Rogers County Courthouse Attacks Bed Bug Problem With New Tactic

The Rogers County Courthouse has a case of bed bugs for the second time in the past three months.

The Rogers County Commissioners office says someone came in to pay their taxes in the treasurer's office and an employee noticed an insect on them. That insect turned out to be a bed bug.

The County Commissioners office says immediately after learning the insect was a bed bug, they spot treated the area. This is something they weren't able to do when this happened in February.

"Our protocol at this time is to have immediate spray on hand that we have obtained from our exterminators that we have on call and we immediately isolate it and treat it ourselves," said Rogers County Commissioner Steve Hendrix.

Hendrix says the employees noticed the bed bugs just before closing on Monday so there wasn’t a big threat to people. The plan now is to review security video and track exactly where the person went and then exterminators will treat those areas.

Hendrix says unfortunately, this is something they can't control.

"We are not the only entity dealing with this. Any business, whether it is a courthouse or whatever, that allows public access, you are going to have to deal with this," said Hendrix.

In February the entire courthouse was evacuated and closed after someone spotted bed bugs on a person in a courtroom.

Hendrix says they now feel as prepared as they can be.

"We have heightened our awareness as to being on the lookout for this problem. And these employees are now becoming more aware of their surroundings," he said.

Hendricks says they don't expect to have to close the courthouse this time.