Photo By Jymi Bolden

Protesting alleged economic discrimination in the city's use of development funds are (L-R) Stanley Broadnax, Donald Shabazz, Victoria Straughn, Bishop Steven Bishop, Brian Garry, the Rev. Damon Lynch III and the Rev. Dock Foster.

Police prohibited three Cincinnati women from hearing President Bush's May 3 speech at Kalamazoo College. Laura Lonneman, Leah Busch and Julia VanAusdall were among six students barred from Bush's speech at the Michigan campus, apparently because of their political views. The students had tickets to the event, but a group of Kalamazoo College Republicans told security officials that they were a potential threat, and police forced them to leave.

"When we arrived at the event, members of the Kalamazoo College student Republican organization singled us out as 'potential threats' and we were threatened with arrest by the police if we did not leave the event," Lonneman says. "We were told we had been put on a 'list' of people who could potentially cause a problem. The truly frightening thing is that we feel this event shows how politically polarized this country has become. People are banned from hearing political debate based solely on suspicion and blacklisting."

Or, as in Cincinnati, they're banned from expressing their views on certain kinds of signs. Jim Albers filed suit May 11 in U.S. District Court, seeking to overturn a city ordinance banning signs on sticks on Fountain Square. Cited with violating the ordinance during an anti-war rally March 20, he's scheduled to stand trial May 24 in Hamilton County Municipal Court.

Meanwhile, Albers is challenging the ordinance on constitutional grounds. The suit filed by his attorney, Robert Newman, contends police look the other way when people on the square wave American flags on sticks but cite protesters holding political signs on sticks. Newman wants a permanent injunction against enforcement of the law.

Albers recently was denied a permit to hold a rally on the square while carrying signs on sticks. But he plans to test the ordinance at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday.

"(Albers) intends to go to Fountain Square on May 18 and on future dates with his sign attached to (a) bamboo stick in order to communicate his message against the continued occupation of Iraq by foreign military personnel," Newman says.

Real threats to public safety in Cincinnati, however, seem to get a free pass. An arbitrator has ruled that the city must rehire another of the cops it fired for misconduct. This time it's former Officer Patrick Caton, whom the city fired after an internal investigation found he'd used excessive force against Roger Owensby Jr., who died in police custody four years ago (see "Piling On," issue of Oct. 3-9, 2002). The arbitrator reduced Caton's penalty to a five-day suspension, citing conflicting statements and the city's failure to follow proper procedure.

"I can't consider this anything other than bad news," Mayor Charlie Luken told city council last week. "I think many citizens think this is somehow a game, that the whole thing is something we orchestrate just for appearances. ... A city speaks to its values by the actions we take."

Caton was acquitted of assault in connection with Owensby's death. The trial of a lawsuit by Owensby's family against the city is scheduled to begin next month in federal court.

Fund-amental Fairness in Federal Programs
Last week the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) conducted an on-site civil rights investigation and performance review of the city. The site visit resulted from allegations of economic discrimination in the city's housing and community development programs. Activists say African-American neighborhoods have received less public investment to support development of jobs, housing and neighborhood business districts and African-American property owners and developers have received less development assistance than whites.

Bush Administration policies are even beginning to rankle entrepreneurial types. The U.S. Department of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers held a conference May 10 at the Montgomery Inn Banquet Center to advise small manufacturers on how to survive in a global economy. Commerce representatives and U.S. Rep. Rob Portman (R-Terrace Park) touted tax relief and lower costs for health care, litigation and energy as keys to giving the United States and Ohio a competitive edge.

But the Commerce Department is simply giving small manufacturers lip service, according to Mark Sueter, a member of the nonprofit organization TechSolve.

"I personally have been sickened by the administration's insistence on stating that it cares about our small manufacturing constituents," he says.

The Bush Administration slashed the Manufacturing Extension Partnership budget from $106 million to $12.9 million, Sueter says. The program assists small manufacturers through government partnerships and nonprofit centers to provide technical assistance and business support services.

Sueter says those cuts, coupled with the conference, are "telling concerning the disingenuousness of the administration's attempt to say it cares about manufacturing job losses even as it guts the only program specifically focused on small manufacturers."

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