SCBC official: Bats cleared, White Oak Conference Center safe for summer campers

With summer camps for youth and children set to begin in early June, the problem of bats invading sleeping quarters at White Oak Conference Center appears to be solved, an official says.

Parents should “absolutely” feel confident in sending their children to stay overnight at White Oak, said Roger Orman, an associate executive director for the South Carolina Baptist Convention whose responsibilities include administrative oversight of the convention’s conference center in rural Fairfield County.

Orman said “every action necessary to protect the welfare” of guests at White Oak has been taken, including adhering to “all the guidelines” suggested by the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control for removing the bats and cleaning the spaces above the rooms in which the bats roosted.

The affected spaces have been “thoroughly cleaned, sanitized and sealed” in accordance with DHEC specifications, said Orman. Insulation in the affected areas was scheduled to be replaced by the first of June, he said. An April 30 SCBC news release noted that the bats may have roosted in the spaces for “more than a decade.”

On May 21, a message alerting visitors to the bat infestation was removed from the White Oak website. The alert, which also included safety instructions for guests if they encountered a bat inside a room, was posted at the website April 10.

 In April 2013, “thousands” of bats were discovered roosting in the attic space of buildings A, B, and C at White Oak. Those buildings house hotel-style guest rooms. SCBC officials contracted with an extermination company to displace the bats and install screening to prevent them from reentering the buildings.

Afterward, problems did not resurface until bats found their way into guests’ rooms on four occasions beginning in early 2014. The bats apparently entered the buildings through “cracks in the ceiling, in small holes around plumbing and electrical service to the attic, and even through air-conditioning ventilation,” said Executive Board Properties Committee chairman Duane Greene in the April 30 news release.

One White Oak guest, Steve Cartin, after consulting with his doctor, elected to receive four rounds of post-exposure rabies injections after sleeping in a room for four hours before discovering there was a bat in his room.

“The likelihood that I’ve been infected is low indeed, but given that the first onset of symptoms is too late to begin treatment, the wise thing to do was to begin,” Cartin said in an email he copied to Courier editor Rudy Gray.

Cartin, pastor of Red Oak Grove Baptist Church in Modoc and a member of the SCBC Executive Board, told the Courier he thinks the state convention should “reach out to those who have been affected,” adding that he was “satisfied with the way they have responded to me.”

At the spring meeting of the SCBC Executive Board April 7-8, board members approved a motion directing the Properties Committee to consult with the convention attorney about the bat problem and about “issues of informed consent by hotel guests and liability protection for the convention,” according to the April 30 SCBC news release.

In April, Orman told The Courier he was contacting groups that were scheduled to stay at White Oak and offering them the opportunity to cancel their reservations without penalty. He said two groups have canceled their reservations and one group rescheduled its visit for later this year.

In the past few weeks, Orman said, a construction company working in partnership with a pest-control company has sealed the spaces previously inhabited by the bats.

The Courier reported last month that the convention had spent approximately $48,000 in its efforts to eradicate the bats. Orman said it could be the middle of June, after expenditures have been posted, before he could provide accurate information about how much additional money has been spent.