Quad store is now mouse-free

It looks like Mickey Mouse and friends have returned to Disney Land. The Quadrangle Commissary, once the home of ravenous rodents, is now mouse-free, thanks to the efforts of Physical Plant workers. Director of Residential Maintenance Lynn Horner said Physical Plant workers have been working for the past week to prevent the mice from coming into the mini-grocery store in the Quad. A new locking device was put on the front door to the Commissary "so it wasn't open all the time," she said. Residential Maintenance Assistant Director Philip Genther said earlier this month that mice were able to enter the Commissary because the front door was often left ajar. Horner added that "a lot of old supplies from the Commissary were removed." "Holes [in the walls] that were seen as potential action points [for mice] were filled up," Horner said. Wharton senior James Padilla, Quad Commissary manager, said an "old conveyor belt" which attracted mice was also removed. College freshman Ali Parnian, a Commissary employee, said, "the measures [Physical Plant] has taken have been effective." He said he has not seen any mice in the past week and a half, since the workers began blocking up the mouse hot-spots in the Commissary. Parnian did say he saw mice over the past month, though, along with nibble-marks on merchandise. But Padilla said he has not seen mice in the past four to six weeks. Although mouse-occupancy in the Quadrangle dormitory and Commissary reached its peak at the beginning of the semester -- with one student, College freshman Kelley Parker, finding more than 10 in her room at one time-- no complaints were filed with the Philadelphia Public Health Department this year, Health Department spokesperson Randy Clever said yesterday. Still, though, according to a press release made by Philadelphia Acting Health Commissioner Estelle Richman, mice, particularly in food establishments, pose a major health threat. "Rats and mice are responsible for the spread of a large number of diseases," she states. "Transmission occurs by contamination of food or food contact surfaces from saliva, their urine, and feces. "It is clear that insects and rodents in food establishments are not just an aesthetic concern," Richman added.