire student body,
for not everyone is an athlete or an artist,
but it doesn’t mean they aren’t trying.

On November 9, along with the release
of the hyped-up Call of Duty: Black Ops,
Doug Life had decided to hold a tournament
for; you guessed it, Black Ops. Kyle Baillie,
the Director of Campus Life, stated that

they are trying to target a different group of
students, which in this case, is the gaming
population of the college. This is a great
change of pace for the campus population
and gives a great opportunity for gamers to
meet other gamers.

Boasted as the first ever videogame
tournament at Douglas, the event brought in
many players and spectators from all across
the campus. The tournament consisted of
36 players divided into 18 teams of two.
The tournament was played on the Sony
PlayStation 3 in a round-robin format to
determine which teams would advance
to the quarter finals. As to keep the game
fair, all players were only allowed to use
the default classes preset in the game and
played on regulated maps in the team death-

match game mode.

Due to the length of the tournament,
the contestants were treated to free pizza
courtesy of the event, which greatly helped
raise the morale and gave many a chance to
socialize amongst each other.

After hours of fierce, albeit friendly,
competition between the 18 teams, it
eventually boiled down to the finals, where
the two teams HTK (Colin Soo and Matt
Gomez) and Planet Express (Alex Gibson
and Adam Colonval) were to face off in
the finals. On a map appropriately named
“Nuketown” the two teams tested each
other’s skills to see who would claim the
Call of Duty dominance. After a close early
game, HTK took the mid-game lead which
threw team Planet Express off their game,

which eventually lead to HTK’s solid end
game victory. The victors, Soo and Gomez,
were both awarded with a copy of the game
for their efforts.
For those who were not skilled

enough to keep up with the ferocity of the
competition, the event also featured a raffle
for another copy of the game for anyone
who stayed until the finals. Lucky winner
Chris Hanson also snagged himself a copy
of the game through the luck of the draw.

Overall the event was a great success
and although many contestants left empty-
handed, they left with full stomachs and a
smile on their face. Here’s hoping for more
events like this further down the road, to
bring the college community closer as a
whole.