Flashbacks: A look back at local history

100 years ago – October 4, 1917

For better fire protection

“Healdsburg is badly in need of modern fire-fighting apparatus,” said Chief Harold Rosenberg in speaking to the Board of City Trustees Monday night. “It is poor policy to wait until the town burns down before we realize the need for modern equipment. The town is well able to purchase an up-to-date engine, and we ought to give this matter our attention before we suffer the same experience that came to Ukiah recently. “The efficiency of the department has decreased in recent months as it is. A number of the members have enlisted and others have left town. I don’t like to carry the responsibility of the head of the department with conditions as they now are.” The members of the Board of Trustees talked the matter over briefly, and considered that the first need toward improving the fire protection of the town was to replace some of the old and small pipes on various streets to pipes of larger capacity.

50 years ago – October 5,1967

Ponder Plaza pigeons

What do Healdsburg’s Plaza and San Francisco’s Union Square have in common? Pigeons. Councilman Art Schieffer at Monday’s council meeting reported that the pigeon propagation has become so great that, “we have quite a problem in town,’’ and quoted several irate citizens who expressed their disgust in strong language, especially one who hailed down the councilman while wielding a shovel alongside his place of business. The council didn’t come up with an answer, pointing out that if San Francisco hasn’t been able to solve its pigeon problem over many decades, Healdsburg couldn’t expect to solve it in one week. Inasmuch as one suggestion involved “shooting ’em down,’’ Mayor Badger referred the matter to the police committee for lack of a better one. Which caused Tribune writer Dean Dunnicliff to challenge the referral in its entirety. He commented that if the police committee was going to study the matter it would be right for a police committee to be responsible only for the stool pigeons. Which resulted in Councilman Schieffer firing back, “Yes, in more ways than one.”

25 years ago – October 7, 1992

Council makes DRC’s demise official

The appointed arbiters of architectural taste in Healdsburg have been ousted. It’s official: The city’s Design Review Commission, which has been praised and damned for its work in the past, is no more. Over the protests of the city Planning Commission and amid warnings that it would do just the opposite of its intention, the City Council approved a resolution Monday night eliminating the DRC, expanding the Planning Commission to seven members, and distribute the DRC’s duties among the planning staff. The DRC was charged with reviewing plans for projects, and judging their merit based on design, compatibility with surrounding uses and development that is in keeping with the character and scale of the city.

 

About Pigeon Patrol:

Pigeon Patrol Products & Services is the leading manufacturer and distributor of bird deterrent (control) products in Canada. Pigeon Patrol products have solved pest bird problems in industrial, commercial, and residential settings since 2000, by using safe and humane bird deterrents with only bird and animal friendly solutions. At Pigeon Patrol, we manufacture and offer a variety of bird deterrents, ranging from Ultra-flex Bird Spikes with UV protection, Bird Netting, 4-S Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.

Voted Best Canadian wholesaler for Bird Deterrent products four years in a row.

Contact Info: 1- 877– 4– NO-BIRD (www.pigeonpatrol.ca)

Rossouw’s pigeons out in front in Kimberly race

AMANZIMTOTI Racing Pigeon Club reports on race 33 and 34.

Four members flew a total of 38 birds from Marblehall on Saturday, 23 September.

First to third Doug Fry, fourth Basil Tait, fifth Doug Fry, sixth to seventh, eighth Doug Fry, ninth Basil Tait, 10th to 12th Rossouw Lofts.

Seven members flew a total of 128 birds from Kimberly on Saturday, 23 September.

First Rossouw Lofts, second to third Doug Fry, fourth Basil Tait, fifth Rossouw Lofts, sixth Basil Tait, seventh to eighth Rossouw Lofts, ninth to 10th Basil Tait.

 

About Pigeon Patrol:

Pigeon Patrol Products & Services is the leading manufacturer and distributor of bird deterrent (control) products in Canada. Pigeon Patrol products have solved pest bird problems in industrial, commercial, and residential settings since 2000, by using safe and humane bird deterrents with only bird and animal friendly solutions. At Pigeon Patrol, we manufacture and offer a variety of bird deterrents, ranging from Ultra-flex Bird Spikes with UV protection, Bird Netting, 4-S Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.

Voted Best Canadian wholesaler for Bird Deterrent products four years in a row.

Contact Info: 1- 877– 4– NO-BIRD (www.pigeonpatrol.ca)

 

Parisian mayor wants to release birds of prey to tackle pigeon problem

It’s supposedly good luck to get pooped on by a bird, but the mayor of Paris’ 10th arrondissement isn’t having it.

So he’s come up with a pretty wild solution for dealing with the issue: releasing two hawks and three falcons to make the pigeons scarper.

According to The Telegraph, Rémi Féraud claims pigeon droppings cause about €176,000 in damage a year, along with posing a “real health risk.”

The people of Paris aren’t happy about the idea though.

A group called Pigeon Embassy has collected more than 20,000 signatures opposing the plan.

Arguing that it’ll be expensive for taxpayers and cruel for the birds, some of whom might die and others, who will just come back.

But a spokesman for the town hall told France’s 20 minutes newspaper, they’ve already tried the classic methods, as well as pigeon spikes.

 

About Pigeon Patrol:

Pigeon Patrol Products & Services is the leading manufacturer and distributor of bird deterrent (control) products in Canada. Pigeon Patrol products have solved pest bird problems in industrial, commercial, and residential settings since 2000, by using safe and humane bird deterrents with only bird and animal friendly solutions. At Pigeon Patrol, we manufacture and offer a variety of bird deterrents, ranging from Ultra-flex Bird Spikes with UV protection, Bird Netting, 4-S Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.

Voted Best Canadian wholesaler for Bird Deterrent products four years in a row.

Contact Info: 1- 877– 4– NO-BIRD (www.pigeonpatrol.ca)

Swart is Riverpark champion

ON Saturday Gauteng Pigeon Union liberated the pigeons from two race points for the final races of the season.

These were Three Sisters in the Eastern Cape and Beaufort West in the Western Cape. The skies were clear and there was no wind from both race points when the pigeons were liberated at 6.15am.

Riverpark Pigeon Club’s results for the Three Sisters race saw Doves Nest Guest House (Gawie Botha) having the only bird through on the day before the hours of darkness (clocks closing) came into effect. This was also Doves Nest Guest House’s first win for the season.

At the time of going to the press, Gawie was in 17th position in the GPU results.

The rest of the results were:

Doves Nest Guest House (Gawie Botha) 1st, 7th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 20th, 24th; Sky Lofts (Corrie Moller) 2nd, 6th, 10th, 17th, 21st, 26th; Blackie Swart 3rd, 8th; Hilton Pitout 4th, 5th, 13th, 22nd; Tallies Lofts 9th, 23rd; Pieter van den Broeck 11th, 29th; Le Roux Lofts (Pieter le Roux) 18th, 27th; Flip van Staden 19th, 28th and G&E Lofts (Graham Cheary & Elaine Russell) 25th and 30th.

The Beaufort West race saw no pigeons through on the day with the pigeons only arriving from early on Sunday morning. The first member of Riverpark to clock a pigeon was Tallies Lofts (Johan Taljaard) and 26 minutes later Pine Pienaar.

At the time of going to the press, Tallies Lofts were in 17th position in the GPU results.

The rest of the results were:

Tallies Lofts (Johan Taljaard) 1st; Pine Pienaar 2nd; Beano Daschner 3rd; Doves Nest Guest House 4th, 7th, 13th, 19th, 28th, 30th; Blackie Swart 5th, 8th; Sky Lofts (Corrie Moller) 6th, 11th, 12th, 16th, 18th, 24th; Connie Coertse 9th; Flip van Staden 14th; Pieter van den Broeck 10th, 15th; G&E Lofts (Graham Cheary & Elaine Russell) 17th, 22nd, 23rd, 25th; Le Roux Lofts (Pieter le Roux) 20th, 21st, 29th and Hilton Pitout 26th and 27th.

Riverpark’s long-distance champion and club champion for 2017 is Blackie Swart. Flip van Staden’s SOTV 2015 2850 Blue Bar Hen is the best long distance pigeon in the club.

The 2018 pigeon racing season will kick off on June 2 when the first race will take place from Theunissen.

 

About Pigeon Patrol:

Pigeon Patrol Products & Services is the leading manufacturer and distributor of bird deterrent (control) products in Canada. Pigeon Patrol products have solved pest bird problems in industrial, commercial, and residential settings since 2000, by using safe and humane bird deterrents with only bird and animal friendly solutions. At Pigeon Patrol, we manufacture and offer a variety of bird deterrents, ranging from Ultra-flex Bird Spikes with UV protection, Bird Netting, 4-S Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.

Voted Best Canadian wholesaler for Bird Deterrent products four years in a row.

Contact Info: 1- 877– 4– NO-BIRD (www.pigeonpatrol.ca)

City spending thousands to clean up after pigeons

LA CROSSE, Wis. (WKBT) – The city of La Crosse is again facing a pigeon problem.

A large amount of pigeon droppings were recently discovered in a part of the Main Street parking ramp between the roof of the street-level businesses and the ramp itself.

The city thinks the pigeons spent years pecking through insulation before finding the warm and dry shelter, leaving behind a large amount of droppnigs that aren’t easy to clean up.

The Board of Public Works voted this week to spend more than $30,000 to re-seal the area and clean up the droppings.

“There’s a secondary exit to be able to get all of that out of there, so it won’t affect the restaurants, it’s not a health issue at this point, it just has to come off of there,” said Parking Utility Coordinator Jim Flottmeyer.

The city hopes to have the area re-sealed and cleaned up in the next two or three weeks.

 

About Pigeon Patrol:

Pigeon Patrol Products & Services is the leading manufacturer and distributor of bird deterrent (control) products in Canada. Pigeon Patrol products have solved pest bird problems in industrial, commercial, and residential settings since 2000, by using safe and humane bird deterrents with only bird and animal friendly solutions. At Pigeon Patrol, we manufacture and offer a variety of bird deterrents, ranging from Ultra-flex Bird Spikes with UV protection, Bird Netting, 4-S Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.

Voted Best Canadian wholesaler for Bird Deterrent products four years in a row.

Contact Info: 1- 877– 4– NO-BIRD (www.pigeonpatrol.ca)