By Richard Ruelas
The Arizona Republic
May 4, 1998
The only two things that will survive a nuclear
war are cockroaches and naked greed.
A Tucson pest-control company is testing the
durability of both this week as it offers $50,000
for the capture of one of 100 specially marked
cockroaches it will release into the city this
week.
"Think like a roach," said Bruce Tennenbaum,
owner of Arizona Pest Control, offering advice
on the contest. "Think of dirty places."
The contest has already piqued the antennae of
some in the Old Pueblo who have bugged county
officials for permission to troll the sewers in
pursuit of the payoff pest.
Pima County officials have said no to the would-be
sewer rats, sending out a reminder through the
media that raw sewage is hazardous.
"Don't mess with our manholes," read
a news release by Wastewater Management. "The
marked roaches won't be in there, and neither
should you."
Just where the coded cucarachas will be is anyone's
guess.
Tennenbaum said the 100 roaches will be freed
Wednesday in various parts of the city -- where,
he has nary a clue. It's being done by a University
of Arizona professor, who will carefully log each
drop-off, ensuring that only one roach is cut
loose in each spot.
Captured roaches can be taken into Arizona Pest
Control, where Tennenbaum will check for the special
code. Everyone who catches a marked roach gets
$100, he said.
"It'll be underneath the roach," Tennenbaum
said of the code. "I don't think a normal
person would probably see them with the human
eye."
A random number between 1 and 100 will be chosen
and the person who finds the roach marked with
that number will win the $50,000.
"I wanted to do (the prize) for $1 million,
but I couldn't get the insurance," Tennenbaum
said.
Chances are slim that anyone will capture the
winning winged insect, since Tennenbaum figured
there are about 1 billion roaches in Tucson.
But Tennenbaum figures they'll be fewer as a
result of the contest.
"We're going to clean up the sewer system
in Arizona," he said. "We release 100
and we're going to get back thousands.
"We're doing a public service."
It's also some self-promotion.
After all, Tennenbaum is the person who last
year held a contest for the fastest roach, and
the year before held a contest looking for the
longest roach.
"Everywhere I go, people say, 'It's the
Roach Guy.' "
All the roaches collected in this contest, even
those without codes, will be kept in a walk-in
freezer by Tennenbaum.
He will put them on display on June 29 at the
Tucson Sidewinders minor-league baseball game,
where he will announce any winner's name.
Tennenbaum predicts the run for the roaches will
have otherwise normal folks peering behind trash
bins, around drains and, despite the warnings,
into sewers.
"It's dead or alive," Tennenbaum said,
spelling out the rules. "But try not to have
it splattered so we can see if it has the markings
on it."
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