Demolition Rattles Sleepy Oregon Town

Ever since they tore down the old buildings at Grants Pass High School, people in the neighborhood have been complaining about rats.

“It is a mess,” said Andrea Jacobs, who lives a block south of the high school. “Our garage was just torn up. A lot of stuff we had to just throw out.”

Wendy Turrell’s cat started bringing home 8- to 10-inch rats a few months ago.

“I kept saying, ‘Where’s he getting these rats from?”’ she recalled. Now she hears one inside her wall and recently saw one scuttling across the street.

“I thought it was a cat,” she said.

Grants Pass High School is building a new campus after tearing down its oldest buildings last summer. Some people think the demolition of the old buildings, as well as work on city sewer lines, has put rats on the move.

Grants Pass High School Vice Principal Jim Savard acknowledged that he has heard some neighbors complain about rats.

“Am I convinced we had some? Probably,” he said. “You can’t have buildings this big and old and antiquated and not have some. But I doubt if we had hundreds dispersing out through the city in waves.”