Winthrop Students Decry Mouse Population Boom

Representatives from 13 Winthrop House rooming groups signed a statement yesterday saying they had seen at least one mouse in their room in the past few months.

"At one point we were considering going to the board of health," Patricia Martin'81, one of the circulators of the statement, said yesterday. The signers will present the statement, which circulated at dinner yesterday, to the Winthrop superintendent and to the University housing office today, Martin added.

Exterminate with Extreme Prejudice

The circulators of the statement said the mice in their rooms have survived four exterminator visits, two different types of traps and several kinds of poison.

"There are more mice this year than any other I've ever seen," Benjamin A. Bartie, Winthrop House superintendent, said yesterday. Each time a student filed a complaint, Bartie aid, he called an exterminator.

"The only permanent solution is to spray the whole house, otherwise they'll keep coming back, Amy J. Gould '81, a circulator of the statement, said yesterday.

She added that the problem had gotten "much worse" in the past month, with mice running across the room at least three times in one night.

The Horror, the Horror

"It's just horrible," she added.

Susan F. Yocum '81 said the eterminator visited her room last week, but she feared the return of more mice because her neighbors through the fire door had them.

"Traps are getting expensive, "Thomas Jonson, artist in residence, said yesterday, adding he has had three mice in his room this year and has trapped two.

The rodents are also nesting in the master's residence, Master James A. Davis said yesterday, adding he believes the increase in mice this year is a result of the warm weather and the construction in Harvard Square which is driving the mice toward the river.

Last fall, Saundra Graham, city council representative, asked the city to investigate complaints that MBTA construction was driving rats from their nests to Western Ave