Last week, members of Bethel Missionary Baptist Church canceled their normal Wednesday night Bible study session to attend a Dayton City Commission meeting, where their pastor, Rev. Johnson, asked the city for help.
Johnson said worshipers, choir members and church staff and visitors have been scared by pit bulls and other large dogs that roam the neighborhood. The church is located at 401 S. Paul Laurence Dunbar St., two blocks south of West Third.
Johnson said visitors sometimes have been afraid to get out of their cars and walk across the parking lot to enter the church. Johnson said when members of his church call police to report stray dogs, they are told there is nothing officers can do and they will not respond.
He said parishioners at the church are worried about showing up for service because they could be attacked.
Many of his members are elderly so he worried they could get spooked by the dog and fall.
