I am writing in response to the June 30 front-page story headlined "Rodents roam roost."

The story highlights the "plight" suffered by Sherrie Kennedy and her family, who reside at 958 E. Jefferson St. The problem, Kennedy contends, is that the house next to hers is a breeding ground for rats. She claims to have trapped more than 60, and has collected some to take to city council meetings.

Some of the rats are two feet long, she says.

She goes on to name my brother, Tom Matson, as a negligent landlord with a nuisance property. As any family member should do, I called him and asked what I could do to help — clean, haul, whatever. He said there was nothing we could do.

The story was somewhat true but was severely biased and incomplete.

A woman and her four kids did move out two years ago and left an awful mess. Tom paid $500 for a roll-off dumpster to be delivered, and he cleaned out everything.

Afterwards, Paul Snyder, from the code enforcement office, made a personal inspection of the house and declared there was no food or garbage, so it was an issue resolved.

That was two years ago, so who is feeding all these rats that they can multiply and prosper as proficiently as they do? I personally went up to the "nuisance property" to see for myself what was going on.

It's a small, sturdy structure with a small, but mowed, backyard. I took pictures.

I also took pictures of the neighbors' yards. Tom's little house is bordered on three sides by people with much bigger yards, all with vegetable or flower gardens.

Kennedy openly admits that rats were eating from her neighbor's garden. Is it that hard to add 2 plus 2?

They also have a fountain and a swimming pool. Fountains are beautiful, but they are a midnight watering hole for any nocturnal beast.

I made several observations during my short visit to the property at 954 E. Jefferson St. There are at least four gardens (salad bars) and a constant supply of fresh water, supplied by the Kennedys.

The house on the other side of Tom's "'nuisance property" has a huge dog in an outdoor kennel, with food and water left out constantly. When the dog's away, the rats will play, and they probably bring the dog in nightly.

Of course, with dogs come meat scraps and bones lying in the yard.

Further, Kennedy runs a day-care. She has a trampoline and a pool, and I'll bet there is food dropped by children all over her yard.

Couple these facts with the fact that there is a meat market visible from her front yard and a bait shop around the corner. Oh, and the sixth-most-polluted waterway in the country is right over the hill across the street.

Vilifying Tom Matson, or Elder Matson, as he is known in his church, is not the answer to this woman's problems. He is a man of the highest moral fiber and has done all he should be expected to.

The code enforcement office has done its job. They got a complaint, and it was dealt with in a timely fashion.

The article ended with Kennedy saying, "This is Mr. Matson's problem, and he should be held responsible for it."

It's so easy to assign blame. It sure helps you to wash your own hands of trouble, but it doesn't help solve problems.

Kennedy and the Eagle reporter are good at sensationalizing problems, but they are poor at solving them. The way it looks to me, Kennedy is a major contributor to the rat problem, not a crusader against it.

After all, rats, like cockroaches, only go where they're well fed.