'Bug Zappers' Zapped by City Council

The summer's last City Council meeting featured a debate less heated than most--for everyone except the mosquitoes.

An amendment to the Noise Ordinance, if passed, would require Cambridge residents who own "bug zappers" to shut them off between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m. if their neighbors complain about the sound of frying arthropods.

The "zappers," whose pale blue lights brighten hot summer nights wherever vegetation attracts mosquitoes, work by luring insects towards an electrified wire screen that kills them on contact.

The one-sentence addition was suggested by Councillor Francis M. Duehay '55, who says his street is infested with the gadgets.

Councillor Alfred Vellucci has a better idea, though. He suggested that "what you need up in your neighborhood is a bug-squisher." He imagines a "bug brigade" that would quietly stomp on pesky fauna at night.

Councillor Alice K. Wolf favors a return to the old-fashioned fly-swatter, which allows the user to "use calories up while you're at it."