Dear editor,

Clanton has a mosquito-spraying program. Daily, the truck rounds my block two times, traveling pretty fast with that stack belching a chemical vapor in its wake.

I have a lot of mosquitoes but see no difference in mosquito numbers before, during and after the annual program. In early summer, I enjoyed a few fireflies and butterflies. Since the fogging began, I have seen no more.

This program includes expenditures for man-hours, truck maintenance, fuel and chemical product. Alternate plans of mosquito control could prove more effective at the same or less cost.

Determine problem areas and concentrate efforts in these places.

Educate residents with a concentrated campaign, using The Clanton Advertiser, public health resources and fliers. Clean ditches and re-grade areas where standing water occurs. Make available free mosquito control pellets for use in and around standing water. Initiate and support a bat attraction program. Bats will consume millions of

mosquitoes. Ceasing the random extermination of all bugs in the path of the vapor will restore natural enemies of the mosquitoes, such as dragonflies, which eat mosquito larvae.

Karen Armstrong

Clanton