Editorial by contributor Judith Pugsley on year 2011 issues as to Serial Killer Sowell, politics, Cleveland's illegal prosecutions of Blacks, women

ROCKY RIVER-Ohio- Judith Pugley, a retired professional and supporter of Civil Rights, wrote Cleveland Urban News.Com and The Kathy Wray Coleman online News Blog. Com on what 2011 brought to the community from the convictions of serial killer Anthony Sowell on numerous counts for the murders of 11 Black women to malicious prosecutions of Black women and girls by the predominantly Black city of Cleveland.

A White woman in the struggle, Pugsley supports issues impacting disenfranchised groups like minorities, including her work in campaigning to seek to repeal Ohio House Bill 194, the voter suppression state law with stringent voting requirements like reduced early voting and i.d. voting that Democrats, Civil Rights organizations and Black leaders hope voters will overturn at the ballot box in November.

Dear [Cleveland Urban News.Com and The Kathy Wray Coleman Online News Blog.Com Editor] Kathy Wray Coleman,

I want to thank you for your articles and the blog reports. I have been trying to figure this "flim flam" act by the Ohio Republicans for a long time

Now it is clear, but I still haven't figured State Sen. Nina Turner out though. By her running against Congresswoman Fudge we could lose a qualified black in Congress. I wish she would check her ambition and not challenge Ms. Fudge right now. (Editor's note: Since this editorial on Dec 24 State Sen. Tina Turner has withdrawn from the congressional race with Rep. Fudge responding in a press release and saying that she has "great respect for Senator Turner.")

I'd also like to wish you a Happy New Year and leave you with a few humorous thoughts of gratitude that you might enjoy. They are as follows:

1. I'm grateful that those poor bailiffs don't have to stand out in the cold arresting you for doing nothing but exercising your right to free speech. They must get tired of the bad weather.

2. I'm grateful those police officers don't have to wrestle 110 pound Cleveland Public School teenagers like Destini Bronaugh to the ground. It's bad for their backs, and bad for their image as they are caught on camera beating up on kids and females, no less.

3. I'm grateful that Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson, who is running the Cleveland school district, doesn't have to sit among some third graders reading "My Pet Goat" upside down, as if he knew something about the issues.

4. I'm grateful that Connie Schultz was at the Plain Dealer Newspaper as a columnist but is no longer a columnist there because who in their right mind would want a voice for the little guy, and a champion of fairness.

5. I'm grateful that Ohio State Treasurer Josh Mandel tells so many lies. His lies are enough to prevent him from getting through the doors of the U.S. Senate should he win against Sen. Sherrod Brown next year.

6. I'm grateful for this racist country that throws then presidential candidate Herman Cain off the ballot in Iowa for philandering with women so that Newt Gingrich can get on the ballot in Iowa as an over bloated white guy known for philandering with women.

7. I'm grateful that only in America, the land of free speech and bad taste, can a white guy like Rick Perry get on national television and coyly resurrect the "N" word. If he is elected president there is no doubt in my mind that he would be filmed in a school reading "LIttle Black Sambo" upside down to third graders, and if 9-11 happened again, he would be prepared with a brilliant speech for the Nation, "Oops!"

8. I'm grateful that people are finally noticing the local fight with RTA over the fare jumpers.They are suppose to do community service if they ride and don't pay. But since RTA can't seem to manage this program they have turned the problem over to the courts so that the kids get felony convictions, go to jail, and are transported around town on buses where as wards of the state, they don't pay

9. I'm grateful for former Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Judge Bridget McCafferty, who is now serving a 14-month prison term for lying to the FBI and is known for her skills in adjudicating cases on her stupidity and for talking to the FBI without her attorney present. She gets the Hubris award, a dubious honor also shared by Martha Stewart.

10. I'm very relieved and feel very protected by the Cleveland Police, who did not use their execeptional sleuthing skills to zero in on serial killer Anthony Sowell when he was in custody and let him go in 2008 to kill the last six of the 11 Black women he murdered on Imperial Ave. in Cleveland. They should be more careful the next time that a woman says she has been raped. They are Cleveland's finest at their best.

That was our year. Will 2012 be a better one? I don't know. But if you keep up with your writing Kathy, it is bound to go in that direction.

Happy New Year. Your faithful fan.

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