When Ed Crandall went out to his porch to get his newspaper Sunday morning, he saw a policeman frantically waving at him. The officer said, “Mr. Crandall, you better come with me.” Not a good sign. “It was Officer Sean Kelly, whom I’ve known since his days playing Pop Warner football,” Crandall explained last week. “I thought he was just saying, ‘Hello.’ But that wasn’t it at all.” Kelly had a present for Crandall, who has been the owner and proprietor of Rightway Pest Controls, Inc. in Weehawken since 1979. “It was the side view mirror for my car,” Crandall said. Kelly took Crandall to his car, which was parked under a tree on the corner of Columbia Terrace and Potter Place. As the police vehicle got closer to the scene, Crandall noticed that a crowd already had assembled and a North Hudson Regional Fire and Rescue crew was on the scene, cutting an old tree into pieces. The wicked wind and rain late Saturday night caused a huge 20-foot branch from the tree to come crashing down – right on top of the roof of Crandall’s Toyota Camry. “The roof was damaged, so was the hood,” said Crandall. “The mirror came off. It was a very large branch. At first, I figured it was just a car and that I would let the insurance people handle the problem. What was I going to do? It was not about to ruin my Sunday.” However, upon further examination, Crandall spotted something he couldn’t believe. “I looked to the ground and I saw thousands of carpenter ants,” Crandall said. “The limb of the tree was eaten away by carpenter ants. I should know what carpenter ants look like. I’ve been getting rid of them for 20 years. I couldn’t believe the irony of ironies. The carpenter ants ate this tree and it came crashing down on my car. I couldn’t believe it.” Sure enough, the damage was caused by the same kind of little pests that Crandall exterminates on a regular basis. “I guess this was their way of getting revenge on me,” Crandall said. “It was definitely time for them to get even. I got them for so many years, so they turned around and got me.” Crandall said that the damage caused to his car was estimated at $750. Since the car was leased, Crandall doesn’t know what insurance will pay for the repairs. But the long-time bug blaster is amazed that the tiny critters finally got him back. “I figured I have to do about five more carpenter ant jobs to get even,” Crandall said. “But I’ll have my day.” Crandall said that he is worried about the tree, which apparently is ravaged by the tiny wood-eaters. “Eventually, this tree will die,” Crandall said. “They live for 100 years, but then these carpenter ants get in there and eat away. It’s a big, old tree, but it’s definitely infected by the ants. And unfortunately, I just happened to park under it.” Crandall was asked if he learned a valuable lesson from the Sunday morning discovery. “Yeah, I shouldn’t park under a tree,” Crandall said. “And I should get a driveway, which isn’t easy where I live. But after it’s all said and done, it was pretty funny the way the ants got me.” This time. But the bug blaster shall return.
Our Digital Archive from 2000 – 2016
