text: CLOSE Brevard Hall of Fame wants the remains of Jim Morrison in Melbourne. Video by Craig Rubadoux. Posted Dec. 30, 2015. 
   
   Jim Morrison of The Doors died in July 1971 of an alleged heroin overdose in Paris. (Photo: Pensacola News Journal) 
   
   MELBOURNE — The president of the Brevard Hall of Fame wants to move Jim Morrison's remains from his Paris gravesite to Melbourne, the birthplace of the controversial, magnetic "Lizard King" lead singer of The Doors. 
   
   One of the most iconic frontmen in rock history, Morrison was born Dec. 8, 1943, at the former Brevard Hospital on U.S. 1. His parents, Steve and Clara, moved to town when Steve was transferred to Naval Air Station Melbourne for flight training during World War II, and they lived in a downtown home on Vernon Place. 
   
   Though Morrison's resting place is a heavily visited pop-culture shrine listed among TIME's Top 10 Celebrity Grave Sites — alongside the likes of Princess Diana, Elvis Presley and Bruce Lee — scant evidence exists in Melbourne of his local ties. 
   
   John Tice wants to change that. In August 2012, he founded the Brevard Hall of Fame, a nonprofit organization that occupies a back room inside the Liberty Bell Memorial Museum and honors more than 30 famous people with Space Coast residential ties. A modest Morrison display features posters, two record albums by The Doors ("13" and "Strange Days"), and a framed copy of his last will and testament. 
   
   "Jim Morrison was the most popular public figure from this area, in my opinion," Tice said, seated at a table inside the hall of fame. "He and Kate Upton are the two biggest draws here." 
   
   "I can see the Morrison display morphing into something much bigger," he said. 
   
   Tice, who is a West Melbourne city councilman, hopes to contact authorities at the sprawling Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, where Morrison was interred after his 1971 death. If cemetery officials agree, and any potential legal issues are ironed out, Tice plans to organize a fundraising drive to move Morrison's remains to Melbourne for display at the Brevard Hall of Fame. 
   
   A couple of years ago, Tice said he heard that French cemetery officials offered to move Morrison’s remains to Melbourne to his Vernon Place birth home. However, the homeowner declined the offer. 
   
   Today, Jim Morrison's display serves as the centerpiece of the Brevard Hall of Fame main wall, near a football autographed by NFL quarterback Doug Flutie of Melbourne Beach, a surfboard autographed by 11-time world champion Kelly Slater of Cocoa Beach, and both of Upton's Sports Illustrated swimsuit-issue covers. The supermodel, who was crowned People's Sexiest Woman Alive last year, attended Melbourne's Holy Trinity Episcopal Academy. 
   
   Two Morrison posters and a "Jim Morrison Way" replica street sign were donated by Applebee’s at Wickham Road and Eau Gallie Boulevard, where they had been displayed in the dining room. Last year, an Ohio fan of The Doors donated both records and the poetry book “Wilderness: The Lost Writings of Jim Morrison.” 
   
   The newest Brevard Hall of Fame inductee is pro wrestler "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan, a former Titusville resident and member of the WWE Hall of Fame. Two weeks ago, the hall added an autographed photo and commemorative football from retired Miami Dolphins fullback and Super Bowl VIII MVP Larry Csonka, who owns a home north of Scottsmoor. 
   
   Tice said he still hears the decades-old rumor that Morrison graduated from Melbourne High — which is false. Six months after Morrison was born, his father was assigned to the Pacific theater. Clara and Jim moved to Clearwater and lived with Steve's parents for the next three years, according to the Jim Morrison biography "No One Here Gets Out Alive" by Jerry Hopkins and Danny Sugerman. 
   
   Contact Neale at 321-242-3638, rneale@floridatoday.com or follow @RickNeale1 on Twitter 
   
   Read or Share this story: http://on.flatoday.com/1YT6zjv ||||| MELBOURNE, Fla. - The president of the Brevard County Hall of Fame is spearheading an effort to have legendary rock star Jim Morrison's remains brought back to Florida from Paris. 
   
   Born James Douglas Morrison on Dec. 8, 1943, at the former Brevard Hospital, the lead singer of The Doors is no stranger to controversy. 
   
   "The fact that he was born here -- I mean, seems like everybody knows that. Everybody knows that Jim Morrison was born in Melbourne, Florida," said John Tice, Brevard Hall of Fame President. 
   
   Tice said that he received word that officials in Paris were interested in returning Morrison's remains to the states after contacting the owner of Morrison's childhood home. 
   
   "The officials that own the cemetery in Paris offered his remains according to the owner of the house on Vernon street to bring him there," said Tice. "I talked to him real recent because I heard he reconsidered and he said no he's not going to do it. So I said well give me the contact information and I'd like to see what I can do." 
   
   Morrison left the United States for Paris after an arrest warrant was issued for him out of Miami for indecent exposure during a concert. 
   
   Tice said not everyone in Brevard County would support Morrison's possible return. 
   
   "I think it's going to be mixed reviews. I think some people will say, 'I can't wait.' I think other people will say, 'Shame on you,'" said Tice. 
   
   Tice said that it is his understanding that the lease for Morrison's grave site is almost up, and officials in Paris are concerned about vandalism near his memorial. 
   
   "If he can't be where he's at which is where he passed away, then I think he ought to be where he was born because where else would be better than that?" 
   
   Tice is still waiting to hear back from officials in Paris. 
   
   Copyright 2015 by WKMG ClickOrlando - All rights reserved.
target: – The Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris has long been rumored to be getting tired of its most famous American resident—and the tributes his fans leave behind—but a fan in Jim Morrison's Florida birthplace says he has a new home for the the Doors singer. John Tice, a city councilman in Melbourne, Brevard County, operates the Brevard Hall of Fame and he tells Florida Today that he plans to talk to officials in Paris about bringing Morrison's remains back to the US. Morrison "was the most popular public figure from this area, in my opinion," Tice says, adding that he "can see the Morrison display morphing into something much bigger." Tice plans to hold a fundraising drive if he gets permission to move the remains from the city where Morrison died in 1971. Tice tells WKMG that he's waiting to hear from officials that he contacted after hearing that the lease on Morrison's Paris grave may be up soon. He says he expects controversy if the singer, who was born in Brevard Hospital 72 years ago, is moved to Melbourne. "I think it's going to be mixed reviews," he says. "I think some people will say, 'I can't wait.' I think other people will say, 'Shame on you.'" Florida Today notes that Morrison didn't linger in Melbourne for long: Baby Jim and his mother moved elsewhere in Florida after six months when his father, a Navy pilot who later became an admiral, graduated flight training and left to serve in the Pacific theater of World War II. (In 2010, Florida pardoned Morrison for a 1969 indecent exposure conviction.)