Pest Management Professional, July 2018

Continued From Page 67 There was no one at the front desk as they made their way through the big common room and down the hall toward the patient rooms Outside the third bedroom a small crowd had gathered Paramedics and firefighters were going in and out of the room while several staff members and other adults were standing nearby A few of the people were openly weeping Oh no it is the little veteran man Crawley cried out I hope hes gonna be all right Jack shot him a stern look as they eased up to the crowd Ms Conway strode purposefully toward Jack She had a grave look on her face Im glad to see you people she said loud enough for everybody to hear Theres been a fire ant stinging incident and you might be needed to answer questions The state health inspectors and possibly even the police may want to speak to you Why would the police want to speak to us Jack bristled Im sorry to say Mr Turnage has passed Ms Conway said crisply Therell be a thorough investigation just to make sure there was no foul play We expect everyone involved to cooperate fully Just then an older woman and what appeared to be her grown daughter edged their way through the crowd and confronted Ms Conway The older womans eyes bulged and her cheeks were bright red Youre responsible for my husbands death she screamed When we got here we found Outside the third bedroom a small crowd had gathered Paramedics and firefighters were going in and out of the room him with fire ants all over him coming out of his mouth ears and nose Thousands of them They stung him to death You did it You neglected him I want you to know were holding you personally responsible Oh no Ms Conway calmly responded turning toward Jack and the others from Peace of Mind Pest Services Heavenly Hope House isnt responsible We dont know anything about pests and their control Thats why we hired the best pest control company in town to protect our patients from ants bugs and all kinds of things like that If one of the patients was attacked by bugs its uh the pest peoples fault not ours Jack backed up shocked at the accusation Paul slipped behind Jack as if hiding MJ took Crawleys arm protectively That theres not true Crawley blurted out Youve been telling Paul not to treat for pests for months And you know it I never did any such thing We would never attempt to second guess your pest management procedures Its our official policy to trust your expertise in these matters Crawleys eyes were huge ovals by now behind his glasses His face was beet red He tried to lunge forward toward Ms Conway but MJ pulled him back You told me just yesterday not to spray for the fire ants Ms Conway feigned surprise Why I never said Jack intervened putting himself between Crawley and Ms Conway Cmon guys were not going to do this Not here not now Lets go All the way out of the building they could hear Mr Turnages wife and daughter hollering after them about how they killed their husband and father Once outside in the parking lot Jack turned gathered his team together and spoke softy to them making sure no one else could hear him This is dead serious and a matter for our insurance company These people are gonna sue us Whatre we going to do Paul asked ashen faced Shell pin this on us Crawley was indignant I didnt have no idea she would act like it was all our fault This is awful It certainly is MJ offered Were gonna be in trouble if we cant somehow prove she restricted us from spraying We shouldve gotten it in writing or taped our conversations with her Jack said with a sigh But well learn from it Youll see Itll make us better PMP Dr GoDDarD is an extension medical veterinary entomologist at Mississippi State University He is also a PMP Hall of Famer Class of 2012 He may be reached at jgoddard@ entomology msstate edu Publishers Note Crawley McPherson and all other characters in this series are products of the authors imagination or used fictitiously All names places locations and incidents are entirely fictional and any similarity to places or people living or dead is purely coincidental 68 July 2018 Pest Management Professional mypmp net