North Texans Spending Big Bucks To Combat West Nile

DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - When the misters go off at the Garrett household in North Dallas, it's not to cool the place down. Instead, the misters are doing what many cities in North Texas refuse to do. They're spraying for mosquitoes. "When we first moved in, we had a ton of mosquitoes," recalled Garrett.

The finishing touches are being added to Kim Garrett's $5,000 mosquito misting system. Metal misters that spray repellent have been discretely installed around her house and her two-acre yard. "There are lots of trees, lots of brush and there's a creek with water in it," explained the mother of two children.

Garrett says the money she spent on the system is well worth it, especially with kids, a dog and the threat of West Nile.

Those same concerns over West Nile are keeping Mark Kellner of Texas Mosquito Control pretty busy this summer. Kellner installed Garrett's system and plenty of others just like it. "Business is brisk," said Kellner. "It's buzzing, actually. We're up 30% for the year."

Jim Woodard of ABC Home & Commercial Services is also a busy bee these days. "I'd say half of my customers are asking about West Nile and wanting to know more about West Nile," said Woodard.

Woodard is treating Suzanne Yaeger's home in northwest Dallas."I don't really want to die from a mosquito bite in my old age," Yaeger said half-jokingly. "It's not a fun thing to think about."

Yaeger is paying $100 a treatment to have her bushes sprayed and her yard covered with a granular repellent. The repellent is eco-friendly and consists of thyme and cloves.

Since many cities in North Texas refuse to spray for mosquitoes, more and more homeowners are shelling out big bucks of their own to meet the threat of West Nile.