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Fly Problem Makes Buzz in Limestone Township

LIMESTONE TOWNSHIP — For nearly four years now, a community in Lycoming County has been dealing with an infestation of flies. Neighbors say this year has ...

LIMESTONE TOWNSHIP -- For nearly four years now, a community in Lycoming County has been dealing with an infestation of flies.

Neighbors say this year has been the worst summer yet. They believe the problem stems from a chicken farm in their neighborhood and now they are reaching out for help.

After battling the farm for three to four years, some families in Limestone Township formed a group in hopes of swatting the flies for good.

Patsy Lorson has a fly problem and she's dealing with it the best she can.

"These are fly traps," Lorson said. "It helps but every hundred it kills, another hundred come."

Lorson has lived in Limestone Township for decades but the fly infestation, that's a new issue.

"They are horrible. We haven't been able to live a decent life, we can't be outside, we can't have picnics."

They're called lesser flies or little house flies.

Lorson says they're coming from manure that was sitting for months at a chicken farm across the road from her house.

"When they have the manure, it's wet and they lay eggs and there is hundreds of flies, not just a few."

Hundreds of families who live just outside Jersey Shore are noticing more and more flies, too.

This week, the group "Families of Limestone Informative Group of Nuisance," or FLIGONE held a meeting to voice their concerns.

'They keep telling us it was going to get better but it didn't, it got worse, so that's when we got the local government more involved," said Lorson.

"It's a nuisance, it's what it is," said Dolores Ribarchik.

"When we opened up our garage, we could literally swat your hand and hit 30 of them at one time. It was that bad," said Janet Smithgall.

The farm was cleaned before an inspection earlier this month. Since then, the fly count has gone down.

"It's making us change the way we have to live than what we did before and that just isn't right to have to put up with," Ribarchik added.

The owners of the farm admit they did have a fly problem but the manure has been cleaned up and they are trying to keep the fly count down.

The owners of the farm tell us they recently sold the farm and the new owners are aware of the community's concerns.

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