Cleveland/Cuyahoga County

Cleveland Browns fans may be angry with Randy Lerner and the Cleveland Browns football team but that didn’t stop them from contributing $10.9 million to help him this year.

In October, Cuyahoga County taxpayers slipped another $1.2 million to pay for the Browns Stadium.

The Browns are 1-7 this season. And a pretty putrid 1-7 from what I hear.

This year, sin tax contributors – all we purchasers of wine, alcohol and cigarettes in Cuyahoga County only – have paid $10,900,768.11 to help Lerner. It helps pay for the Browns Stadium. Lerner pays $250,000 a year to rent the place. The city pays more than $400,000 each year for taxes on the land. The stadium is tax exempt. Free for Lerner.

Thank you taxpayers. Don’t mention it Randy.

Did you catch the so-called interview Tony Grossi did with Lerner in today’s Pee Dee. Talk about consumer fraud.

The headline says: Lerner discusses GM’s firing; reaffirms support for Mangini.” Should have said, “Lerner WON’T discuss ANYTHING.”

According to a report issued Thursday by the Columbus Chamber, the Columbus Blue Jackets could leave central Ohio if the team can't turn around its economic prospects. Currently, the Blue Jackets are operating under an economic model that is causing losses of $12 million per year. A deal to keep the hockey team in Columbus and the area around the arena afloat will likely include asking for public dollars, and is likely to happen soon.

The team and the district around the arena generated $30 million in taxes last year. A loss of that magnitude would be devastating to the city.

Ty D. Marsh, chamber president and CEO says explains that there is a sense of urgency, and that they are "looking for a solution or progress by the end of the year." Already into November, that gives the team less than two months to come up with some kind of workable solution.

Marsh says that the goal would be a financial package that would help the team be rid of some significant costs. Included in that could be $4 million in operational losses and $5 million in arena rent per year.

Roger Stone, a Republican PR hit man, took quite a shot at Pee Dee editor Susan Goldberg, on the Issue 3 coverage: “PD Editor Pimps for Casino Gambling.”

She claims “to be an objective and principled journalist but her actions during Ohio’s recent campaign over casino gaming demonstrates that she is neither,” writes Stone in his blog “StoneZone.”

He was a hired gun against Issue 3.

He also calls Dan Gilbert a “nouveau rich loud mouth.” Pithy stuff.

You can read how Goldberg distorted a poll, giving Issue 3 some needed boosting. It worked.

The full posting can be found here.

As I’ve said before, the Pee Dee allowed editorializing to spread across its front news page on Issue 3 and, of course, on Issue 6.

What kind of mother doesn’t shed even one tear as her 29-year-old only son is sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole? A very strong — albeit tired — one named Jeannette Halton-Tiggs. Her son, Timothy Halton, Jr. received the sentence on Oct. 30 in the courtroom of Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Ronald Suster for gunning down Cleveland Heights Police Officer Jason West in cold blood on May 25, 2007.

“I felt that it would have been disrespectful to the memory of Officer West for me to be seen by his mother and the media crying in the courtroom for my son, when her son is dead,” said Halton-Tiggs, “and it could be that I’m just cried out … I simply don’t have any tears left.”

The media portrayed her son as a monster, but, in truth he was mentally ill — suffering from a severe form of paranoid schizophrenia. “If my Timmy is a monster, than I guess that makes me the monster’s mother,” said Jeannette, “but he isn’t a monster, at the time he was just very sick.”

The biggest story this day after the election isn’t approval of County government reform or approval of a monopoly casino for a billionaire.

No. The biggest story is about the numerous murdered bodies found in the middle a city neighborhood. In fact, not far from famous Shaker Square in the new 4th ward.

That it could happen with little notice says so much more about Cleveland, its priorities and what it cares about than any election issue. Residents count little in this world.

The question is how does this happen? Why did it happen? Why did it happen so easily? Why did it escape notice so easily? For so long?

Where were the police? Where were health officials? Social workers? Community development personnel? Community activists?

Let’s build a new convention center. Let’s build a new casino. Can we build any new stadiums? Theaters? Fancy restaurants?

Anyone can see reform and casinos don’t answer what really ails Cleveland. You can’t hide it behind glitz or change for the sake of change.

Poverty and its relatives are eating away at the very life of the city. Giving recognition to this is step one.

But we are being sold shoddy goods instead.

The Pee Dee won big yesterday. The newspaper – surely looking for relevance – piggybacked on a vile corruption scourge in County government to change its form. Not its nature.

Police Say Say Sowell Killed at Least 11 People

The Cleveland Police Department and and Cuyahoga County Cornoers Office held a press conference at 4:30 p.m. and have named Tonia Carmichael as one of the eleven victims of the Cleveland serial killer Anthony Sowell who was brought to justice this week. The Police Department upped the number of murders they believe Sowell committed to 11 after they found a skull yesterday in the basement of his home.

Carmichael was a a 53 year old female from Warrensville Height who was reported as missing on November 10th. Cuyahoga Coroner Dr. Frank Miller stated that DNA was used in the identification of Carmichael. Miller added there has been a match of a dental record of another victim but are waiting for DNA to give the name to the public.

Sowell was formally charged with murder and rape today in Cuyahoga County Court. He was denied bond and police will continue looking for evidence against him in the coming days.

On Monday afternoon, two grown men with nicknames met with Cleveland Browns owner Randy Lerner to serve as fan representatives in voicing discontent regarding the current state of the Browns organization. "Dawg Pound Mike" Mike Randall of Massillon and Tony "Mobile [Wheelchair] Dawg" Schafer were equipped with thier best Sunday, um, Bone Hat to meet with the millionaire banking CEO and professional sports team owner, who has come under fire in recent months due to the poor play of his football (not futbol) team.

Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert celebrated two victories today. One was the win by his team the other was a lot greater. Gilbert will now be the owner of two casinos in the Buckeye State, one of them right here in the City of Cleveland.

Gilbert and Mayor Frank Jackson shared the stage today at the victory party of Issue 3. Gilbert told the assembled supporters on the fourth floor of Quicken Loans Arena:

"We're going to deliver something very special."

Jackson, who won a huge re-election victory tonight, told the crowd:

"This is not a panacea, but it's a significant tool for the city of Cleveland. It's one more tool we can use to further the goals and vision of Cleveland."

Here is the audio of the full statements by both the owner of the Cavaliers and the Mayor of Cleveland: