Youngstown man hurt in theater fall

YOUNGSTOWN -- A 22-year-old city man was in critical condition today at St. Elizabeth Health Center after falling two stories in the vacant former State Theater on West Boardman Street downtown.
Jeffrey J. Gue of Clarencedale Avenue, who apparently fell from the top of a staircase, was unconscious on the floor below the balcony, where he had apparently lain for some 18 hours before being rescued by firefighters and an ambulance crew about 9 p.m. Monday, police said.
Gue and two friends had left a downtown bar on Federal Plaza West near the vacant theater between 1 and 2:30 a.m. Monday. Gue was supposed to get a ride from someone other than the two men he had been with, police said.
The two friends went looking for Gue after calling Gue's residence at 5:30 p.m. Monday and learning that he hadn't come home. The friends spotted an open door on the fire escape in Dutton's Alley, behind the theater, climbed up and found Gue, reports show.
Police said the old theater building, which is "in deplorable condition," needs to be boarded up because it contains asbestos and its floors and ceilings are caving in. Officers checked the city lot records and listed the addresses for the building as 208, 212 and 216 W. Boardman.