FREEP HEROES

Cincinnati City Council

Seven members of the Cincinnati City Council voted in December for a death penalty moratorium resolution. While symbolic, the resolution in nonetheless significant since Ohio’s third largest city sits in Hamilton County where the County Prosecutor has sentenced more people to death row than Franklin and Cuyahoga counties combined. State Representative Tom Brinkman, Jr. gets special kudos for pushing the moratorium issue. Others such as Professor Howard Tolley have waged a brave campaign to educate the residents of Hamilton County on the human rights abuses associated with the death penalty. Our only question is, when will the so-called more moderate City Council in Columbus act accordingly.

THE FREE PRESS SALUTES

Progressive/peace activists

While virtually nothing has been going on in the City of Columbus to question the draconian measures associated with President Bush’s Fourth Reich-building “war on terrorism,” the Ohio State University campus has remained, thankfully, a hotbed of subversion. From the Campus Progressive Alliance’s activities that are building alliances for activism, the Women in Black demonstrators, the peace camp, the march on Battelle to numerous educational events on the war, campus activists are struggling on many fronts.

Jerry Doyle

Let’s see, the vast majority of the elected Columbus School Board couldn’t grasp the basic meaning of the First Amendment when they adopted a policy banning public speakers from criticizing them by name. Hmm, no wonder the kids are doing less than stellar on their statewide exams. Doyle refused to go along with the authoritarian policy, was arrested and ended up with a $7500 settlement from the Board for violation of his rights. Now, if the judge would have only ordered the members who voted for the resolution to wear a dunce cap at the next meeting.

ENEMIES OF THE PEOPLE

Amy Salerno

A few years back Amy Salerno was the darling of Columbus’ gay community. But like most politicians, she had little trouble stabbing her loyal supporters in the back and voting for the Defense of Marriage Act – a mean-spirited and bigoted attack on gay marriages. With half of all new heterosexual marriages ending in divorce and people marrying millionaires on TV, you’d think Salerno was smart enough to be absent from the chamber when the Republican rural “caveman” caucus came up with this idea. No, Amy proved, despite her urban base, she’s ultimately loyal to the Republican barnyard crowd. The Freep couldn’t help but notice that Speaker Householder didn’t go after his core constituency by outlawing bestiality or cockfighting.