Fleas at Pulaski Co. courthouse almost gone

By Rosa Duarte

Published: July 2, 2008

A local courthouse is dealing with an infestation and not the kind that usually comes to mind.

Since mid June, workers at the Pulaski County courthouse have been dealing with fleas.  Exterminators have treated the courthouse several times but the fleas are still jumping around.

Assistant county administrator Robert Hiss says, “As of today (Wednesday) we’ve had about four different treatments one of them was a very aggressive treatment about 10 days ago after we discovered the source of the flea outbreak.”

Exterminators found a dead possum in the crawl space.  The carcass was covered in fleas which multiplied and spread to the first and second floors of the building.

Courthouse employees say the outbreak got so bad, they were using tape to get the parasites off of their clothing.

Despite the pest problem, it’s been business as usual at the courthouse.  Hiss says they stayed open since exterminators didn’t raise any red flags.

Hiss says the problem is 90 to 95% resolved, in the meantime exterminators will continue making visits every seven to ten days.