Families at one Waynesboro apartment complex are dealing with a bad case of bedbugs. After countless sleepless nights, they have to toss their furniture, get out, and start from scratch.
The landlord is trying to fix the problem by forcing her tenants to clear out anything possibly infested and bring an exterminator in. But it's a solution that's easier said than done for some living there.
"I like living personally here, just not with the bedbugs," said Brenda Stoll, one of the Commerce Avenue Apartments tenants.
Stoll and her family have been living with bedbugs. "It literally looked like I had chicken pox," she described.
Stoll had to cover her mattress to deal with the problem. Bedbugs smashed up against the walls only start to show the level of her frustration.
"I already have health problems as it is, and then having this on top of it, I don't get to sleep," she said.
"I got scars all over me from where the bugs have been biting me," added another tenant, Joe Stone.
Stone just moved into apartment 106 a month ago. Now he's preparing to throw out all of the couches and blankets, hoping he can refurnish his new place.
"It gets down in the furniture and they can't get them out. so now we've got to get rid of all of the furniture and we ain't got nothing," he said.
Eight units infested with the bedbugs must be cleared of any upholstered furniture by Sunday. Exterminators are scheduled to be in next week which means these people will be displaced for a couple days.
"We're not sure what the situation is going to be yet," said Stoll.
The landlord is asking the community to give the families a temporary home or offer up anything that could fill their homes once they can return.
And that day can't come soon enough for Stone, "I'm going to stay here and try to find some more furniture somehow."
The landlord is working with various churches and agencies in the area to get the people living in these apartments the resources they need. From extermination services, to a dumpster for everything they have to toss, and hopefully some donated furniture for some who might not be able to afford new pieces.
