NORTHEAST OHIO NEWS

Real-Time Updates for Cleveland and Northeast Ohio

Outdoor ice skating returns to University Circle

by Patrick O'Donnell/Plain Dealer Reporter

Wednesday November 19, 2008, 11:18 PM

Outdoor ice skating is returning to University Circle.

Sort of. More like high-density polyethylene skating.

A temporary skating rink will open Dec. 7 in the Wade Park Oval that will use a synthetic ice, instead of the good-old natural frozen stuff.

Workers will start assembling the jigsaw sheets of the milk jug-like surface in the grassy area between the Cleveland Botanical Gardens and Natural History Museum next week, along with lights for night skating and temporary buildings for concessions and skate rental.

It will be open to the public for free, mostly on weekends, until Feb. 16.

"It's a revival of tradition with a modern-day twist," University Circle Inc. President Chris Ronayne said. "We're bringing back a bit of nostalgia with a new technology."

The project will cost more than $125,000, which is covered by donations, he said.

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City and county leaders discuss racial inequities in sentencing

by Leila Atassi/Plain Dealer Reporter

Wednesday November 19, 2008, 10:49 PM

CLEVELAND -- All at the table agreed it is a systemic problem with severe consequences for a community. And all agreed that finding a solution to racial disparities in Cuyahoga County's criminal justice system is a bigger undertaking than any one of their offices could handle alone.

Cleveland City Council members, county Prosecutor Bill Mason and other players in the criminal justice system met for 3-1/2 hours with local leaders in the black community Wednesday to discuss racial inequalities observed in the system.

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Marcia Fudge, with style of her own, takes congressional seat

by Olivera Perkins/Plain Dealer Reporter

Wednesday November 19, 2008, 9:46 PM

Finding the politician at this political fundraiser wasn't easy.

Marcia Fudge wasn't holding court. She wasn't back slapping. She wasn't playing the "Hey, girlfriend" role, though many attendees belonged to Delta Sigma Theta, the sorority she once served as national president.

On this Sunday afternoon, many of the women were still in frilly church frocks and heels. Fudge wore a conservative black suit and low-heeled shoes that sent an unmistakable message: "I am a woman about business."

The focused, no-nonsense style that marked her nine years as Warrensville Heights mayor now gets a bigger platform as Fudge begins serving the unexpired term of the late U.S. Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, which she won Tuesday.

Fudge was sworn in Wednesday on Capitol Hill for the 11th Congressional District seat. In January, she begins serving the two-year term she won Nov. 4 for the district that includes Cleveland's East Side and several eastern suburbs.

Fudge, who resigned as mayor Tuesday, and Tubbs Jones were the closest of friends and political allies. Shortly after the congresswoman died of a ruptured aneurysm in August, her family began lobbying the local Democratic Party to make Fudge its nominee. She would have been Stephanie's choice, they said.

Their names were always being linked, as at the fund-raiser held nearly two months after Tubbs Jones died.

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Martin Sweeney's reign over Cleveland council at risk after upset in special election

by Gabriel Baird and Henry J. Gomez/ Plain Dealer Reporters

Wednesday November 19, 2008, 9:31 PM

Cleveland City Council President Martin J. Sweeney put his political clout to the test during Tuesday's special council elections and lost so badly that some colleagues are talking about a change of leadership.

During interviews Wednesday, they said the defeat of one Sweeney-backed candidate and a disappointing finish by another leaves the council president vulnerable to a coup.

"Clearly, council leadership is the issue," said Councilman Mike Polensek, a former council president and frequent Sweeney critic.

Sweeney chalked up the attacks to politics. "The political jockeying always elevates during election years," he said. "I can't pay much attention to it. I just have to keep doing my job."

The losses come at a tenuous time for Sweeney. This week, The Plain Dealer reported that he is identified in two subpoenas served on contractors as part of the FBI's public corruption probe. Sweeney also is unpopular with several colleagues for championing a council reduction measure that voters passed earlier this month.

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Phillip Morris: Cleveland worker vulnerable and trapped inside his home

by Phillip Morris/Plain Dealer Columnist

Wednesday November 19, 2008, 9:00 PM

A 5-year old boy named Isaiah lives in Collinwood with his parents and older sister. He recently developed a sleeping disorder and has nightmares. He refuses to go to bed alone.

Isaiah begs to lie next to his 11-year-old sister, and when she objects, he slips into bed with his parents. He has begun to lobby for a guard dog.

His fears are well-grounded. His nightmare is Cleveland's.

Burglars have struck the home of Floyd and Dorothy Owens, Isaiah's parents, three times this month. Thieves have busted out windows, kicked down a door, and, each time, ignored a burglar alarm siren to enter the home in daylight.

They've trampled the house, taking most everything worth taking.

Gone are computers, clothes, jewelry, toys, iPods, movies and Dorothy's blood pressure medicine. Earlier this week, the vermin returned for another haul.

When Floyd arrived home Tuesday, from his job with the City of Cleveland Water Department, he walked in on the final insult. Gone was a 42-inch flat-screen television, which had been bolted to a large metal bracket, overhanging the family room fireplace. The dirtbags used Floyd's tools, retrieved from the garage, to perform their work.

The skeletal bracket now serves as a mocking reminder that Owen's security was never real and that his creature comforts were never really his. It is cold testament that he played by the rules and still lost, badly.

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Home builders try to survive in slow market

by Shaheen Samavati/The Plain Dealer

Wednesday November 19, 2008, 8:27 PM

As they struggle through the worst housing construction market in decades, Northeast Ohio builders are doing whatever they can to survive: working on just one house at a time, unloading houses at a loss, even looking to other types of work to supplement their incomes.

Houses are being built today at the slowest rate in recent history. New housing starts sank to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 791,000 homes in October, dropping 4.5 percent from the previous month to the lowest rate since records began in 1959, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. Building permits, a clue to future construction activity, also hit a record low last month.

On top of that, the National Association of Home Builders said Wednesday its monthly index showed that builders are more pessimistic about market conditions than at any time since at least 1985.

Local builders say there's not much money to be made these days in new home construction. Housing demand has diminished, sale prices are dirt cheap and credit for building and buying homes has all but dried up.

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Area ski resorts to open early -- as early as tomorrow

by Susan Glaser/The Plain Dealer

Wednesday November 19, 2008, 6:14 PM

Dust off those skis and pack up the car. Several area ski resorts are planning to open this week, launching one of the earliest ski seasons in the region in years.

Holiday Valley (www.holidayvalley.com) in Ellicottville, N.Y., will open Thursday; Seven Springs Mountain Resort (www.7springs.com) in Seven Springs, Pa., will open Friday, as will Boyne Mountain (www.boyne.com) in Boyne Falls, Mich..

Peek'n Peak Resort (www.pknpk.com), in Findley Lake, N.Y., plans to open Wednesday, Nov. 26.

Holiday Valley's announcement came shortly after 28 inches of snow fell on the western New York resort early this week. Thursday's launch is the third earliest opening day in the resort's 51-year history.

Most resorts offer steep discounts for such early-season schussing. See the resorts' Web sites for prices and hours.

Cleveland-area resorts, meanwhile, including Boston Mills, Brandywine and Alpine Valley, don't expect to open until early- to mid-December.

Ohio's Boehner wins second term as House GOP leader

by Associated Press

Wednesday November 19, 2008, 4:55 PM

WASHINGTON -- Ohio Congressman John Boehner has won a second term as House Republican leader as the party faces a Democratic president and a strengthened Democratic majority.

Fifty-nine-year-old Boehner was re-elected by his fellow Republicans today over a late challenger, California Congressman Dan Lungren.

In a joint letter to their colleagues, Boehner and Lungren say it's clear the GOP must find new ways to reconnect with the American people and address their priorities.

Boehner was first elected to Congress in 1990. He's a conservative who aligned himself with Newt Gingrich as Republicans fought their way back into power in 1995.

Bob Hope, pride of Cleveland, gets his own U.S. stamp

by Associated Press

Wednesday November 19, 2008, 3:46 PM

The U.S Post Office is telling Bob Hope: thanks for the memories.

The British-born but all American entertainer will be honored on a U.S. postage stamp early in 2009. (See cleveland.com's special Hope tribute page for more about his career.)

The stamp design will be unveiled Monday at a ceremony on New York's Ellis Island, the entry spot for thousands of immigrants like Hope.

Born in England as Leslie Townes Hope, the singer, actor and comedian was a youngster when his parents moved to Cleveland. He eventually became one of the most beloved U.S. entertainers and was known for his trademark song "Thanks For The Memory," which was on the album "Thanks for the Memories."

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Voinovich at center of possible auto-rescue compromise

by Stephen Koff/Plain Dealer Washington Bureau Chief

Wednesday November 19, 2008, 1:48 PM

WASHINGTON -- The White House and Congress are far apart on a proposed auto-industry rescue that would keep car makers from filing for bankruptcy. But if a palatable compromise emerges today, Ohio's Sen. George Voinovich will get credit.

Voinovich and fellow Republican Sen. Kit Bond, of Missouri, are talking with colleagues about giving Detroit $25 billion -- the same $25 billion earmarked in an energy bill in September.

At first glance, that sounds a lot like a proposal the White House and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson already made, one rejected by Democrats including Sherrod Brown. Brown said on a call with reporters late this morning that while automakers need a short-term bridge loan to stave off bankruptcy, they also need that $25 billion for retooling in order to manufacture fuel-efficient, clean-energy cars and trucks. Using the money for one but not the other, he said, is not acceptable.

But Voinovich's proposal, still being fine-tuned, could get around that either/or worry, says Voinovich spokesman Chris Paulitz.

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Fervor builds for Friday's release of vampire flick 'Twilight'

by Julie E. Washington/Plain Dealer Reporter

Wednesday November 19, 2008, 1:15 PM

This weekend, cold becomes the new hot. Cold, as in Edward Cullen, the vampire hero of the upcoming supernatural movie "Twilight."

Hot, as in how the love affair between Edward and his teenage -- and very human -- girlfriend Bella makes females from 16 to 66 flush.

Edward and Bella are at the center of author Stephenie Meyer's four-book "Twilight" saga, which has sold more than 17 million copies worldwide on its way to becoming The Next Big Thing.

The movie adaptation of "Twilight," the first book in the series, opens Friday, and the anticipatory buzz is almost deafening. The movie has sold out hundreds of midnight shows at theaters across the country, according to online ticket sellers Fandango and MovieTickets.

That includes midnight screenings in Macedonia, Strongsville and Westlake, according to Fandango. Two more midnight screenings may be added at Cinemark Macedonia, and Friday screenings are expected to sell out as well, according to manager Jennifer Bias.

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Ohio executes man for killing store owner in 1992

by Associated Press

Wednesday November 19, 2008, 11:46 AM

LUCASVILLE -- Ohio on Wednesday executed a double murderer who said he'd been framed and was the victim of poor legal help, the state's second execution in as many months.

Gregory Bryant-Bey, 53, died by lethal injection at 10:41 a.m. at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville.

There were no signs that prison staff struggled to find suitable veins in Bryant-Bey's arms to deliver the deadly chemicals, an issue that delayed previous executions in the state.

Bryant-Bey smiled as he entered the death chamber, made a peace sign and clenched his right fist in the direction of his lawyers, spiritual advisers and brother.

In a three-minute final statement, Bryant-Bey, who received the death penalty for stabbing and killing a collectibles store owner in Toledo in 1992, said he'd been framed, convicted on the basis of false evidence and had had poor legal help.

"My brothers and sisters wonder what can be done to protect their sisters and brothers and children and friends from being framed, lied on and convicted on invisible evidence," he said, lying on a gurney and reading as a prison staff member held the handwritten statement.

"We have to pray that they live a life consistent with the truth and love doing right."

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Cleveland Museum of Art strikes deal with Italy to return 14 ancient artworks

by Steven Litt/Plain Dealer Art Critic

Wednesday November 19, 2008, 11:24 AM

The Cleveland Museum of Art agreed Wednesday to return 13 antiquities and a late Gothic processional cross to Italy after government authorities proved that the works had been looted, stolen or illegally exported.

The museum and authorities from the Ministry for Cultural Assets and Activities announced the agreement at a press conference in Rome 3 p.m. Wednesday, 9 a.m. E.S.T.

The agreement, the first of its kind between the Cleveland museum and a foreign country, concludes what officials on both sides called a friendly and collaborative 18-month negotiation.

"I'm very pleased," Timothy Rub, director of the museum, said Wednesday, speaking by phone from Rome. "I think it's always difficult when adverse claims are made against an object or objects in a museum's collection, but the most important thing to do is to first of all determine if these claims have any merit, and if they do, to deal with them as transparently and as thoroughly as possible. This has been a very open and thoughtful discussion."

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One step back: Editors' Picks for Wednesday from The PD

by Peter Zicari

Wednesday November 19, 2008, 9:52 AM

This morning's Print Edition overturns a rock in, of all places, tony Bratenahl, where we discover the police department's evidence room has lost track of several years' worth of confiscated weapons, drugs and cash. The rest of the front page is devoted to people throwing rocks:

• A committee of congressmen grills Federal Reserve officials over the sale of National City bank;
• Drivers dread the plan to detour big vehicles from the I-90 bridge because it'll tie I-77 in knots at rush hour (ODOT says truckers are ignoring the ban anyway); and
• County Prosecutor Bill Mason says he will not comply with the county courts' rule that he must disclose all of his evidence to the defense.

Fair warning: Today's paper is full of stuff you'll want to read, and the simplest way to get it is to buy a Print Edition and take it to lunch. If the boss isn't looking, read on:

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T.J. Dow defeats councils' choice, Stephanie Howse, for Fannie Lewis' seat

by Sarena McRae/Plain Dealer Reporter

Wednesday November 19, 2008, 9:14 AM

CLEVELAND -- Stephanie Howse, Cleveland City Council's choice to replace the late Councilwoman Fannie Lewis, lost in a special election Tuesday night to T.J. Dow.

Final, unofficial figures from the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections show Dow got 796 votes to Howse's 699.

Howse, 29, was appointed by council to fill the Ward 7 seat left open when Lewis, 82, died in August.

Council President Martin J. Sweeney and other council leaders announced that Lewis privately decided that Howse should be her replacement. Howse ran against Lewis for her council seat in 2005.

But a group of Ward 7 residents and Lewis' daughter Cynthia Black disputed those claims, saying Lewis preferred a contest without an incumbent.

Howse finished first in a 10-person October primary with 47 percent of the vote in Ward 7, which is Cleveland's Hough neighborhood.

Dow, 34, is an attorney for the felony division of the Cuyahoga County prosecutor's office. Among other things, he proposes more programs for seniors and youths. He also wants to attract more businesses to the ward.

He will finish out Lewis' term, which runs through 2009.

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Truck traffic delays reopening of Inner Belt bridge lane

by Donna J. Miller/Plain Dealer Reporter

Wednesday November 19, 2008, 8:25 AM

CLEVELAND -- Police will be on the lookout today for 18-wheelers trying to cross the weakened Inner Belt bridge.

The Ohio Department of Transportation's weight restriction announced last week has been ignored by about 1,900 big rigs, ODOT engineers said.

The continued heavy truck traffic has forced ODOT to delay the opening of an additional lane in each direction, ODOT said in a news release issued at 5:30 this morning.

Cleveland police Lt. Thomas Stacho said officers will watch the bridge today to pull over trucks who try to use it, after ODOT put up nearly 100 signs about the restriction.

Once the truck traffic is stopped, ODOT will open the third lane, the East Ninth Street entrance ramp and the Ontario Street ramp to Interstate 77.

Bratenahl police evidence room can't account for seized guns, drugs, money

by Joel Rutchick/Plain Dealer Reporter

Wednesday November 19, 2008, 12:45 AM

At least eight guns, thousands of dollars and large quantities of cocaine and heroin confiscated from suspects over the past decade are missing from the Bratenahl police property room, a Plain Dealer investigation has found.

The drugs and guns do not appear on property-room inventories. And there is no record the village disposed of the contraband, which would explain its disappearance.

In addition, there is no evidence that thousands of dollars in cash that police seized in drug-related crimes went into the village treasury, as required.

It is impossible to say definitively if anything else is missing because the evidence room log covering nearly five years also has disappeared. That log itemized contraband seized between 1999 and 2004.

The Plain Dealer identified some of what is missing through other records.

The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation is looking into the operation of the evidence room.

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