I wish to acknowledge the work of Pat Lent, Brian Taylor and Cindy Darrah who contributed research and ideas for this paper. Dan Kornacki converted the data from Lucas County into an Excel Spreadsheet.

This report contains overwhelming evidence of voter suppression in Lucas County, Ohio.

A list of voters who voted provisionally was obtained from the Lucas County Board of Elections. The report listed name, address, precinct voted in and reason for the vote being invalidated. Voter turnout data by precinct was obtained from the Lucas County Board of Elections website. Other information was obtained over the telephone from the Lucas County Board of Elections and the Wayne County City Clerk’s office.

A large number of citizens voted by provisional ballot in Lucas County on November 2nd and most of the uncounted provisional votes were cast in Toledo.

Lucas County Provisional Votes
Total Provisional Votes - 4,469
Votes Not Counted - 3,123
Provisional Votes Counted - 1,346

Conservative Christian organizations have accused a children’s cartoon character, SpongeBob SquarePants, of being part of a secret agenda to promote homosexuality. The character appears in a music video, produced by the non-profit We Are Family Foundation, which was established following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks to promote greater cultural understanding. The video, which is being distributed to 61,000 elementary schools, features SpongeBob, Winnie the Pooh, and other popular children’s characters. Although the video does not mention sexuality, the website of the foundation asks people to take a tolerance pledge by respecting those of different abilities, beliefs, culture, sexual identity, and race.

FREEP HEROES

Ohio Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs-Jones and California Senator Barbara Boxer

U.S. representative Stephanie Tubbs-Jones courageously stepped forward and challenged the Ohio electors certified for Bush. Unlike the 2000 presidential challenge, this time a heroic U.S. Senator, Barbara Boxer, also signed off on the challenge and forced a long overdue debate on the massive voting irregularities that have plagued both of George W. Bush’s presidential “elections.” Tubbs-Jones and Boxer’s actions will be recorded in history as the two towering figures brave enough to speak out and create a new voting rights movement in the United States.

THE FREE PRESS SALUTES

Reverend Jesse Jackson
and Representative John Conyers

Mustangs freely living on the hills and plains in the south western United States may be rapidly galloping into extinction. According to the Wild Horse and Burro Freedom Alliance, there are less than 35,000 wild horses on our public land today, and if Congress has its way, they will be sold and slaughtered for profit starting this year.

The information on the Save Wild Horses website reads: “In 1971, a public outcry of an unprecedented magnitude for a non-war issue led to the adoption of the Free-Roaming Wild Horse and Burro Act, which recognized the intrinsic value of wild horses to our national heritage and ecosystem.” The Act was meant to protect our wild horses and offer them a permanent home on the American landscape. Now this law has now almost been overturned, without much of a hearing.

I arrived at the Correctional Reception Center (CRC) in Orient, Ohio, on October 26, 2004. CRC is the facility where male prisoners from central and southern Ohio are processed into the state prison system.

I was housed in cellblock A2. I heard the second shift guards, Conley and Rollins, announce to all the prisoners in the block that they would punish the entire cellblock if anyone talked in line on the way to and from the dining room. The one guard, Conley, went into detail and explained that we would not be allowed to take showers or use the telephones, nor allowed out of our cells. He further explained that he would inform all the other prisoners which man was responsible for the punishment, and that we would remain on restriction until someone (other prisoners) “beat down” the prisoner caught talking in line. In a boastful manner, Conley stated that the system was stacked in his favor, that he would have no problem lying and falsifying reports to cover up the incidents.

Within a couple of days, I saw two different prisoners attacked by other prisoners in an effort to appease Conley and Rollins.