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Roaches ruin Halloween for some as city bans trick-or-treating on one street

Posted at 6:10 PM, Oct 31, 2022
and last updated 2022-10-31 18:35:52-04

WYANDOTTE, Mich. (WXYZ) — "At first, I'm shaking my heading thinking this can't be right," Linda Souve said about a letter from the city of Wyandotte alerting her and all of her neighbors that there should be no trick-or-treating on 20th Street from Eureka to Grove on Monday for Halloween.

"This can't be right. This has to be a typo. They couldn't have done this on Halloween," Souve said she thought as she read the letter, which detailed the creepy reason.

It all had to do with an "infestation of roaches" and "an effort to prevent further roach migration."

And that means streets and sidewalks will be blocked from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Monday.

On Tuesday, city crews are expected to enter the house where the infestation began to consider how to best exterminate the roaches.

Wyandotte City Engineer Gregory Mayhew said they had been working with the owner of the property through their Property Maintenance ordinance but will now have to use emergency procedures because the owner has failed to eradicate the problem, which has cost some people who live nearby nearly $2,000 in an effort to keep their homes free of the pests.

The home where the infestation began has been deemed unfit for occupancy. And because there were children living at the house, Child Protective Services had to get involved with the family.

The family has since moved out of the house that is owned by a relative.