THE KATHY WRAY COLEMAN ONLINE NEWS BLOG.COM WITH A LINK TO CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM

A news blog of articles and commentary from African-American journalist Kathy Wray Coleman. An investigative journalist of 18 years, her articles address an array of issues from a Black perspective as to national politics, and news from the Cleveland, Ohio area, home of the renowned Cleveland Clinic where basketball and football reign. Articles on this blog include her one-on-one interview with now U.S. President Barack Obama, published previously by the Call and Post Newspaper.

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Trial continues before Judge Floyd in theft of Black babies by Cuyahoga County Department of Children and Family Services to hand to affluent Whites

Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court Judge Alison Nelson Floyd (Cleveland Plain Dealer Newspaper Online Photo www.cleveland.com)

By Kathy Wray Coleman, Editor

(www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com) and (www.clevelandurbannews.com)

CLEVELAND,Ohio-A controversial custody-adoption trial that began last Nov. between a poor Black Cleveland family and an affluent White couple with the popular judicial surname of Gallagher that were handed two new born Black children taken involuntarily from their teen mothers continues.

Taken within months of their births and precluded from being cared for by extended family members as state law requires, the celebrated trial to get back three year-old Jamela and Jamyla Barringer is center stage at the new Juvenile Court Justice Center on Quincy Ave. in Cleveland before Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court Judge Alison Nelson Floyd, who is Black.

"Children and Family Services have a modern day slave plantation by stealing Black children and we want our children back," said Angelique Cunningham, the 39-year-old grandmother of the three-year-old cousin toddlers of two of Cunningham's daughters, one 21 and the other 17, but both teens when their daughters Jamela and Jamyla were taken from them at two and four months old, respectively. "They have harassed us at every turn because we are Black and not middle class or rich."

The Gallagher's, educated and upper middle class residents of Solon, Oh, a suburb of Cleveland, are accused of making Jamela and Jamyla call them mom and dad to confuse them about their cultural identity, and then seeking legal custody, though Floyd denied the custody petition and the couple have hired a lawyer to appeal that decision.

Trial to try to get Jamela returned home to her biological mother continues before Floyd on March 22, and the trial on whether Jamyla will return to hers starts before the judge on Feb. 7.

Cleveland is a municipality of Cuyahoga County, the largest among Ohio's 88 counties, and the county with the most Blacks, a figure roughly at 30 percent.

Cunningham, who resides with her family in the Buckeye- Woodland neighborhood of the predominantly Black city's east side, said that the Cuyahoga County Department of Children and Family services has harassed her family repeatedly to try to justify stealing the kids though she, the children's grandfather, Cunningham's mother, the paternal great grandmother of the stolen three- year- old girls, a great uncle and a host of cousins, many qualified under state law to have temporary custody of the children, were overlooked because the agency said that the White couple could pay for a college education for the children. She said also that since no drugs or neglect occurred, the stolen grandchildren were allegedly taken because of a racially insensitive new trend of Whites adopting or stealing Black babies at birth to seek to appear pro-Black and hip.

The grassroots and religious communities are upset too, and have held energetic protests for Jamela and Jamyla in front of the county children and family services building at the Jane Edna Hunter Center for Children and Family Services in Cleveland, one of several countywide agency locations.

"We were at trial last week and we will continue to monitor this case," said Community Activist Ada Averyhart, 77, a member of the grassroots groups The Carl Stokes Brigade and The Imperial Women, groups that helped organize the protests along with other groups like Black on Black Crime, Survivors/Victims of Tragedy, The Family Connection Center, The Oppressed People's Nation , The Northeast Ohio Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign, Stop Targeting Ohio's Poor, People for The Imperial Act and Organize Ohio. "I think Judge Floyd will be fair."

"They have been merchandising Black and poor children and we must fight against it" said the Rev. Ray Parker, Assistant Pastor of Faith Pentecostal Church in Cleveland.

And Nancy Rolfe, who leads Govabuse LLC and holds annual national protests spearheaded in Cuyahoga County on governmental mistreatment by children and family services agencies across the country, agrees that abuse by the agency exists, but she says that agency officials are harassing families across racial and ethic lines.

The Cuyahoga County Department of Children and Family services, which is led by agency director Patricia Rideout, is under the realm of Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald and the 11-member county council. They came into power last year pursuant to a voter adopted revised form of counter government that scrapped the three-member Board of Commissioners for a county council and chief executive.

Though FitzGerald touched on such issues as foreclosures, fiscal accountability, county contracts and responsible government, children and family services concerns were not highlighted during his City Club State of the County address today at the Renaissance Hotel in Cleveland.

Reach Kathy Wray Coleman by email at kathy@kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, and by telephone at 216-932-3114.

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Exclusive interview with Cuyahoga County Councilwoman Yvonne Conwell on Issue 6 , the new form of county government and County Executive Ed FitzGerald

Cuyahoga County District 7 Councilwoman Yvonne Conwell

By Kathy Wray Coleman, Editor

(www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com) and (www.clevelandurbannews.com)

This is an exclusive one-on-one interview with Cuyahoga County Councilwoman Yvonne Conwell, one of four Blacks on the 11-member Cuyahoga County Council that came into power Jan. a year ago, along with voter-elected Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald. (Editor's note: For a better understanding for some readers unfamiliar with Cuyahoga County's new form of government, the actual interview follows the overview below).

A college educated woman with a bachelor's degree in liberal arts from Cleveland State University and a mother of three children, one an adult, another in college, and the third a teen, Conwell is the 26-year wife of Cleveland Ward 8 Councilman Kevin Conwell.

She represents Cuyahoga Council District 7, a district with some 116,000 residents in a county with some 1.2 million people.

Cuyahoga County is also Ohio's largest among 88 counties statewide, and is roughly 30 percent Black. It is a colorful and politically astute venue that is heavily Democratic and routinely helps to determine presidential elections.

Per the 2010 U.S. Census Report, the 11 county districts are in the process of being redistricted by an executive committee chosen by the county council, a process required by charter and designed to equally distribute residents among the districts, and one that want occur again until a year after 2020, the year of the next census report.

The largely Black District 7 currently encompasses Cleveland's downtown Ward 3, the predominantly Black east side Wards 7, 8 and 9, and the majority White west side Ward 12.

The new form of county government with its county council and chief executive is dubbed Issue 6 because that is the label of the ballot initiative that brought about the new charter amendment that is the impetus for the governmental reforms that county voters overwhelmingly adopted in 2009.

A controversial measure, Issue 6 rocked Cuyahoga County by switching from an elected three-member Board of Commissioners to an 11- member county council and chief executive amid staunch opposition from prominent Black leaders and the Cleveland NAACP, all but State Sen. Nina Turner (D-25), a Cleveland Democrat and former Ward 1 councilwoman.

And Turner took heat for her stance, gaining a spot on the cover of the Call and Post Newspaper, Cleveland's Black press, with an accompanying editorial, and the lawmaker dressed in an Aunt Jemima suit, an outfit that made national news.

As Cuyahoga County Executive, FitzGerald, a Democrat and former FBI agent and prior mayor of Lakewood, Oh, has authority under the new charter or new form of county government to appoint a sheriff, medical examiner, clerk of courts, treasurer, and fiscal agent to take the place of the county auditor and recorder, with county council's confirmation. But also by charter, he independently hires, fires, suspends and disciplines county employees, and the appointees, like the county sheriff, work at his pleasure. That authority, along with the overall make up of Issue 6, prompted area Black leaders to oppose it, saying the county's new form of government gives too much power to one White man. And they say that through the once-in-a-decade redistricting of the 11 council districts comes gerrymandering that could ultimately prove detrimental to the Black community, perhaps when it turns its head in confidence and runs the risk of losing one of its four county council seats held by Black Democrats that are among the 11 seats total..

Under the previous form of county government, in addition to the elected three-member Board of Commissioners, voters elected a sheriff, clerk of courts, treasurer, corner, auditor and recorder, and all were Democrats, a posture that upset county Republicans to help craft Issue 6.

Those Black leaders that opposed Issue 6, including retired U.S. Rep. Louis Stokes, Cleveland NAACP President George Forbes, 11th Congressional District Congresswoman Marcia Fudge (D-OH) and Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson, wanted voters to reject it at the ballot box in 2009 and instead select Issue 5, a competing proposal that called for a committee to advise voters on forms of government for a subsequent election on any charter amendment. And though Issue 5 failed miserably to Issue 6, the discontent among some Black leaders remains and was furthered with claims that county prosecutor Bill Mason, whose office remains an elected position by virtue of the new county charter and who is not seeking reelection to a four four-year term this year, crafted Issue 6 without input from Black elected officials along side of a team of all White county movers and shakers.

Former Cuyahoga County Commissioner Peter Lawson Jones, who is Black, and who lost his job when voters chose Issue 6 along with Cuyahoga County Recorder Lillian Greene, the other ousted Black, said in an interview last year with The Kathy Wray Coleman Online News Blog.Com that Issue 6 is a Republican fueled initiative that was pushed by the Cleveland Plain Dealer Newspaper and that the community was misled into backing it.

That perception is how Black leaders traditionally feel, acknowledging that Cuyahoga voters acted partly on heart in voting in Issue 6 and largely in conjunction with an ongoing county political corruption probe that began in 2008 and has netted to date over 60 guilty pleas or convictions of only the Democrats and their friends, including two now former judges and former county auditor Frank Russo.

Russo is a key witness against former Cuyahoga County Democratic Party Chairperson and prior county commissioner Jimmy Dimora, a flamboyant and gregarious leader that worked his way up to head of the county Democratic party as first a sanitation worker and then mayor of Beford Hts. in Cuyahoga County.

Dimora is now on trial in federal district court in Akron before federal judge Sara Lioi pursuant to a 36-count federal indictment including racketeering. He is accused of running a criminal enterprise on county time, and allegedly with some of its resources. He has pleaded not guilty and maintains his innocence.

The county council's role, the new county charter reveals, is to pass the county's fiscal budget, adopt legislation, compile rules and regulations for county ethics and oversight committees and tax authorities, and lodge investigations of malfeasance.

Cuyahoga County Council, also by charter, has subpoena power to demand that county employees testify as witnesses before it for any county related investigation, and can seek prosecution by the county prosecutor if not obeyed, though the new county charter does not explain any intent to interfere with constitutional guarantees such as due process of law and the 5th Amendment's right to take the fifth against self incrimination.

INTERVIEW

Editor of The Kathy Wray Coleman Online News Blog and Cleveland Urban News.Com Kathy Wray Coleman:

Has the percentage of Black employees that work for the county increased or decreased since Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald took office in 2011 with the power to hire, fire, suspend and discipline county employees?

District 7 Cuyahoga Councilwoman Yvonne Conwell:

I don't know and would refer you to Joseph Nanni, chief of staff for Cuyahoga County Council.

Coleman:

Any thoughts on the Jimmy Dimora federal racketeering trial?

Conwell:

None other than that he is innocent until proven guilty.

Coleman:

What do you think about Issue 6, the new form of county government that consists of an 11-member Cuyahoga County Council and county executive?

Conwell:

We can't keep focusing on Issue 5. We have to move forward. I voted against Issue 6 and for Issue 5 . We don't know what Issue 5 would have brought because voters chose Issue 6 over it. That decision really wasn't the voice of the people. [Editor's note: Issue 6 is the new form of county government and Issue 5 would have created a community oriented committee to study the issue to make charter revision recommendations to the community for a subsequent vote on any change in county government].

Coleman:

Did the fact that your husband is Cleveland Ward 8 Councilman Kevin Conwell influence your decision to seek public office?

Conwell:

No. I didn't want to be a politician. He was shocked like I was.

Coleman:

What do you think of Cuyahoga County Council President C. Ellen Connally?

Conwell:

I think Council President Connally is doing a good job?

Coleman:

What about Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald, is he doing a good job in your opinion?

Conwell:

Yes, he is doing a good job, considering where we have come from with the corruption, and we are still putting systems in place. He has a lot riding on his shoulders. I think that the initiatives he has started are very dynamic and good.

Coleman:

Did county council settle on a meeting time for its Tues. meetings, twice a month?

Conwell:

We compromised and agreed to 5:00 pm.

Coleman:

What is the county council doing about the large number of foreclosed homes in the county?

Conwell:

That is being addressed by Ed FitzGerald and the sheriff.

Coleman:

How does the bipartisan predominantly Democratic Cuyahoga County Council get along.

Conwell:

The United States Senate and House of Representatives could take a lesson from us. We get along.

Coleman:

Well, what about the wranglings when Cuyahoga County Council President Connally, a Democrat like the other three Blacks on county council including yourself, won the council presidency over a Republican after the Cleveland Plain Dealer Newspaper ran an article criticizing her and claiming she represents the interests of the Cleveland's Old Black Political Guard? And Cleveland's Old Black Political Guard had supported Terrie Hamilton Brown over Mr. FitzGerald for the Democratic primary for Cuyahoga County Executive in 2010.

Conwell:

That was just the nature of politics. We get along.

Coleman:

Do you have any suggestions to Cuyahoga County voters about Issue 6, the new form of county government?

Conwell:

People should keep watching to ensure that the governmental process is fair, equitable, and in the best interests of the community.

Coleman:

Thank you for your time Councilwoman Conwell.

Conwell:

You are welcome.

Yvonne Conwell is a life long resident of Cuyahoga County. She worked previously for Parmadale Family Services and for a host of other community service organizations before taking a position as Director of Outreach for the then Cuyahoga County Recorder's Office, one held until her election in 2010 to the Cuyahoga County Council.

Reach Kathy Wray Coleman by email at kathy@kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, and by telephone at 216-932-3114.

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Obama woos Americans with 2012 State of the Union speech, supporters from Cleveland, U.S. Rep. Fudge respond

United States President Barack Obama

By Kathy Wray Coleman, Editor

(www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com) and (www.clevelandurbannews.com)

President Barack Obama wooed Americans Tues. evening with his State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress that had the fire and appeal that helped to catapult the former U.S. senator from Illinois to the presidency of the United States of America in 2008.

During a speech that lasted shortly over an hour, the president called for Congress to repeal the Bush tax cuts for wealthy Americans that pay a lesser federal tax percentage on income than some middle class and poor people, and to pass the Dream Act to give children of undocumented immigrants in the country by no fought of their own a chance at financial aid for higher education and citizenship.

And those are just a few of the demands that America's chief political leader sought before some 38 million viewers that tuned in to hear the president's State of the Union speech that was broadcast across a multitude of radio and television airwaves throughout the nation.

Obama also talked about education, foreign affairs, green energy, jobs, responsibly ending the Iraq war, and overseeing last year's U.S. military mission to kill Osama bin Laden .

"We gather tonight knowing that this generation of heroes has made the United States safer and more respected around the world," he said. "For the first time in nine years, there are no Americans fighting in Iraq. For the first time in two decades, Osama bin Laden is not a threat to this country and some troops in Afghanistan have begun to come home."

The Democratic president also highlighted efforts to decrease the country's unemployment rate, which harbors at 17 percent for Blacks and 9 percent overall, and said that the economic crisis facing America was brought on by irresponsible policies of the Republicans, and his predecessor, former president George Bush.

He said that rewarding companies with tax breaks for outsourcing jobs to other countries decreases the number of jobs accessible to working class Americans that need them and should no longer be tolerated, an issue that U.S. Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-OH), a Warrensville Hts. Democrat, touched on in her press release following Obama's presentation.

"The president was clear tonight. We've made progress but we need to do more to create jobs or we risk permanent harm to the middle class and the ability of millions of Americans to experience the American Dream," said Fudge.

But what caught the attention of some of the 150 community activists, elected officials, and other Obama supporters that stopped by his campaign headquarters at Shaker Square in Cleveland for the State of the Union watch party was his plea to Congress to stop the partisan infighting that the president says is stalling congressional passage of necessary public policy legislation designed to move the country forward.

"It was a wonderful speech and I liked it also because he urged Congress to take steps in the best interest of the country," said Dorothy Herd, an Obama supporter.

"The speech was basic and to the point," said Blaine Griffin, Vice Chairperson of the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party and Director of the Community Relations Board for the City of Cleveland who attended the watch party. "And the president finally took the gloves off to let Congress know that he would keep pushing for public policy changes crucial to America even if Congress doesn't."

Griffin said he was also pleased with Obama's push for federal legislation to require that America's children are precluded from dropping out of school until they are 18 years old, a proposal that Griffin believes would decrease dropout rates and increase graduation rates for inner city children in Cleveland's public schools and elsewhere in the country.

Others that heard the speech were simply moved by Obama's brilliant delivery.

"I was just moved by his overall speech," said Jeane Joy, a volunteer at the Obama campaign headquarters in Shaker Square.

Those at the watch party received a motivational boost from Katherine Archuletta, Obama's national political director. She stopped in to thank the campaign leadership team and others at the watch party.

Others on hand at the watch party include Obama Campaign of Cuyahoga County Regional Director Lynn Woischke, Obama Campaign Cleveland Operations Manager B.J. Tucker, Charles E. Bibb Sr., Obama Campaign Associates Kenn Johnson and Andre Saint CYR, Cleveland Ward 6 Councilwoman Mamie Mitchell, Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Emanuella Groves, Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Candidates Subodh Chandra and Stephanie Hall, Evelyn Bryant, Dorothy Brown, Irene McGlothan, Cordie Stokes, Earle Richardson, and Community Activists Genevieve Mitchell, Denise Taylor, Ernest Smith, Debbie Kline, Patricia Rowell, Debbie Kline, David Patterson, Marva Patterson, Michael Nelson, Willie Stokes, Jean Whitte, Angelique Cunningham, Veronica Williams, Ann Foster, Tenicia Foster, Laura Cowan and Ada Averyhart.

Reach Kathy Wray Coleman by email at kathy@kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, and by telephone at 216-932-3114.

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Editorial by Contributing Writer Judith Pugsley, a White woman from Rocky River, Ohio who asks whether Blacks have truly progressed since slavery

ROCKY RIVER, Ohio- Judith Pugsley, a retired professional and supporter of Civil Rights, wrote Cleveland Urban News.Com and The Kathy Wray Coleman online News Blog. Com on whether Blacks in America have truly progressed since slavery.

Pugsley has based the aforementioned assessment in part on an analysis of the Pulitzer Prize winning 2010 book titled "The Warmth of Other Suns." It is an epic story of America's great migration, including the depiction of how Blacks migrated from the South to the northern and western American cities after the stain of having been illegally taken in chains from the fields of Africa to be vilified as slaves in the country's homelands.

Her editorial is as follows:

By Judith Pugsley, Contributing Writer

Let's take a look at the progress of blacks in America from slavery up to modern times.

Obviously, the slave trade dehumanized black families and tore them apart for 246 years. No one had rights, and terror ran rampant.Then came the emancipation, reconstruction, and the imposition of Jim Crow laws.

For his entire lifetime in America until after Would War I, the black man was kept by the whip in economic bondage. Then when he tried to escape to higher ground to find a better life, he found himself whipped by negative attitudes in the north. This too had economic roots.

Other ethnic groups perceived blacks as threats to their economic advancement. Since blacks couldn't hide in plain sight because of skin color

they bore the brunt of human cruelty for which there was no logic.

I think that if the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. were here today he would see the fruit of his labors and feel that he did not die in vain.

There has been a lot of progress toward Dr. King's dream that people of all colors and stripes be judged by the content of their character and not the color of their skin. But if Dr. King were alive today, he would see that there is more to do.

As President Barack Obama says, "we will get there."

Judith Pugsley can be reached by email at jem2@cox.net

Monday, January 23, 2012

Obama campaign State of the Union watch party is Tue., Jan 24 at 8 pm at Shaker Square Campaign Headquarters after AFL-CIO county prosecutor forum

Unites States President Barack Obama

By Kathy Wray Coleman, Editor

(www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com) and (www.clevelandurbannews.com)

CLEVELAND, Ohio-Following the Cuyahoga County prosecutor candidate forum from 5 pm to 7 pm at the Laborers Local 310 Hall, 3250 Euclid Ave in Cleveland, grassroots leaders, college sorority and fraternity members, elected officials and others will gather Tues. Jan 24. at 8 pm at President Barack Obama's reelection campaign headquarters at Shaker Square in Cleveland, 130100 Shaker Blvd.

The purpose is for a watch party before the president's long anticipated State of the Union address at 9 pm. Other watch parties will also be held throughout the Cleveland metropolitan area.

Candidates for the March 6 Democratic primary are invited to come pass out literature before the State of the Union begins, campaign officials said . The contact for the event is B. J. Tucker, Obama's Cleveland campaign operations manager at 216-416-2017.

"We will show it on big screen on the wall and will have coffee, hot chocolate, tea, pastries and chips." said Tucker, who once ran a campaign office of two term Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson when he won his first term. "We welcome those that have not stopped by already to the campaign headquarters."

The county prosecutor's forum is sponsored by the Northshore AFL-CIO Federation of Labor, which is led by executive secretary Harriet Applegate, and some from that meeting are scheduled to attend the watch party, including a few of the five candidates, which are Subodh Chandra, Stephanie Hall, Tim McGinty, James J. McDonnell and Robert Triozzi. The contact telephone number for that event is 216-310-7657

The soon-to-be nominee for the Democratic Party for reelection to president of the United States of America, Obama will likely square off in the Nov. election against either Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, or former U.S House Speaker Newt Gingrich, both Republicans.

"I am coming because I 'd like to see the State of the Union and I want to socialize with campaign supporters, women and other progressive groups," said Elaine Stone, a Maple Hts District 5 community activist.

Tucker said that if time permits a discussion will be held after the State of the Union and that the gathering is scheduled to be a lite mixture of socialization and education via Obama's state of the country address to the American people.

The Cleveland campaign office is the hub. Other locations will open soon in Euclid, Parma and other cities with E. Cleveland Obama supporters wanting a campaign office in that city.

"I hope the Obama campaign will open an office in E. Cleveland ," said Betty Mahone, owner and operator of the Chateau in E. Cleveland and leader of the Women's Federation. "I will be at the watch party tomorrow."

In addition to Obama's campaign team members like Andre Saint Cyr, a tentative list of just some that are slated to attend the watch party include Charles E. Bibb Sr., Democratic Party Campaign Chairperson and Director of the City of Cleveland Community Relations Board Blaine Griffin, E. Cleveland Councilwoman Mildred Brewer, Jeane Joy, CNN Hero and Anti- Domestic Violence Advocate Laura Cowan, Cleveland Ward 6 Councilwoman Mamie Mitchell, Attorney Michael Nelson Sr., Marlene Statler, Community Activist Participants and Leaders Khalid Samad, Denise Taylor, Brett Jackson, Michael Nelson, Ada Averyhart, Kathy Wray Coleman, Debbie Kline, Ernest Smith, Patricia Rowell, Angelique Cunningham, Reketa Barringer, Veronica Williams, Ann Foster, Tiesha Foster, Amy Hurd, Genevieve Mitchell, William Clarence Marshall, Willie Stokes, Marvetta Rutherford, Frances Caldwell, Jean Whitte, Marva Patterson and David Patterson.

Kathy W. Coleman, Associate Publisher and Editor of Cleveland Urban News.Com

kathy@kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, 216-932-3114

Why Cuyahoga County voters should not support Tim McGinty for county prosecutor to violate the law and harass Blacks and others further

Cleveland Urban News.Com and The Kathy Wray Coleman Online News Blog.com
(www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com) and (www.clevelandurbannews.com)

Former Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Judge Tim McGinty, also a former assistant county prosecutor, is a candidate for County prosecutor in the Democratic Primary whom community activists are calling the Black community's greatest nightmare and a detriment to the Democratic process (Editor's note: McGinty resigned as the first judge presiding over the Anthony Sowell Serial Killer Capital Murder Case for impropriety. He was a tyrant on the bench who harassed Blacks, women, community activists, other minorities and his own judicial colleagues. He put former Cleveland NAACP Executive Director Stanley Miller as a Cuyahoga County Grand Jury Foreman to push grand jury indictments of felony criminal charges against Blacks for the state of Ohio that other grand juries would not indict).

The Cuyahoga County Democratic Party decided not to endorse any of the five candidates for county prosecutor including Subodh Chandra, whom a cadre of community activists have endorsed.

Regardless, community activists say that the worst and most dangerous candidate to the Black community and others is Tim McGinty.

A man with a reputation in some circles as a bully and a moron whose disregard for humanity and fair play is unprecedented, the tyrant McGinty constantly dogged his former judicial colleagues in public forums, many of whom cannot stand his guts.

He is disliked by most area criminal defense attorneys, data show, and his resignation from the bench last year was celebrated by a host of his innocent victims that came before him, many women, most Black, some community activists, and others that just caught him on a bad bully-the-public-because-I-can day.

Activist groups say that if Tim McGinty were elected he would tear Cuyahoga County and the Black community apart as a county prosecutor with the power to prosecute felony indictments by the grand jury on behalf of the state of Ohio.

The job also serves as the county's attorney that represents the county and its employees in civil litigation brought for activity undertaken while acting under the scope of their responsibilities.

An investigation by the Kathy Wray Coleman Online News Blog. Com and Cleveland Urban News.Com reveals that former Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Judge Timothy McGinty has done the following:1) Had Michael Green prosecuted (as an assistant county prosecutor before becoming judge) and sent to prison for 13 years alleging a rape of a White woman where the arbitrary rape conviction was subsequently vacated and Green, a Black man, has since been released due to DNA sampling; 2) Issued a warrant that had police storm the family home of then 16-year-old Brandon McCloud, who was accused of robbing a delivery pizza man where the unarmed Black teen was shot by police 12 times, and died; 3) Handed Plain Dealer reporters the medical and mental health records of Convicted Serial Killer Anthony Sowell and said after being exposed by then Plain Dealer Editor Susan Goldberg that he thought he had an agreement with newspaper reporters and ranking officials to keep it quiet that he is a source to it, though Goldberg said before resigning as editor in 2010 that no such agreement was ever reached; 4) Resigned as the judge presiding over the Anthony Sowell Capital Murder case for unethical activity including providing case data to the Plain Dealer; 5) Jailed a White female community activist in a mental ward illegally because she wore an anti-George Bush t-shirt to court and would not apologize to police for being beat up by them for posting anti-George Bush signs on street poles in Cleveland Hts.; 6) Had an order to imprison a Black man for an alleged probation violation when the probation period was up overturned on appeal; 7) Had an order for a Cherokee Indian woman to do a 10 page essay on drunk driving, that he did not ask of similarly situated Whites, overturned on appeal; 8) Kissed up to Plain Dealer reporters to have them do favorable articles rather than to tell the truth about him; 9) Said in a a CBS News Special in 2010 that Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson, his administration, and Cleveland police were allegedly responsible via neglect for the Imperial Ave. Murders as to the murders of 11 Black women whose bodies were uncovered at the Imperial Ave. home of Serial Killer Anthony Sowell in 2009; and, 10) Appointed former Cleveland NAACP Executive Director Stanley Miller as a Cuyahoga County Grand Jury Foreman to bring felony indictments of criminal charges against Blacks and women that previous grand juries would not indict.

(Editor's Note: Community activists want the state law amended that allows common pleas court judges to appoint grand jury foremen. It is unconstitutional because it infringes upon the right to due process via a neutral trier of the law per the 14th Amendment and the right to a fair trial as required by the 6th Amendment. And having specialized case dockets for judges like former Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Lynn McLaughlin Murray's veterans docket to fix cases is unconstitutional too because it interferes with the random draw assignment process for judges in multi-judge courts, also in violation of the due process clause of the 14th Amendment and the 6th Amendment's right to a fair trial).

U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords to resign from Congress this week after President Obama's State of the Union Address Tues., Obama, Rep. Fudge praise her

U.S. Rep Gabrielle "Gabby" Giffords (D-AZ)

By Kathy Wray Coleman, Editor

(www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com) and (www.clevelandurbannews.com)

Washington-D.C.-U.S. Rep. Gabrielle "Gabby" Giffords (D-AZ), a Democratic congresswoman representing Arizona's 8th Congressional District and the wife of former astronaut and Space Shuttle Commander Mark E. Kelly, announced yesterday that she is resigning her congressional seat this week, after President Obama gives his State of the Union address Tues. evening, which she will attend.

"I have more work to do on my recovery, so to do what is best for Arizona I will step down this week," Giffords said in a video message posted to YouTube.Com. "I will return and we will work together for Arizona and this great country."

A congresswoman since 2007 who was despised by the conservative Republican leaning Tea Party for her support of Obama's health care reforms, Giffords was a victim of a shooting near Tucson last year which was reported to be an assassination attempt on her life. It occurred at a local supermarket where she was meeting publicly with constituents. She was critically injured by a gunshot wound to the head during a shooting spree that killed six and wounded 12 others, including members of her congressional staff.

In a press release to Cleveland Urban News.Com and The Kathy Wray Coleman Online News Blog.Com Obama praised Giffords as a fighter for her constituents and a valuable member of Congress.

"Gabby Giffords embodies the very best of what public service should be," said Obama "She’s universally admired for qualities that transcend party or ideology – a dedication to fairness, a willingness to listen to different ideas, and a tireless commitment to the work of perfecting our union. That’s why the people of Arizona chose Gabby to speak and fight and stand up for them."

The president said that over the last year Giffords and her husband Mark have taught Americans the true meaning of hope in the face of despair and determination in the face of incredible odds.

Congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge (D-OH), a Warrensville Hts. Democrat, praised Giffords too, and wished her luck in making a full recovery.

"Congresswoman Giffords is a heroic public servant and will surely be missed," said Fudge in a press release. "She has been a tireless advocate for her constituents. I had the pleasure of working with her on the Science, Space and Technology Committee and I wish her all the best as she leaves office to concentrate on her continued recovery."

Per state law Republican Arizona Gov. Janice Kay Brewer will name Giffords replacement, a likely Republican, political pundits say.

Reach Kathy Wray Coleman by email at kathy@kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, and by telephone at 216-932-3114.

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Cleveland Urban News. Com is down for three days to transfer it to a different web server due to alleged harassment by DigitalJetstream Hosting

CLEVELAND, Ohio-Cleveland Urban News.Com is in the rebuilding process for a couple of days because after a transfer to a different web server for hosting due to alleged harassment by DigitalJetsream Hosting in reported retaliation for the content of the articles on racism, sexim and political corruption in Cuyahoga County.

Until the website is complete read us at (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com)

Company officials at DigitalJetstream are also allegedly angry because they could not secure certain domain transfers relative to domain names owned by Cleveland Urban News.Com in what is believed was an effort to steal them.

"When we refused to transfer domain names that we own to DigitalJetstream the harassment escalated because its owner pursued us we believe with the hope of getting several domain names, including Cleveland Urban News.Com and The Kathy Wray Coleman Online News Blog. Com, to steal and try to shut us down," said Kathy Wray Coleman, editor and publisher of Cleveland Urban News.Com and The Kathy Wray Coleman Online News Blog.Com. "But what he is overlooking is that it is illegal to hold a website hostage when money is not owed and since the website is now worth more than $500 we are looking to pursue a felony complaint of theft if necessary."

Coleman said that Anthony Jones of Shaker Hts., a former freelance sports writer for the Call and Post Newspaper and the owner and operator of DigitalJetstream, was convicted of felony theft for previously stealing money in an unrelated case and was saved from prison by former Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Judge Tim McGinty because community activists fought to keep him out.

By pleading guilty to theft in the felony theft case before McGinty, Jones allegedly avoided a federal indictment on theft as to other Blacks that he allegedly attempted to scheme via his unorthodox business adventures.

An investigation of Jones also reveals that he is charging some customers $1500 for Internet websites that are free and in other instances he is charging people an initial price and then strong holding their websites to try to steal money from them, saying he needs it or will destroy the website.

"We also believe that DigitalJetstream is harassing us for certain Black leaders in the media community whose site the company is also hosting that want to silence free speech on issues of public concern for the establishment," Coleman said.

Fortunately, added Coleman, her company of Coleman Media retained the domain names, including Cleveland Urban New.Com, at Godaddy.Com, which means that even if it has to resurrect a new website, the Internet traffic remains because the traffic follows the domain name.

A theft complaint is pending against DigitalJetstream and Jones with police and Coleman said that the company lawyer for Cleveland Urban News.Com is trying to urge him to be rational and to stop breaking the law.

"We apologize for any inconvenience and will keep the community updated on this matter," said Coleman. "There is a lot more to this story that needs to be told."

Community activists have tentatively scheduled a picket in front of Jones' home in Shaker Hts. for next week, saying he illegally trashed Cleveland Urban News.Com in an effort to silence pertinent issues raised by grassroots factions even though they helped when he came crying when McGinty ordered him to prison in 2009 for felony theft.

Kathy W. Coleman, Associate Publisher and Editor of Cleveland Urban News.Com

kathy@kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, 216-932-3114

Monday, January 16, 2012

Remembering the night Obama was elected president as we celebrate MLK's birthday, a reprint of Coleman's Call and Post Obama victory article of 2008

The late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (lt.) and President Barack Obama

By Kathy Wray Coleman, Associate Publisher and Editor of Cleveland Urban News.Com and The Kathy Wray Coleman Online News Blog. Com

www.clevelandurbannews.com)

CLEVELAND, Ohio- Click at MLK Day Events to find the happenings in the Cleveland metropolitan area for the week beginning Jan 15., courtesy of Cleveland Fox 8 News.

As we pause today to celebrate the national holiday of the Jan.15 birthday of slain Civil Rights leader the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Cleveland Urban News.Com and The Kathy Wray Coleman Online News Blog.Com also pause to remember the milestone accomplished through the efforts of Dr. King as the Black community and others came together to elect the first Black president of the United States of America in electing Barack Obama on Nov 4, 2008.

“I didn't think that this would happen in my lifetime,” Community Activist Alma Cooper, now 88, told Journalist Kathy Wray Coleman the night Obama was elected president. “We never believed that Martin Luther King Jr. would happen and this exceeds that.” (Editor's note: See the article by Kathy Wray Coleman below of Obama's presidential victory, an article that ran in the Call and Post Newspaper on Nov. 6, 2008, two days after the historic election).

CLICK BELOW FOR THE VIDEO OF THE REV. DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR'S HISTORIC "I HAVE A DREAM SPEECH" THAT ROCKED AMERICA ON AUG. 28, 1963

As Ohio gets ready for this year's presidential election, read Cooper's comments and the comments from the Black community and its leaders as to the reprint of the Obama presidential victory as movers and shakers, children, political wannabes, and the rich, middle class, and poor gathered at then Lancer's Steakhouse on Carnegie Ave. in Cleveland to watch CNN in large screen as the votes came trickling in and Obama was elected by a landslide over Republican nominee Arizona Sen. John McCain.

ARTICLE REPRINT

By Kathy Wray Coleman (Editor's note: This is a reprint of the article written by Kathy Wray Coleman and originally published on Nov. 6, 2008 in the Call & Post Newspaper, Ohio's Black Press with distributions in Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati. All rights reserved).

After wining Ohio by 5 percentage points Illinois Sen. Barack Obama became the first Black president of the United States of America Tue. night following a euphoric election that represents the height of Black intellect and achievement in American history.

The first Black presidential nominee of a major American political party, whose oratory brilliance and message of hope and change reinvigorated Americans nationwide, swiftly won the Electoral College to take the presidency over Republican nominee Arizona Sen. John McCain. He also won the national popular vote, making his election a slam dunk.

At press time Obama had 364 electoral votes to McCain's 164.

Obama's election night victory came on the eve of the death of his maternal grandmother, who reared him along with his late mother and maternal grandfather. Still, the mood leading up to his presidential win was upbeat, if not tantalizing, as the aura of defeat of the Republicans became a beacon of hope for the Democrats.

“The road ahead will be long and the climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or in one term, but America, I have never been more hopeful that we will get there,” the president-elect told a crowd of 200,000 at Grant Park in Chicago, Ill. that gathered to hear his victory speech. “ A government of the people, by the people, and for the people, has not perished.”

In addition to his wife Michelle, and Vice President Joe Biden, and his wife Jill, Obama was joined on stage by his two daughters Malia, 10, and Sacha, 7, who will soon be the first Black children to grace the White House on a residential basis and the youngest since Amy Carter.

“Its historical in the sense that an African-American man has become president of the United States, and he will work for solutions to problems, which begins with rebuilding urban centers,” said Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson, who gathered with hundreds to celebrate at the Lancer Steakhouse in Cleveland.

The crowd of prominent local politicians, political wannabes and others rose to its feet and chanted “Obama, Obama” when CNN projected a win shortly before 11 p.m. Some took to the streets, dancing and chanting, others prayed, and still some said that they were simply numb in disbelief.

McCain conceded in style, congratulating Obama and telling his supporters that the loss was his.

“Its my failure, not yours,” he said.

The soon-to-be 44th U.S. President, Obama steps in as the country approaches a recession after back-to-back quarters of negative growth. His candidacy came to symbolize a new day for America as he called for a departure from politics as usual in Wash. D.C., promised to responsibly end the Iraq War and promoted a political platform with public appeal on issues such as the economy, health care, foreign policy, education, and revitalization of urban communities.

“It is the dawn of a new springtime in the life of the Democratic process in America and a spiritual and prophetic moment in the history of our nation,” said the Rev. Dr. Otis Moss Jr., pastor of Olivet Institutional Baptist Church in Cleveland and a Civil Rights pioneer who marched with the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. “His election says to the Black community that there is no substitute to having access to the ballot box and using it.”

Though he drew universal support across racial, political and socioeconomic lines, Blacks from around the country in both poor and elite communities rallied to Obama, not only in long lines at the ballot box, but from small places like barber shops and beauty parlors to seventh grade classrooms, community churches, and ivy league colleges and universities. His ability to raise large sums of campaign money by collecting small sums from ordinary people and his skill in drawing capacity crowds to hear his motivational speeches gave his campaign an unprecedented momentum.

The Obama-Biden and McCain-Pailin factions were in a statistical tie in Ohio going into the election, according to some polls, making the buckeye state pivotal as it has always been where no Republican has won the White House without winning Ohio.

“All of you can give America the change it needs and it starts right here in Ohio, it starts right
here in Cleveland,” Obama told the crowd at a rally in Cleveland just two days before Tuesday's election.

Not only did Obama's message of hope resonate in Ohio, it caught on nationwide, eventually carrying him to the White House, though not so unexpected after he beat New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton in a heated Democratic primary that pitted former President Bill Clinton against the Black community. With the overwhelming support of Blacks in South Carolina, Obama took the Democratic Primary there, after Bill Clinton angered the Black community by dubbing Obama a “boy” and predicting his presidential defeat in the same vain as the Rev. Jesse Jackson's unsuccessful bids for president in 1980 and 1984.

After winning the Iowa Caucuses and the South Carolina Democratic primary, Obama won Super Tuesday and never looked back. The Clintons' fractured relationship with the Black community continued throughout the Democratic primary season but took a back seat after Obama clinched the Democratic nomination for president and skillfully reeled in Clinton supporters and the Clinton's themselves, who joined him on the campaign trail with apparent ease and a commitment to the Democratic Party.

“I don't think there's any question that he [Obama] unified the Democratic Party,” said Louis Stokes, a retired U.S. Rep. of the 11th Congressional District, and brother of the late Carl B. Stokes, who became the first Black mayor of a major metropolitan city when he was elected mayor of the city of Cleveland in 1967. “It has now been carried to the top of the mountain what Carl started by giving Black people vision, hope and aspiration, that in electing Carl that same city would someday be part of a nation that elects the first Black president.”

Obama's climb to the presidency followed his decision to forgo lucrative jobs on Wall Street and in corporate law to become a community organizer on the streets of the south side of Chicago. Through that venue he was elected to the Illinois Senate and then to the U.S. Senate in 2004. His run for president was spurred with support from prominent members of Congress such as Massachusetts Senators Ted Kennedy and John Kerry, and ranking Blacks like Rep. John Conyers of Michigan. Just weeks before the presidential election, he snagged the endorsement of Republican Colin Powell, a former member of the Bush administration and the first Black Joint Chiefs of Staff and Secretary of State.

Johnathan Holifield, President and CEO of the Urban League of Greater Cleveland, said that Obama's victory reminds America that Blacks can excel in all arenas and counters negative and unfounded stereotypes about the Black intellect in America.

“Without a doubt, it dispels the myth that Blacks don't measure up intellectually,” said Holifield.
“Obama was able to blend academic excellence and community organizing into a compelling candidacy.”

Obama will have the privilege of working with a Senate and House of Representatives controlled by his fellow Democrats.

His win comes more than four decades after the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have A Dream” speech in the nation's capitol.

“I didn't think that this would happen in my lifetime,” said Alma Cooper, 85, who was elated about Obama's election. “We never believed that Martin Luther King Jr. would happen and this exceeds that.”

Reach Kathy Wray Coleman by email at kathy@kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, and by telephone at 216-932-3114.