Copper thefts heat up at Macon recreation centers | The Telegraph

Copper thieves haven’t spared Macon’s recreation centers, causing the cancellation of some programs, high repair costs, and hothouse conditions for the public and city workers alike.

An Aug. 11 police report details damage at the Rosa Jackson Center, 1211 Maynard St. Sometime in the previous five days, the center manager told police, someone pushed a bicycle rack up to the wall that enclosed air conditioners and climbed over. The thief cut out 35 feet of copper coils, kicked out the enclosure door and left.

That effort might have brought the thieves $30, said Chip Koplin, governmental and public affairs manager for recycler Schnitzer Southeast.

“It’s not a lot of money for scrap, but obviously it’s a huge amount of damage for the air conditioner,” he said.

And it’s not an isolated incident. Dale “Doc” Dougherty, city Parks And Recreation director, said air conditioners at five of the city’s eight recreation centers have been hit by thieves recently: East Macon Park, at 3326 Ocmulgee East Blvd., late last spring; then in the past month, Freedom Park center, at 3301 Roff Ave.; Bloomfield Park, at 4115 Lions Place; the Rosa Jackson Center, and just Sunday night, the one in North Macon Park, at 815 North Macon Park Drive.

The air conditioner at East Macon was replaced, and little damage was done at North Macon, so that one was quickly put back in commission; but the others are still down, Dougherty said.

They were more heavily damaged. He said the estimate of damage of $3,500 per unit from the Rosa Jackson Center theft was a decent average for repair costs, which come out of a tight Parks and Recreation budget.

“(The thieves) get $50, and we get stuck with a bill for thousands,” Dougherty said.

The city will file insurance claims for whatever damage it can, mayoral spokesman Clay Murphey said. But that won’t make life easier for those using and working in the centers.

“There’s really only two centers that have A/C in the gym,” Dougherty said. One was Rosa Jackson, and the other is the L.H. Williams Elementary School, which the city can only use part-time, he said.

The other centers had air conditioning in lobbies, offices and meeting rooms, Dougherty said. Because of the thefts, office workers have endured 100-degree heat indoors throughout their workdays, he said. Programming has suffered, too: There are lots of senior citizens’ events and dance classes at North Macon, for example, which had to be canceled until the air conditioning could be repaired, Dougherty said.

Police have been much more aggressive in the past few months in pursuing copper thieves and making sure local recyclers follow the law on checking identification, Koplin said. That increased visibility has been helpful, but it’s hard to stop copper theft, he said.

The Georgia Recyclers Association recommends that owners mark their air conditioners’ copper coils with a distinctive pattern of spray paint, and their initials, Koplin said. That greatly aids prosecutors in proving that copper was stolen from a particular place, he said.

Any attempt at deterrent is helpful, such as installing cages around air conditioning units, Koplin said.

Wherever possible, that’s what the city intends, Murphey said.

“The plan is to start moving air conditioners to the roofs, just to make it harder,” he said.

To contact writer Jim Gaines, call 744-4489.