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Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson Posted Thursday, October 15, 2009 (National and Cleveland, Ohio Area News) Dear Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson: This is to request your support relative to a blatant injustice that sends the message that Blacks, journalists and others can be unfairly prosecuted by the predominantly Black City of Cleveland and convicted of alleged crimes such as resisting arrest without the testimony of an accusing or arresting police officer, deputy sheriff or bailiff, in violation of the Sixth Amendment of the United States Constitution. As a Black man and former Cleveland City Council President representing the impoverished Ward 5 you know what it means to be disenfranchised and certainly at 62 years old you are familiar with the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's where Blacks and others fought for equal opportunity and equal justice in this country with the leadership of the likes of African-Americans such as Fannie Lou Hamer, Angela Davis, The Reverend Dr. Martin

Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Kathleen Ann Keough Press Release For All Media Posted Wednesday, October 14, 2009 (Cleveland, Ohio Area News) The Carl Stokes Brigade, Black on Black Crime Inc., The Oppressed People's Nation and other grassroots organizations will rally on the steps of the Justice Center in Cleveland on Lakeside Ave., Friday, Oct. 23 at 4:00 pm. The protest is to demand that Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Kathleen Ann Keough dismiss a resisting arrest verdict that came against local freelance journalist Kathy Wray Coleman without the testimony of the arresting deputy sheriff, who is White, and to demand also that applicable cases against defendants be dismissed as required by law if they are denied their constitutional right under the confrontation clause of the Sixth Amendment to confront their accuser, particularly arresting police officers, bailiffs and deputy sheriffs. Longtime Community Activis

Posted Sunday, October 11, 2009 (Cleveland, Ohio Area News) By Genevieve Mitchell, Guest Columnist (Mitchell is a former vice president of the Cleveland Board of Education, a former candidate for Cleveland city mayor, editor of the newsletter "The Blackboard," and current host of the local Cleveland cable television program "The Carl Stokes Forum.") While few would doubt the need for accountability and oversight the battle for county government reform has reached a boiling point. With the November election only a few weeks away Cuyahoga County voters will have a chance to either support or reject the county reform measure known as Issue 6. At odds is not whether reform is necessary but what shall constitute “reform." Cuyahoga County is controlled by voter elected Democrats. This has been largely due to the great appeal of Democratic leadership. But in the wake of a county federal corruption probe attached to this election cycle that has been exacerbated v

Posted Friday, October 9, 2009 (Cleveland, Ohio Area News) A Cleveland area Black journalist was convicted of a misdemeanor charge of resisting arrest when the sole arresting officer did not testified and a prosecutor admitted in closing arguments at trial that such officer was available to testify but was not called to the stand, transcripts of proceedings reveal. At issue is a resisting arrest conviction against journalist Kathy Wray Coleman where her post trial attorney, Wayne Kerek, confirms that the Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution mandates compulsory process to cross examine witnesses against her. Case law makes an exception in some instances, if the charging witness is unavailable. Cleveland, Oh. Assistant city prosecutor Lorraine Coyne, the lead prosecutor in a criminal case brought by the city of Cleveland against Coleman, who says that she has been subjected to a malicious prosecution for her writings in the Call and Post Newspaper, a Cleveland weekly that ta

Posted October 8, 2009 (National and Cleveland, Ohio Area News) A White Cleveland Municipal Court Judge who refuses to dismiss a resisting arrest verdict against a Black journalist that came without the testimony of the arresting officer, alleged impropriety by her since removed trial lawyer, accusations of prosecutorial misconduct by an all White prosecution and questionable instructions to the jury is under fire from grassroots organizations and the new attorney for the journalist. “I have never ever seen a person convicted of an alleged offense such as resisting arrest where the defendant was convicted without the testimony of the arresting officer,” said Wayne Kerek, the attorney for Cleveland area journalist Kathy Wray Coleman who appeared in the case after the trial judge dismissed Coleman's former attorney, Carole A., Lohr, following alleged impropriety. “It is possible that a prosecution of this nature could have been motivated by some form of insidious racial animus and th

Posted Tuesday, October 6, 2009 (National and Cleveland, Ohio Area News) By Kathy Wray Coleman (Editor of The Determiner Weekly (www.determinerweekly.com) and The Kathy Wray Coleman Online News Blog and Media Network) East Cleveland Mayor Eric Brewer told "Inside Edition" in an interview that aired this evening that it is in fact he in controversial photos that show the mayor of the predominantly Black suburb of Cleveland, Oh. in drag with panties, lipstick, high heels, pantyhose, a wig, and all. “That is me in those pictures,” Brewer said on the nationally syndicated television show, while adding that he did it for his girlfriend. “I am requesting a criminal investigation.” That admission has caused a prominent East Cleveland activist to demand his resignation. “Eric Brewer has hated on many people for a long time in a very evil way and finally the chickens have come home to roost, and have landed squarely on his head,” said Art McKoy, founder of the East C

Congresswoman Marcia Fudge Posted Saturday, October 3, 2009 (Regional and Cleveland, Ohio Area News) By Kathy Wray Coleman (Editor of The Determiner Weekly (www.determinerweekly.com) and the Kathy Wray Coleman Online News Blog and Media Network) A Black Ohio state senator got booed and Cuyahoga County's most influential Black leader took on powerful county prosecutor Bill Mason at a meeting earlier today at Euclid High School where a controversial county reform measure on the November 3 general election ballot was rejected by the Executive Committee of the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party. If adopted by voters Issue 6, crafted by Mason and an all White group of county Democrats, would strip voters of their own right to elect nine of the 11 county offices such as the sheriff, recorder, auditor, engineer, coroner, and commissioners, and give an elected county head and an elected 11 member county council the power to appoint. Mason's position and that of the county treasur