Tuesday, December 22, 2009
The story of Paul Facinelli's obsession and firing
Andrew Putz has a fascinating tale in the 2001 Cleveland Scene about how former Beacon Journal reporter Paul Facinelli got involved with investigating child sexual abuse convictions in the Head Start program for the Elyria Chronicle Telegram. It cost him his career. He was fired in 1998. Facinelli was convinced that the convictions were wrong.
After the firing, Facinelli taught math to ninth-graders at Jane Addams Business Career Center on Cleveland's East Side, his days as a well-read columnist fading fast in his rear-view mirror.
In June 2009 Lorain County Common Pleas Court Judge James Burge overturned the convictions of Nancy Smith and Joseph Allen. Burge, after reviewing the trial transcript and court records as Facinelli did, said that he had “absolutely no confidence” in the original guilty verdicts. The two spent nearly 14 years in prison.
On Dec. 2, 2009 Lorain County prosecutors asked the 9th District Court of Appeals to overturn the acquittal.
In 2008 Jonathan Rosenbaum, who prosecuted the cases as chief assistant Lorain County prosecutor, was shot in the back by his son and paralyzed while skeet shooting. Rosenbaum was paralyzed and today is a private attorney handling civil cases.
Former BJ news editor Dave Boerner put me on the trail of the extensive details of the Facinelli story. I didn't see Dave's email till Paula and I returned from a 15-day Panama Canal cruise, my ninth since my Beacon Journal retirement. More on that, with photos, in a few days.
Back to Facinelli.
To read the long and complicated story by Putz, click on the headline.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
7 comments:
No one cares how many cruises you've been on.
I do.
Jealous?
John, we have TEN cruises, the last one this Nov.1-14 from San Diego along Mexico, through the Panama Canal then to Aruba and San Juan.
Would you like to see my 500 pictures?
Absolutely!
I love looking at travel photos that people I know are in.
The beauty is that those who don't want to look at my travel photos simply just don't click on the blog item headline.
You traveled long before I began traveling. I bow to you on that. I didn't start till I retired in 1996 so it's still fairly new and exciting to me.
Those who don't want to read about my trips or see the photos have a simple option: Don't.
Hopefully, you're in a minority. I've been complimenting by many former BJ people about my trip reports and photos, so I assume that they want me to continue doing so.
John, I, and I'm sure everyone appreciates when you give a trip report where you meet up with other BJ folks, they are of interest to all.
Maybe you or Harry could set up a separate side blog for personal trip reports that are strictly vacation pictures so people who are interested can go to and look.
As it is when we put up a a full post that has nothing to do with other BJ folks it is just one more thing to skip over after finding out it may be of little interest.
Since this is a comment not out in the open I can be long winded and I'll tell you what our average travels are each year.
We have a 28ft Trailer and are pulling it with a 3/4 ton Dodge Cummings Turbo Diesel we use for land traveling.
Skiing in the Rockies, US or Canada for three weeks in February.
End of March it is down to Plant City for the Florida Strawberry festival and other places.
Usually I attend a Model Railroad convention somewhere in the country in April/May using my RV.
The German Fest in Milwaukee with many Austria and German bands in July.
In September we do the Oktoberfest circuit, usually 4-5 Starting in Kitchener Ontario, Rochester NY,Stow VT, Cincinnati and Columbus.
October is great salmon fishing on the Niagara river.
November we take a cruise for a couple of weeks.
Before I sold my cabin cruiser on ebay two years ago because it got only 1.8 miles to the gallon, every week we weren't out of town from May to September we spent on the boat, not just cruising the lakes but cruised the Erie canal
from Tonawanda to Syracuse.
The next year we cruised the Trent-Severn canal through 40 locks and one railway over a mountain with the boat, starting in Lake Ontario and ending in Georgian Bay, a fun two weeks.
Every three years or so we go home to the old country, it is fun to dine a the Jules Verne restaurant on top of the Eiffel tower or go to the Moulin Rouge in Paris (I even took Bob Fernandez there when we were on a business trip) and drive down along the Rivieras from Barcelona to Rome.
As a photographer turned snap-shooter I naturally have lots of pictures though not many of us, mostly showing the fun of the trips.
Most everyone takes vacations and shoots pictures and they are fun to look at, but they should be kept out of the main blog in a separate section.
Just my opinion.
Also, if you like to look at my pictures go to my web site; http://corrr1.com
Unfortunately, I have to limit my cruising to the web. I have tried to keep myself out of items I post. Just post the news--no personal references.
Post a Comment