The Chicago news media is all aflutter with the story of a Cincinnati woman who encountered bed bugs at an Arlington Heights, Illinois Sheraton.

The local health department says it’s the second complaint they’ve had this year (not sure if that’s at the Sheraton or in all of Arlington Heights). Ten rooms at this hotel are now undergoing treatment for bed bugs.

No one should have to put up with bed bugs in a hotel. On the other hand, remember that bed bugs can happen anywhere. The victim in this case comes from a city — Cincinnati — where one in six people claimed to have had bed bugs on a recent survey.

Finally, the Fox reporter’s advice to vacuum your suitcase and wash all your clothing after encountering bed bugs in a hotel is not enough. See this FAQ if you think you’ve been exposed to bed bugs, and if you haven’t, this one will tell you how to detect bed bugs in a hotel room before you spend the night.

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• Self-treatment for bed bugs probably caused Cincinnati fire

According to the Stamford Advocate, that city’s health department expects last year’s 85 reported cases of bed bugs will be surpassed this year. (Remember, those are just the cases that get reported to the health department):

“It’s going up and it’s going to continue to go up,” said Mike Kraynak, director of health inspections.

As a New Yorker, I am intrigued to hear a public official express concern that the bed bug problem is growing, though it so obviously is.

And here’s the law in Stamford:

If a bed bug case is reported in rented housing, the city requires landlords to exterminate until the problem is resolved, Kraynak said. First, a resident must find a bed bug and take it to the city as evidence. If a lab worker confirms it is a bed bug, the city sends an extermination order. Usually, if the apartment is six units or less, the city requires the entire building be treated. In larger complexes, the city requires treating only the affected unit and those surrounding it.

I haven’t heard of other cities which invite residents to bring a sample in.

In New York, in stark contrast, we hear inspectors (if they turn up to inspect following a bed bug complaint) like to see them harboring in the “natural habitat” of your home (in daylight, of course, and in plain view). Oh, and we’re told they often expect the resident to be able to find them. As you can imagine, the wily bed bugs don’t always cooperate.

Stamford has some other things going for it, too:

Kraynak said residents must report a bed-bug problem, but a few preventive measures are in place. [City Health Inspector Amy] Lehaney works to educate neighborhood associations. And the health department provides information, including examples of the insects, at its front desk in the government center.

For those who don’t have a problem, Kraynak recommends caution.

“Don’t pick up a mattress from the sidewalk,” he said. “It’s against the law to sell used mattresses. And when you go into a hotel room, check the bedding and make sure you don’t see signs of an infestation.”

So Stamford is educating residents, helping walk-ins learn to identify bed bugs, and it’s also illegal to sell used mattresses in Stamford?

Good news!

In New York, officials turn a blind eye as the used mattress trade works overtime. There sure are a lot of mattresses on the curbside right now. I’m sure it saves New York City a lot of money in terms of garbage collection when those scavengers come and pick them up for re-sale.

I could not find anything about bed bugs by searching on the Stamford Health Inspections website at this time, but it sounds like they have some good policies in place so far. Let’s hope they do even more to fight the spread of bed bugs in Stamford.Similar Posts:

• Baltimore’s 311 Online now has a bed bug complaint option
• Gale Brewer invites bedbuggers to her annual open house
• I asked New York’s Mayor Bloomberg what he is going to do about bedbugs

Jennifer Brown of The Star reports that Toronto politician Paula Fletcher is agitated about bed bugs–and trying to do something about them.

She wants the health department to investigate whether they’re a health hazard:

Toronto Councillor Paula Fletcher (Ward 30, Toronto-Danforth) has received so many calls from constituents she’s asked the health department to declare them a health hazard. Last month, Fletcher met with Toronto’s Medical Officer of Health. It was decided the Board of Health would issue a report in February on what should be done about bedbugs in the city and whether they should be declared a health hazard.

Here’s a hint, Toronto: stress, anxiety, loss of sleep, are all health issues. You need look no further. Something more sinister is clearly a possibility, but these other concerns are not to be taken lightly.

Next, Fletcher wants people to talk about how to get rid of bed bugs, and prevent their spread:

In the meantime, says Fletcher, “We will have a bedbug summit with all the people who are interested in and involved in this issue.” Fletcher is advocating the city address the problem with education, not enforcement.

“Some people said they were living beside a house and the bugs were travelling from the house or apartment next door,” she said. “I’d like to see a focus on what needs to change in terms of behaviours; what do you need to do to stop bringing them in and what do you need to do to get rid of the bedbugs.”

This is all familiar ground for us.

Fletcher seems a bit distracted by the idea that bed bugs primarily affect a certain region of Toronto:

The bedbug problem seems to be concentrated in areas south of Bloor Street, says Fletcher.

“They might be north of Bloor, but the infestations and pockets are definitely south of Bloor. Right now tracking them is not a requirement but that’s one thing we’re looking at is how are we going to track and where are we finding them?”

While they may be more common in certain neighborhoods (and certainly spread more easily to those next door than to those across town), they will spread anywhere, and are certainly moving in all directions. And not just from neighbor to neighbor, but to workplaces, co-workers, people who frequent the same gyms, doctors, schools, and shops. Public transportation is likely to be affected. (David Cain tells stories of encountering this situation in London.)
Fletcher mentions the concern of people bringing in used furniture, and getting them to not do so is a public education issue. But her ideas about eradication methods are quite progressive:

“Sometimes people are bringing bedbugs into a whole building inadvertently and they are travelling unit-to-unit. I’d like to see a model where there are teams of people who go into a building to assist and not simply spraying, but cleaning, washing, getting rid of them and then when the spraying happens, you have a better chance to eradicate them.”

The article also quotes PCO and bed bug dog handler Michael Goldman of Purity Pest Control, who claims that “most hotels” have bed bugs, at least in one room. This is a far cry from the claims made by other companies.

The article also concerns itself with the need for notification of other tenants when bed bugs are found in a building.

Unlike schools that send home letters when lice are found in a school, superintendents rarely post a notice saying bedbugs were a problem in a unit, says Fletcher.

Finally, there’s a nod to Vancouver, which has some of the more progressive bed bug-fighting protocols in place (though we rarely get details of them).

Vancouver has launched one of the best pilot projects in its downtown east side as the city prepares for the 2010 Winter Olympics. “They’re vigorously trying to figure out what to do with bedbugs and they have a program set up but it’s very labour-intensive.”

The Vancouver pilot included tenant and landlord education, public education workshops, pest control and development of a health and safety protocol.

I hope politicians in New York City and other US cities with bed bugs (from Boston to Cincinnati) will take note, and that they’ll trade notes with their counterparts in other cities, from San Francisco to Toronto and Vancouver.

The number one complaint I’ve heard now from professionals (entomologists and PCOs) in several cities is that their local politicians will not listen to those with bed bug experience. This is a grave mistake.

Though it is not explicitly mentioned here, it’s clear Paula Fletcher is listening.

However, there was one small problem. This:

“The chemical approach isn’t necessarily the only way or best way to go. It’s one piece of a bigger puzzle,” says Fletcher, who would like the city to help people control bedbugs. “What people have to learn is that to control bedbugs they must become good at cleaning their bedding. People have to be taught how to do that.”

People do not get bed bugs, nor do bed bugs persist, because people do not know how to clean their bedding.

Reminds me of  when the chief medical health officer in Vancouver, John Blatherwick, implied bed bugs were spreading in Vancouver due to hanky panky in downtown eastside hotels.  Doing or not doing “naughty things” had no bearing on the spread of bed bugs.  What is it with politicians and their weird ideas?

Read the rest of the article here. Similar Posts:

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• WAVY TV 10 – Bed bugs invade another oceanfront motel (in Virginia Beach, VA)
  “Bed bugs invade another oceanfront motel. This time the health department forced the MacThrift Motor Inn on 22nd street to close off some of its rooms because of the pesky little critters.” Five rooms, to be exact.
  (tags: virginiabeach virginia bedbugs spread motels hotels macthrift oceanfront healthdepartment virginiabeachhealthdepartment 2007 nov2007)
• Bed bugs are reported locally (Brown County, Ohio, News Democrat)
  Bed bugs in Brown County, Ohio.
  (tags: browncounty bedbugs bedbug ohio spread 2007 nov2007 newsdemocrat.com)
• TIME article from 1963 on bed bug’s potential health risks
  “Dr. George J. Burton, a medical entomologist for the U.S. Public Health Service who has studied bedbugs in India and British Guiana, says in Public Health Reports that the bedbug has been accused of carrying the microbes of no fewer than 30 infectious diseases: anthrax, brucellosis, epidemic cerebrospinal meningitis, leprosy, paratyphoid fever, plague, pneumococcal pneumonia, staphylococcal septicemia, tuberculosis, tularemia, typhoid fever, boutonneuse fever, epidemic typhus, exanthematous typhus, Q fever, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, relapsing fever, epidemic jaundice (Brazzaville), sleeping sickness, encephalomyelitis, influenza, lymphocytic choriomeningitis, poliomyelitis, smallpox, yellow fever, Chagas’ disease, malaria, oriental sore, mansonelliasis, onchocerciasis.”
  (tags: bedbugs bedbug health TIME 1963)

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• National Post: Bed bugs invade Toronto
  East Toronto city councillor Paula Fletcher asked the Toronto public health unit on Monday to study what it could do to eradicate the problem of bed bugs. Right now the public health unit does not track infestations, but simply offers phone advice to suff
  (tags: Toronto tippingpoint nationalpost canada ontario bedbugs nov2007 2007 PaulaFletcher Torontopublichealthunit)
• Bedbugs Found in Mountainview: SUNY Binghamton
  Bed bugs have been found in two separate dorms at Binghamton University (SUNY) in New York state. This time it’s in Cascade Hall in Mountainview College.
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• Bed bugs at Cayuga Hall, College-in-the-Woods, Binghamton University (SUNY)
  Bed bugs found in the Cayuga Hall dorm at Binghamton University. A subsequent article on Nov. 13 notes that a bed bug was later found wandering a hallway in Cayuga. Within the week, bed bugs were also found in Cascade Hall.
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• Curbed SF: Marina Bedbug Removal: Not Cheap
  An article in the latest Business Week SmallBiz cites a Marina District property manager’s infestation (5 rooms, hallways, and in-between walls in a 28-unit complex) as costing $40k, which included almost $10 grand to one litigious resident.
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(The following is not really bed bug news, but a reminder of a time not long ago when encountering a bed bug in a place of business was a bit like finding a hair in your salad, but maybe more common.)


• Urban Legends Reference Pages: The Bedbug Letter
  The standard groveling letter from a corporation that doesn’t give a hoot about the consumer’s experience, was once called “the bed bug letter.”
  (tags: bedbugletter snopes.com history)

(These last two are not really bed bug stories, but they tell us something about how widely known bed bugs are becoming: they’re starting to mean something in popular parlance once again.)

• Four months of boom, bust, and fleeing foreign credit – Los Angeles Times
  Yet another appropriation of bed bugs as a metaphor. Hopelessnomo calls this a Tipping Point, and I agree. This article begins, “Have you considered lately how similar the U.S. economy is to the pesky bedbug?”
  (tags: bedbugs popularmedia popularculture vernacular English metaphor spread tippingpoint)
‘Operation Bed Bug’ Rounds Up Suspects :: WRAL.com
This is about alleged criminals being roused from their beds in a sunrise raid. Wise hopelessnomo called it as a Tipping Point. Ironically, jail is apparently a great place to pick up bed bugs…
(tags: tippingpoint police operationbedbug)

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New York Magazine has a new bed bug story dated November 12th (print edition of 11/19), by Melissa Kirsch.

It contains lots of solid advice about not picking up curbside furniture, being wary of Craigslist finds, and searching for fecal spots and blood stains. But it also contains some advice we don’t normally see. Especially pertinent, this comment from our friend Lou Sorkin, an entomologist at the American Museum of Natural History. (Hear him talk about bed bugs and other pests today–Tuesday–at 10:40 on 99.5 WBAI in NYC, or listen to the streaming live audio here.)

The telltale signs of their presence are itchy welts on your body, frequently in clusters of three or more. You might see tiny red or brown marks on your sheets where you’ve crushed bugs in the night. If you suspect infestation, check under carpets and in moldings, and survey mattresses, box springs, and bed frames. Look for feces and shed skins. And look for nymphs: “Ninety-nine percent of papers written on bedbugs neglect to mention that a bedbug starts as a tiny egg and hatches from it to become a [1- to 1.6-mm.] nymph that’s translucent white,” says Louis Sorkin, entomologist at the American Museum of Natural History. “If people knew to look for nymphs, they could head off the problem much sooner.” The bugs pass through six stages of development and feed at least once during each, which means you can get bites before there are full-grown adults visible. If you think you have a problem but can’t find anything, press packing tape or a lint roller underneath carpet and in the corners of beds. Nymphs and eggs will stick to it.

Lou is bringing up a really important point here: many people first see a bed bug that is a fed or unfed nymph. And neither bed bug will look much like the image of an adult bed bug typically pictured in a media story. The first five photos in our page with photos of bed bugs and signs of bed bugs convey the enormous visual difference between fed vs. unfed first instar nymphs, and between nymphs vs. adults. Since people who have not yet had bed bugs often hear of them via the two-minute segment on Fox, or an article in their local paper, it would be best if more news outlets would feature a visual comparison giving people some awareness of this range when and if they do encounter a bed bug.

The article warns people against self-treating with Raid or foggers / bombs, and talks about the importance of dealing with clothing properly, notifying neighbors, and getting a professional in.

What I found most interesting was the final paragraph, which was centered around the need for action on the part of the city:

SEE SOMETHING (DISGUSTING), SAY SOMETHING

Last week, bedbugged tenants mounted a Craigslist-based attack on their Greenpoint building, and protesters in front of the Department of Health demanded action on asthma-exacerbating roaches and rats. They’re not the only ones who think the city could do more to crush creeping menaces. “Bedbugs are a major mental-health issue. I get tired of the Department of Health saying, ‘It’s not a physical issue, so we’re not going to focus on it,’” says Upper West Side council member Gale Brewer. She (and many exterminators) advocate a campaign along the lines of the subway-safety ads to spread word about bug-suppressing preventive steps. Other strategies: certification of bedbug-specialist exterminators and bans on mattress resales. To fight other pests, exterminators would like the DOH to enforce pre-demolition extermination laws more aggressively and hire more pest-control experts to manage parks and public spaces. For its part, the DOH says it has retrained staff after the KFC/Taco Bell rat debacle and is working on plans to combat residential bedbug and rodent problems.

I am really glad that Gale Brewer, who originally proposed the ban on reselling used mattresses in NYC, is still speaking out against bed bugs and their very real negative effects on health. I hope we will get an update on the NY City Council Bed Bug Task Force that was begun over a year ago, but is yet to take action (to our knowledge).

The recommendations here–enforcement of pre-demolition extermination laws, the mattress re-sale ban, and the certification of bed bug specialist PCOs are all good ones. We’ve been talking about the need for a public education campaign (subway ads, TV ads, and so on) since Bedbugger.com started.

Finally, Kirsch said, when describing what to do when you determine you do have bed bugs,

Don’t terrify yourself with horror stories on the Internet; check informative sites like Bedbugger.com.

Informative is good: thanks, Melissa Kirsch! We’re doing our best to get information out there and help people with bed bugs stay as calm as possible, so they can fight bed bugs in an effective way.

I hope we can also have something to do with getting people involved–maybe not so calmly–in fighting for change in public policies, like the ones suggested in this article. It’s always a good time to call your city council representative, or to write to the mayor, about bed bugs. Wherever you live, whether it’s New York, Halifax, Melbourne, or Lexington, Kentucky, take a moment to tell a local politician that bed bugs had a serious impact on your life–whether it was on your family, your finances, your job, and your health.

New Yorkers:
Click here to email Mayor Bloomberg.
Click here to look up and email your city council representative.
Click here to email Gale Brewer about the Bed Bug Task Force even if you’re not in her district.

And here’s a few words from the Rolling Stones–way back in 1978–that still ring true:

Don’t you know the crime rate is going up, up, up, up, up
To live in this town you must be tough, tough, tough, tough, tough, tough, tough!
You got rats on the west side,
Bed bugs uptown!
What a mess– this town’s in tatters
I’ve been shattered
My brain’s been battered, splattered all over Manhattan

Pop this mp3 on your iPod and muse on how little things have changed. And don’t forget: email your city council representative and remind them there are, once more, “bed bugs uptown.”Similar Posts:

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It’s a week later, but I did want to comment on the media’s follow-up from last week’s Town Hall Meeting in Cincinnati, about the bed bug problem.

WCPO.com’s Lynn Groud reported on the event last Monday. Hundreds of bed bug sufferers turned out. One speaker said:

“For many older adults, they are a 24-hour a day problem. Their homes are so infested they are visible during the day, crawling on the older adult, crawling on the walls,” said one speaker.

City, county and state leaders answered questions, acknowledging that bed bugs are multiplying and moving in to more and more homes at an alarming rate.

“Some of the bed bugs will go into the mattress, they will put their eggs into the mattress,” said Ken Hippner, of Command Pest Management. “So, we go out and kill what we can see – then go weeks or months later – and the eggs hatch and have new bed bugs emerging.”

But hiring an exterminator can cost hundreds of dollars – and many at the town meeting were hoping the city would offer more help.

“That’s what I want to know,” said Collins. “Are they gonna come out and do this free, because I can’t afford it and neither can these poor people.”

That’s what we want to know too!

WCPO reports that the Cincinnati Bed Bug Task Force “are planning an emergency meeting and hope to come back in December with more solutions.” Lets hope financial assistance for landlords and homeowners is at the top of the list.

Click to watch WCPO.com’s video or read the article.

However, one reader, entoman, apparently attended the event, and had this to say:

entoman said:

November 6th, 2007 at 10:19 am edit

The Bed Bug Town Hall meeting was very confusing. Obviously the people on the Bed Bug Task Force did not compare notes before they presented their information. The Commissioner of Cincinnati Health Department stated you do not need a professional, you need an integrated plan that would include the use of soap and water. Another official stated temperatures of 98 degees will kill all bed bugs. Even another stated that pesticides do not work. Hamilton County Health Director said to sleep with the lights on (this would prevent bed bugs from biting). He also said to use 90% isopropyl alcohol (there are legal issues with this in Ohio). The information pamphlets that were handed out contradicted all of this and said home remedies do not work.

The only positive thing is that Susan Jones from Ohio State is on the Task Force. Dr. Jones is known for her research with termites but is starting to get into bed bugs. Hopefully she will be the voice of reason.

As I said in the other thread, I really appreciate having the perspective of an actual attendee (and one who is, judging from his pseudonym and his comments, an entomologist). The recommendations quoted above are a reason why government officials need to have all their ducks in a row, when it comes to speaking to the public about bed bugs. Bed bug experts need to be involved in the planning, and officials need to get their story straight as far as what to recommend and what not to recommend. Having pamphlets that recommend one thing and speakers suggesting the opposite is not going to help attendees fight their bed bugs.

Public education around bed bugs is needed for consumers, but to make a difference, and avoid confusion, we have to start by educating the people who are working in government and social services. Similar Posts:

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• LEX18 – Lexington, KY: Health Department Encourages Learning About Bed Bugs
  “The Kentucky Department for Public Health is encouraging people to learn more about bed bugs, the small, brownish insects that feed on the blood of animals.” Paradoxically, this article contains almost no content or explanation of how they’ll do that.
  (tags: bedbugs kentucky lexington KY spread education healthdept kentuckypublichealthdepartment)
• TheStar.com:`Explosive’ problem bugs public housing
  “But not all tenants are capable of looking after themselves. Some people are reclusive; some are hoarders; some are not rational; some have disabilities; and not everyone has friends or family.” Another bed bugs in Canada story from Joe Fiorito.
  (tags: bedbugs publichousing toronto yonge canada ontario homeless elderly mentallyill physicallychallenged prep preparation treatment JoeFiorito)
• TheStar.com | News | Bedbugs bedevil seniors in Toronto Housing apartment building
  “A double-barrelled problem: the stigma of the bugs, and the fear of retaliation by the landlord. That’s common in social housing.” Joe Fiorito is apparently on the Star’s unofficial bed bug beat. Go Joe!
  (tags: JoeFiorito bedbugs canada ontario torontocommunityhousing toronto elderly seniors tenants spread landlords 2007 oct2007)
• TheStar.com: Bedbugs a building’s bad dream
  “We’ve never had this before. I wish the public would know this. We aren’t here by choice. We were hardworking people. Many of us are women whose husbands have died. We are teachers, counsellors; responsible people.” Another Joe Fiorito article.
  (tags: JoeFiorito bedbugs toronto ontario canada thestar news oct2007 2007 elderly seniors treatment costs)

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This video footage and printed excerpt from WTVQ channel 36 in Lexington, Kentucky, focuses on the story of Sakiesha Demus, a resident of the Westminster Village apartments who has bed bugs, and wants to move to another unit. Her apartment was treated by All-Rite Pest Control, who recommended that she stay put after treatment:

An exterminator for All-Rite says it is ok for her to return to her home.

“Really and truly there is not a lot of reason to move out to tell you the truth,” Charlie Asberry of All-Rite Pest Control explained.

“You run the risk of moving a problem from here to another unit,” Asberry said.

Demus has thrown out two couches and a mattress and plans to get rid of their clothes as a result of the infestation.

“Yes, he said I could come back in here, but honestly would you want to come back?” Demus said.

While the PCO is correct, it is hard not to empathize with the tenant. Who wouldn’t want to escape? In fact, if she leaves, without a human acting as “bait” to draw them across the poison to their deaths, the bed bugs are likely to hide out waiting for another source of food to move in, or to flee to neighboring units in search of food (or both).

Interestingly, these articles rarely mention the need for follow-up treatments spaced around two weeks apart–and necessary until no bed bug bites, bed bugs, or signs of bed bugs are found. They also almost never mention that all adjoining units (above, below, and all sides) must be carefully inspected by the PCO.

This article is no exception, leading one to hope All-Rite did inspect all the neighbors, and that they will be back in two weeks for more. Perhaps that part of the story does not make for interesting journalism, but it is important that the public become aware of these concerns, should they one day find themselves on the other end of a bed bug’s proboscis.

But the most interesting part of this article was that the local health department is asking people to call to report bed bugs:

If you live in an apartment complex and suspect there are bed bugs. You are urged to call the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department at (859) 231-9791

That, my bedbugged friends, is very good news, but not particularly new news. Lest we forget, Lexington-Fayette County Health Department was one of the first in the US, if not the first, to declare bed bugs a problem, over a year ago. There is probably more that the health department could do, however. For example, their brochure (available here) recommends washing bedding and clothing or throwing it away. Why suggest throwing away washable clothes and sheets? It also does not state clearly enough that mattresses and other furniture can usually be treated, and usually do not need to be thrown out. Or that throwing them out may lead to further spread in your building. (Perhaps we should say, here at Bedbugger.com,“Caveat dumpster”?)Similar Posts:

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… you might want to go to this meeting tonight (11/5).

Peggy O’Farrell reports for the Cincinnati Enquirer vis Cincinnati.com:

Learn more about how officials are responding to bedbug infestations in Cincinnati at a town hall meeting at 6:30 p.m. Monday at the Cincinnati-Hamilton County Community Action Agency, 1740 Langdon Farm Road, Bond Hill.

State Rep. Dale Mallory is hosting the meeting, which also features Chris Monzel, chair of the Cincinnati City Council’s health committee; Suzanne Abel-Burke from the Council on Aging for Southwestern Ohio; Susan C. Jones, an entomologist with the Ohio State University Extension; Chris Eddy, director of environmental health with Hamilton County Public Health, and Mohammad Alam, director of environmental health with the Cincinnati Health Department.

Information: Cynthia Ellis, 614-466-1645.

This seems like an important town meeting on bed bugs, and it would be great to hear from people able to attend, or who were involved.

(Editor’s note: I would not normally quote an article in full, but this seems like important information. I hope Peggy O’Farrell and Cincinnati.com will indulge me, just this once.)Similar Posts:

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