Those Blessed Cuyahoga County Officials: Tax Funds Spent To Promote Family 'Religious Practice'

CLEVELAND (TDB) -- Cuyahoga County is run by Democrats, and they appear to have strayed pretty close to saying the family that prays together stays together in a promotional handbill touting parents appreciation week next month. The flier is being distributed by the county's Family & Children's First Council and says: "Please take a moment during the week to observe and celebrate your religious practice as a family."

Not a bad sentiment. And definitely the kind of advice social conservatives and the evangelical right -- along with many others, perhaps a majority -- would not deem questionable. But what about those in the Cleveland area who don't go to church, temple or mosque, or who don't "observe and celebrate" any kind of religion, or happen to be atheists? Are they some kind of inferior or second class citizens who cannot participate fully in the county's "You Gotta Love Parents . . . Appreciation Week," which begins on September 21? Does a statement by a government funded agency urging parents to take part in religious ceremonies run afoul of the constitutional separation of church and state?

The one-page flier is well-intentioned and The Bellwether was able to obtain a copy (PDF) from the official Cuyahoga County government Website. A concerned tipster, however, felt that the statement runs directly counter to the idea that government should not promote religion. Mostly, the handbill is about events taking place during the appreciation week, including a walleye fishing tournament at Voinovich Bicentennial Park. The line about religion seems to have been added as a way to cite the spiritual side of life as one of "the many resources available to assist in the vital role of parenting."

Family and Children First Councils are created by state law and their members are appointed or hold office under auspice of the county commissioners. They are part of the human services complex. They don't pass out money for human services programs, but do help influence and decide how money should be spent. In Cleveland, the council backs a fatherhood initiative, and homework centers. They are just of many programs and initiatives. Some of what the Cuyahoga County council does is available here.

So far, there's been no publicity or questioning of the council's decision to urge religion as a way to strengthen Cleveland-area families. And the move may actually steal some thunder from the Republicans and the right. For years, the GOP and its Family First allies have banged on the Dems. Now, if a flap ensues, they may to rush to the defense of the elected commissioners who run Cuyahoga County -- three Democrats who are ultimately responsible for a handbill that says religion has a place in strong family life.

Ohio's Tectonic Shift: Reports From 'Liberal' North Sound Like 'Conservative' SW

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Any minute I expect to pick up a map saying Cleveland and Toledo are on the Ohio River and Cincinnati is built upon the shores of Lake Erie. Because something is plumb topsy-turvy about the state. Its north shore -- the liberal Democratic heartland -- seems aflame with reports of Free Speech oppression.

Tom Suddes, my old colleague from the newspaper business, always contended the "mouthbreathers," his word for the crowd most uncomfortable with people who liked to exercise their constitutional rights, infested downstate Ohio. They were generally Republicans who had gun racks in every pick up truck spotted south of Interstate 80.

Could be he was wrong. Could be that NEO is now SWOhio. Could be the heat. Something is out of sort with Ohio's political map because anti-taxers managed to collect enough signatures in Hamilton County (ground zero of Suddes' mouthbreathers) for a ballot measure aimed at repealing a proposed sales tax hike for a new jail -- and NOBODY was arrested or pushed around by the authorities who imposed the tax. Contrast that to what's happened in the liberal Up North these past few days.

The anti-tax crowd is being hassled when they try to circulate petitions against a sales tax increase in Cuyahoga County. This follows a Kent anti-war protester being ticketed for sticking an "Impeach Bush" sign in a public garden last month. And it fits right alongside Toledo Mayor Carty Finkbeiner's Aug. 12, 2007 order that closed a public park so anti-Nazi protesters from the University of Toledo could not raise cane about the fascists in our midst.

There's more. Gloria Ferris had a difficult time trying to collect names on anti-tax petitions near Jacobs Field, where a cop and security guard tried to keep her at bay. Gloria said:

"We weren't there ten minutes when we were told that we would have to move along by a security guard. I asked where we could stand, and he said I will get my supervisor if yo want. I said no don't bother I will ask that Cleveland Policeman over there. The security guard very politely kept insisting I should speak to the head of security at Jacobs Field. Probably because the police officer said he didn't know what was public or private.

"By that time, someone else in our group had talked to the head security guy who told him that three feed from the street was public . . . Of course, the cop told us that the three foot stretch would be too dangerous for people so our best bet would to be on the other side of the street. These locations were simply feeds into the main area and were not efficient for gaining large amounts of signatures."

And this is what the Toledo Blade reported today about the decision to close the park to the University of Toledo students who wanted to express concern about the Iraq War and supporters of Hitlerism. Sadly, they were prohibited.

By comparison, the land of the mouthbreathers has been pretty tame. People can complain about taxes, abortion (Cincinnati-based judges have been dismissing cases against abortion protesters) and, one supposes, even Nazis. Nobody in power seems to get their nose out of joint. Of course, they don't breath through their nostrils.

U.S. Appeals Judge Boyce Martin: Rips Cuyahoga Death Sentence

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- A federal appeals court judge waging a legal war against the death penalty delivered his strongest protest Friday. U.S Circuit Judge Boyce F. Martin said Ohio's elected prosecutors and judges are degrading the state's criminal justice system to win and preside over convictions. Martin said too many courthouse officials pandered to public opinion to appear tough on crime.

Martin wanted the 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Cincinnati to overturn the 1988 Cuyahoga County conviction of Billy Slagle. He got one other judge on the 15-member court to vote with him. That didn't stop his tirade -- Martin said jurists and prosecutors are sending people to the death chamber for sustained publicity in newspapers and TV, and for the political advantages it gives them when they run for reelection.

''Ohio's criminal justice system is only degraded by prosecutors who continue to disregard the ethical duties of the legal profession in order to increase their 'batting average' of death sentences and other convictions. Through this practice prosecutors are able to state that they are 'tough on crime,' allowing them to secure more votes, remain in office, and continue their conviction-oriented (rather than justice-oriented approach," Martin said in his dissent.

He said the state's judges are not immune from the same political motives because they have to run for office. He suggested appointed judges would be more interested in fairness over headlines.

"Ohio's policy of electing judges subjects them to the same political pressures that affect prosecutors,'' Martin added. "So long as the Supreme Court deems the death penalty permissible under the Constitution, and so long as prosecutors and state court judges are subject to political pressure to be 'tough on crime' and pro-death penalty, the politicization of the death penalty will only accelerate."

Martin, 71, was appointed by Democratic President Jimmy Carter in 1979. He said last month he will no longer vote to uphold a death penalty conviction.

Martin said Slagle's Cleveland trial was biased. He contends Slagle should receive a new trial, and that sending him to his death would be a major injustice. Information about Slagle, along with a recent photo, can viewed by clicking here on the Ohio prison system's offender search site.

The complete text of Judge Martin's dissent is a strongly worded document. He says prosecutors ought to have their law licenses challenged for acting in their "self-interest."