NEWS PROVIDED BY
Aspire Christian Community
March 7, 2019

DODGE CITY, Kan., March 7, 2019 /Standard Newswire/ -- A man reportedly fell off the roof of the Historic Dodge Theater in Dodge City Kansas Thursday while cleaning up after the Government Center's pigeon poop Problem.

Aspire is a Christian Ministry in Dodge City Kansas working along with other Christian organizations in the badly dilapidated historic district to revitalize downtown and restore the world historic Dodge Theater.

"I saw the video of the mishap, but I don't have any comment about that," said Rev. CJ Conner.

Conner said that the pigeon problem in Dodge City is not only dangerous, but destructive to the facades of the historic buildings.

"On our building you can see the tremendous damage caused by the pigeons that roost on the Ford County Government Center. A new roof was put in the area over the Dodge Theater about 3 years ago, and the acidic nature of the pigeon droppings has stripped away at portions of it. It literally eats away at brickwork and stonework," said Conner.

Work on the Historic Dodge Theater, where Errol Flynn and Humphrey Bogart were on hand for the first movie premier outside of Hollywood, has been at a standstill.

"My understanding is that the incident reported to me today on the roof happened while a worker was cleaning out a drain that was plugged up by pigeon droppings that come from the Government Center. The problem was discovered because of a leak in the theater itself. I've tried for over 2 years to work with the government officials, with County Manager JD Gilbert, with anybody who would listen to us. I can't approve any work on the theater until these kinds of problems caused by the pigeons is rectified."

A call to the Ford County Government Center was not returned, but one employee laughed when asked about the pigeon infestation in downtown Dodge City, KS. "The pigeons have been a nuisance for years and years."

"I've done my part" said Conner. "This is a 50,000 square foot building. We've gotten rid of the pigeons from everywhere except where they roost on the Government Center. Quite a few people have gone to government officials to get action, we even took out a series of ads in the local newspaper to troll them for the pigeon problem. Sometimes you can't walk down the street in Downtown Dodge without stepping in pigeon crap."

Conner says he has installed pigeon deterrents on his building, but beyond that his hands are tied. "I can't just climb up on the Government Center, it's not my building. They called the police on us because one of our deterrents was bothering an employee. Gilbert asked me to move it and I did. As I did with so many others, so many times before, I once again tried to convince Gilbert to do something about the pigeons."

"I warned him, somebody is going to fall off that roof and kill themselves cleaning up after the County's pigeon mess. He told me that the pigeon poop was not the County's problem. Thankfully the worker only fell a few feet to the next roof down and needs no medical attention that I know of."

"The lack of pride they have in downtown Dodge City is shameful on the County's part. And it's a shame because this building is a part of Americana, an important part of American cinematic history."

To find out more about the Historic Dodge Theater or to support their historic preservation efforts, go to www.dodgetheater.org.

SOURCE Aspire Christian Community

CONTACT: Rev. CJ Conner, 620-255-9597

Related Links
www.dodgetheater.org