NEWS

TUSCALOOSA, ALA. — Burnum-Hahn Exterminators Inc. Vice President Gary Hahn, the lucky winner of the Bayer One In A Million Sweepstakes, has never forgotten the reason his company is a leading pest control business in western Alabama.

“Our secret to success is the work performed by our technicians,” Hahn said. “It is all of the technicians working out in the field that gives your company its reputation – not just the owners.”

It’s no surprise that Hahn plans to spend his winnings providing a better working environment for his technicians and his office employees.

“I’ve had plans for the expansion of my business and the upgrading of the facilities for a number of years and now I have the opportunity to do it,” Hahn said.

Representatives from Bayer Environmental Science presented Hahn with his first check for $40,000 at a special ceremony held at Burnhum-Hahn’s office in Tuscaloosa, Ala., Aug. 13. Hahn will receive $40,000 annually for 25 years.

Burnum-Hahn has 20 employees but operates out of one small office. Hahn said he plans to begin construction on a new office building this fall and hopes to have the building finished by the end of the year. He also plans on upgrading his company’s computer system and providing more training for his technicians.

What won’t change about Burnum-Hahn Exterminators is its service standards, which Gary credits his father, President W.N. “Bill” Hahn, for establishing. Bill Hahn and Paul Burnum started Burnum-Hahn Exterminators in 1946 and Bill Hahn purchased the business in 1962.

“A lot of responsibility comes with a family business and I inherited quite a reputation to live up to,” Gary Hahn said. “Dad set very high standards for me.”

Gary Hahn first “cut his teeth” on termite work during his high school years in the mid-1960s. He accompanied technician Willie White on his routes and did a lot of “grunt work” such as maneuvering in tight crawlspaces.

“He was a good worker back then and he has worked very hard since becoming vice president,” said Bill Hahn, 83 years old and still active in the business.

Gary Hahn also has actively involved his family in the business. Wife Linda is a secretary, while sons Kyle and Bryan work part-time as technicians and daughter Leslie works part-time as an administrative assistant.

Hahn initially entered the One In A Million Sweepstakes at a pest control conference and his company’s name was entered in the sweepstakes for every purchase of Premise Termiticide, a total of 80 times.

Jeff Vannoy, pest management marketing manager for Bayer Environmental Science, said it was particularly gratifying for Bayer ES to award the prize to a company as highly regarded as Burnum-Hahn Exterminators.

“I think Gary’s business and his reputation in this area of Alabama is extremely good and that is evident in the fact that his company has been in business 56 years,” Vannoy said. “This is the type of company that epitomizes I think what every pest control company out there should strive for in terms of ideals and the way it operates.”

Vannoy added that the One In A Million Sweepstakes was a huge success for Bayer, noting that more than 7,000 companies participated in the competition.

CENTEX SELLS CHEMICAL LAWN CARE OPERATION

DALLAS — Centex HomeTeam Services, a subsidiary of Dallas, Texas-based Centex Corporation, announced Aug. 13 the sale of substantially all of its chemical lawn care operations to The Scotts Company, based in Marysville, Ohio. The purchase price of the sale, including 12 branch locations in Florida, Georgia and Texas, was not disclosed. No material gain will be recognized on the transaction.

Robert Swartz, chairman and CEO of Centex HomeTeam Services, told PCT that the sale would not have any effect on Centex Pest Management. “It has separate offices, separate manage-ment…separate everything,” he said. “(The sale) has no effect whatsoever on pest control. We’re continuing to grow and expand the pest control business.”

Centex is exiting the chemical lawn care business because it did not believe that the strategic advantage the company possesses in providing pest control to the new home market could be duplicated in the lawn care business, the company said.

Centex said it would use the proceeds from the sale to continue the ongoing expansion of its pest control and termite treatment operations. The company will accelerate the growth of that business, which emphasizes the installation of pest management systems during new home construction, including its Tubes in the Wall® system and its termite baiting systems sold with Centex’s patented Tubes under the Slab® technology. Centex’s pest management operation currently ranks as the nation’s fourth largest pest control company.

Centex HomeTeam Services provides pest management, termite treatment and residential alarm monitoring services. The company is also one of the nation’s largest home builders.

B&G EQUIPMENT CO., CYPRESS SALES & MARKETING PART WAYS

CLEVELAND — B&G Equipment Co. will no longer market and sell its products through Cypress Sales & Marketing, effective Oct. 1, 2002.

The Plumsteadville, Pa.-based company decided to handle all of its sales and marketing efforts internally. B&G hired three new sales representatives (the company will introduce the new sales reps on Oct. 1, 2002) and plans to add two more sales representatives by the end of the year, according to Bob Heiney, vice president of sales, professional products division, B&G. The decision was made by B&G because the company wants to grow (and provide better support for) its flying insect control product line, Heiney said.

“We are focusing on what PCOs need and fly control is an area they need more help,” Heiney said. “Part of that help includes having more full-time reps.

As much as we appreciated the relationship we had with Cypress, any time you are using a rep firm you are not going to get their full-time support. We need full-time reps because of the complexity of our product line.”

Cypress had been handling B&G’s sales and marketing the last five years. A Cypress Sales & Marketing representative told PCT that the partnership was productive during this tenure and Cypress was understanding of B&G’s decision to go a different direction with its sales and marketing efforts to accommodate newly defined goals.

FMC MOURNS THE LOSS OF BILL BEACH

PHILADELPHIA — FMC Corporation’s Specialty Products Business mourns the loss of William “Bill” E. Beach, who passed away unexpectedly on July 26. He was 40 years old.

Originally from Reno, Nev., Beach was the Florida District Manager, living in Tarpon Springs, Fla. He joined FMC in September 1998 as sales representative in Phoenix, Ariz., and was promoted to district manager in April of 2001. Prior to that, he held the position of sales representative for Univar (formerly Vopak) and managed his own business.

Beach is survived by wife Peggy; father Robert Beach of Reno, Nev.; sister Dawn Skovajasa; and nephews Julian and Ian. Contributions can be made to the Bill Beach Memorial Fund, 315 Stallion Ct., Tarpon Springs, FL 34689.

FORMER NPCA PRESIDENT J. HARVEY STURGEON PASSES AWAY

LOUISVILLE, KY. — J. Harvey Sturgeon, past president of Copesan Services and the National Pest Control Association, died July 19. He was 94.

Sturgeon was the founder and past president of Sturgeon Pest Control Inc., a company he founded in 1937. His son, Ronald, operates the company today.
Harvey Sturgeon went on to serve as president of Copesan and NPCA, as well as the Sales Executives Council of the Louisville Chamber of Commerce, Kentucky Pest Control Association, Wildwood Country Club and the Downtown Optimist Club. He served as NPCA president in 1947.

He was preceded in death by his wife, Mary A. Sturgeon. He is survived by a son, Ronald E. Sturgeon; two daughters, Joan S. Curran and Sharon Sturgeon; three grandchildren; one great-grandson; and Laura Willis, who cared for him.
Memorial contributions suggested to the St. Vincent de Paul Society.

ONLINE CEUs RECEIVE FLORIDA APPROVAL

AUSTIN, TEXAS — Univar USA, formerly Vopak USA, announced recently that the state of Florida granted CEU approval to its online training courses.

The one-hour courses, which are approved for the license categories of CORE, GHP or termite, depending on the content, are available to take at any time of the day. A Record of Attendance form required by the State of Florida is available online as well, so attendees can immediately print out the form for their records.

Univar’s online training is located at www.pestweb.com. For licensed or certified applicators who face an imminent deadline for license renewal and still need most of the required hours of Continuing Education, this offers an alternative to acquire the training and renew the license in time, Univar says.

Employers also have an opportunity to provide training for new employees, as Univar offers training on pesticides, protective equipment and safety procedures in a step-by-step manner. New employees also can learn about a variety of pest groups.

“Many people who work in the pest management industries may live in places quite remote from other training centers, and would need to spend several hours driving — possibly in traffic congestion or foul weather — to attend courses in order to acquire necessary training,” said Jeff Smith, e-business content manager for Univar. “Our online courses give them the chance to get the required training without the burden of travel.”

RESEARCHER DEVELOPS WHITE-FOOTED ANT BAIT

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A white-footed ant with a big appetite for sweets is the latest nuisance pest for South Florida PCOs, but a new bait developed by a University of Florida researcher may help stop the home invaders.

Named for their yellowish-white forelegs, the dark-bodied ants are an exotic import from Indonesia and is spreading rapidly.

“Ten years ago, the white-footed ant was a local pest in Miami-Dade County, but it has spread throughout most of South and Central Florida,” said John Warner, graduate research assistant with UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.

Warner, who is working on the white-footed ant problem with Rudolf Schef-frahn, professor of entomology at UF’s Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center, said the ant probably found its way into Florida via shipping containers or imported plants. 

Warner developed a new bait that is attractive to ants and can be combined with various toxic substances. In tests, Warner did not starve the ants. Non-toxic food substances were available at all times. As a result, the ants only fed on the toxic bait if it was attractive to them, or they continued to feed on the non-toxic foods.

Warner and Scheffrahn said test results exceeded their expectations. “Our research data show the bait products are superior to anything now on the market, and we are seeking a patent for the bait. The UF will license the technology to a commercial firm,” Warner said.

PCT RESPONDS TO ‘SMARTMONEY’ MAGAZINE ARTICLE

CLEVELAND — The pest control indus-try’s reputation suffered another “black eye” when SmartMoney magazine published an article titled “Ten Things Your Exterminator Won’t Tell You” in its August issue.

In the article, SmartMoney attacks the pest control industry on 10 separate issues, while failing to adequately present the pest control industry’s perspective. In response, PCT Publisher Dan Moreland submitted the following letter to the editor of SmartMoney:

“As a periodic reader of SmartMoney magazine and a trade magazine journalist myself, I understand the basic premise of the ‘Ten Things’ department that appears in your publication – highlighting “Ten Things” about a particular industry designed to protect the consumer. Unfortunately, as is so often the case in journalism, the errors of omission in this article outweigh any benefit to the consumer.

“What the author failed to understand about our industry is pest management professionals are dealing with unpredictable and highly adaptable biological organisms. As a result, despite the industry’s best intentions not every pest problem can be resolved in a single visit or following a single treatment. Does that mean we shouldn’t aspire to such a goal? Of course not, but whether discussing termite control, ant management, or the pesticides used by pest management professionals, the SmartMoney article addressed these subjects in a far too simplistic and cursory fashion to be of any real benefit to consumers.

“To address one final point, I’m not naive enough to believe that there aren’t unscrupulous pest management professionals providing unsatisfactory service to the American consumer, as is the case in virtually any industry. However, in more than 20 years covering the pest control industry, it has been my experience that the vast majority of pest management professionals are honest, highly reputable, hard-working businesspeople who take their commitment to protecting the health and property of their customers very seriously.

“Ten Things Your Exterminator Won’t Tell You” sullied the entire industry’s reputation, while failing to acknowledge the important work of these dedicated individuals, people I am proud to cover on a daily basis. I’m afraid you missed a real opportunity to explain to consumers how to go about selecting a professional pest management company, information that would have benefited them enormously should they ever encounter a pest problem in their home or business.” — Dan Moreland, Publisher, PCT magazine

To read the August SmartMoney story titled, “Ten Things Your Exterminator Won’t Tell You” be sure to visit www.pctonline.com/smartmoney.