[Rearview] stories and statistics of interest to pest control operators

FLORIDA DISTRIBUTOR PROFILED IN ‘PARADE’ MAGAZINE

Jon Kalis, owner of Naples, Fla.-based Mosquitoes and Flies Demise — a distributor of the Mosquito Magnet and fly control machines — was recently featured in Parade magazine’s cover story “What People Earn.” The annual report appeared in the March 2 edition of Parade, a weekly magazine that is included in many Sunday newspapers throughout the United States.

Kalis’ photo appeared with a caption that read: Jon Kalis, 38, owner, pest control co., Naples, Fla., $40,000.

“I actually don’t own a pest control company. I sell and service the Mosquito Magnet and fly control machines to restaurants, but I guess that wouldn’t fit under the photo,” Kalis told PCT.

Kalis says Parade contacted him a couple months ago for the article, but he’s not sure how they became aware of him and his business.

Now in his second year as a distributor, Kalis says his business is experiencing steady growth. “I saw the Mosquito Magnet demonstrated a couple years ago and I liked that it was unique and I saw the potential market (in Southwest Florida),” Kalis said. “Mosquitoes are a problem year-round here. Also, with the West Nile virus outbreak people are concerned for their animals, so that has given me a little boost.”

Kalis said he is considering expanding his business to offer certain perimeter pest control products.

‘SURVIVOR’ CONTESTANT CONTRACTS MALARIA
According to a report from Fox News, one of the castaways on Survivor: The Amazon, recently came down with malaria. Daniel Lue, 27, a tax accountant from Houston, apparently contracted the disease while taping the show, despite taking anti-malarial drugs.

Lue was diagnosed with the disease after suffering for almost two weeks with flu-like symptoms his mother, Cynthia Lue, told the Houston Chronicle.

Lue began to feel weak early February and his temperature shot up to 105°F. His doctor said Lue was probably suffering from the flu and he was treated with over-the-counter medication, which did nothing to alleviate his symptoms.
Other visits to the doctor did not provide Lue with relief, she said.

Lue had a blood test that revealed that he was suffering from malaria, a common mosquito-borne disease in the rain forest where Survivor: Amazon was filmed. Lue drew the wrath of his Survivor teammates when he kept falling off a balance beam during the game’s first immunity challenge. Tough crowd, huh?