THE PLAIN DEALER . SUNDAY, AUGUST 8, 1999 5-H OURCENTURY 1979

ATA GLANCE Chaos continues Muny survives, in city schools Three years after federal Judge Frank Bat- tisti ordered desegregation of pub- but Kucinich is lic Schools, it began — in junior high schools in February and the rest of the system in Sep- tember. The first day was confused but, to general relief, peaceful. Business leaders in particular out of power had feared violence of the type that had dam- aged the “image” of Boston and Louisville. They had set up “rumor centers” and per- He ran. suaded news media to tone down coverage, a By Fred McGunagle This time there were four candi- policy that also stifled legitimate criticism of dates crisscrossing the city. But, un- Their game of “chicken” had ended the plan. like 1977, there were no debates ex- in an earth-shaking, blood-curdling, On Oct. 3, voters turned down an operating cept brief exchanges when head-on crash. Now a sobered Mayor levy and a building levy by more than 2-1. candidates ran into each other at the , City Council and That made five school issues defeated by wide same meeting. bankers gazed in horror at the wreck. margins in 18 months. On Oct. 18, teachers There was one overriding issue: struck, shutting the schools — but, the school They had placed two issues on the Kucinich. Did voters want his “new board noted, saving the strapped system ballot Feb. 27 to raise money — a 0.5- urban populism,” and if not who was $300,000 a day. At year’s end teachers and percent income tax increase and sale the best choice to defeat him? The school were still out. of Muny Light. The Growth Associa- Plain Dealer endorsed Voinovich; the • tion, the Citizens League, The Plain Press went with Butts. Dealer and the Press supported both What the media called the “carnival kick- The turnout in the primary ex- issues. Councilmen David Collier and back trial” drew so much interest that WEWS ceeded the 1977 Perk-Kucinich- Walter Cox formed an “Ax the tax” Channel 25 videotaped it daily and broadcast Feighan contest. Voinovich led with committee against the tax. A poll in it at night. Council President George Forbes 47,000 votes to 36,000 for Kucinich. January showed voters were evenly and seven other present and former members Russo with 21,000 and Butts with divided on the tax, but 70 percent fa- — all but one black — were charged with brib- 19,000 were eliminated. The biggest vored the Muny sale. ery, theft in office and extortion for their role surprise was Voinovich’s showing in in getting permits for carnival operators. black wards, where he was expected Some of the carnival gambling games were al- Both newspapers carried lengthy series detailing Muny mismanage- to run last. Instead he trailed only legedly rigged. Butts, with Kucinich last. A folksy visiting judge, George Tyack of ment, but showing that much of it had Franklin County, established rapport with the been by politicians who favored CEI. At Kucinich headquarters on elec- jury, but not with Assistant Prosecutor Donald They also reported that, rather than tion night the band played the theme Nugent. He eventually threw out all the from “Rocky.” Kucinich chose a foot- charges. ball metaphor: “We are trailing at the half, but what counts is who’s win- • ning at the end of the fourth quarter. Julius Kravitz had started in the grocery Voinovich, scorned by Kucinich as business as a stock boy at the age of 11. At 68, a “fat-cat Republican,” sounded like he was chairman of First National Supermar- his opponent. “Cleveland is the little kets Inc., which owned the Pick-n-Pay stores, people’s city and we’re going to give and was a leader of the Jewish community. it back to the little people,” he told his On May 1, he and his wife, Georgene, were supporters. Then he reminded them kidnapped from their Shaker Heights apart- that at the City Club debate Kucinich ment by two men who demanded $1 million 1.0 had challenged him to make public ransom. After driving the couple around East- 3.070 his income tax return. ern suburbs for four hours, one of the men turned and started shooting. ”Well,” Voinovich said, pulling out Kravitz was killed. His wife was wounded, an envelope, “I want you to know ...” PLAIN DEALER FILE PHOTOS but managed to open the door and roll out of and he flung his return high and the moving car. Shaker Heights police had watched it flutter down into the roar- ing audience. enough clues to issue fugitive warrants for Mi- Top aide Bob Weissman declared chael Levine, a Cleveland Heights auxiliary Dennis Kucinich “unbeatable” Kucinich appealed to Democrats to policeman, and John File. unite behind him, but county Chair- Both surrendered within days. Levine was after the Muny vote. man Tim Hagan declared, “There is found not guilty by reason of insanity and was no way in hell anyone can call Dennis sent to the State Hospital for the Criminally Kucinich a Democrat.” Insane. That brought cries for tightening of the $158.5 million the sale was sup- Prominent Democrats endorsed ’s insanity defense. File was sentenced to posed to net, it would produce only Dennis Kucinich Voinovich, including Russo, Butts life, which brought protests from blacks that $10 million the first year and perhaps and U.S. Rep. Mary Rose Oakar. So won battle to the white defendant had escaped prison. $70 million over 20 years. They did the Cleveland AFL-CIO. prevent the sale of In another brutal crime, the body of 11-year- quoted the year-old ruling by the the Muncipal Light Everything changed on Oct. 8. old Kevin Green was found in a clump of Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Plant, but voters, bushes. He had been stabbed 69 times, appar- that CEI had conducted a series of Nine-year-old Molly Voinovich was ently with an ice pick. Richard Lawler, a re- “dirty tricks,” such as using its con- returning to school after lunch when perhaps tired of cently released convict, was arrested two nection with Muny to cause Muny she was struck and killed by a 19- the turmoil, chose weeks later, convicted of the murder and sen- outages and illegally refusing to year-old who ran a red light. Voin- , tenced to life imprisonment. transmit cheap power that Muny had ovich immediately halted his cam- left, over Kucinich • arranged to buy from Niagara Falls. paign, and Kucinich did, too, holding as mayor. Below, Most tellingly, they reported that up distribution of a flyer attacking Kucinich sought The Cavaliers bickered with Coach Bill Fort Wayne, Ind., now bitterly re- Voinovich. and received the Fitch and each other, straggling to a 30-52 re- gretted its 1974 vote to turn its light Voinovich didn’t return to cam- cord. Fitch, who had coached the team since it endorsement of plant over to a private utility. Rates paigning until Oct. 19 and then on a started in 1970, resigned. Two days later he former Mayor Carl had soared. The mayor who had limited schedule. He canceled com- was named coach of the Boston Celtics.Owner mercials attacking Kucinich and in- Stokes. Nick Mileti replaced him with Stan Albeck. backed the sale was now suing to overturn it. A new poll in February stead ran endorsements by promi- The Indians started slowly. In July, Dave nent Clevelanders. Kucinich in turn Garcia replaced Jeff Torborg as manager, and showed a turnaround: 55 percent of voters now favored keeping Muny. avoided attacking Voinovich. The the team rallied to an 80-81 finish. Andre death of Molly had cast a pall over the Thornton hit 26 home runs, but slumped to a Glenville Councilman Michael campaign. .233 average. Third baseman Toby Harrah hit White was a leader of the campaign to 25 homers and Bobby Bonds 24. First baseman sell Muny. Kucinich led the campaign Kucinich took a daring gamble. In Mike Hargrove hit .325, but drove pitchers to save it. He got a break when two the primary he had courted white vot- and fans crazy with his fidgeting in the bat- television stations refused to show a ers who resented busing for desegre- ter’s box. commercial calling CEI officials gation. Now he shifted 180 degrees. Sam Rutigliano’s Browns beat the Giants in “thieves.”Viewers protested, and the He got his old foe Carl Stokes, who overtime in the opener. Next they beat the stations wound up showing the com- was now an NBC television newsman Colts in the final moments on a Brian Sipe pass mercial in news stories at no cost to in New York, to endorse him. So did to Reggie Rucker. Next they beat the Colts on Muny backers. the black 21st District Caucus, headed by Stokes’ brother Louis. a last-minute Don Cockroft field goal set up by As usual, there was a snowstorm a 75-yard pass from Sipe to Ozzie Newsome. the day before the vote. Predictions Kucinich announced a building The newly christened “Kardiac Kids” beat the were for a turnout of 75,000-90,000. program in which most of the im- Cowboys 26-7 to run their record to 4-0 as ex- provements were on the East Side. citement mounted, then lost three in a row. Instead, it was 110,000. The tax won by 40,000, the Muny sale was de- He campaigned in black churches, They finished 9-7, out of the playoffs for the drawing “Amen!” from the congrega- eighth straight year. feated by 30,000. “The people of Cleveland have written the last chap- tions. Carl Stokes took a leave of ab- • ter in CEI’s monopoly dream book,” sence to campaign for him, saying Kucinich crowed. Kucinich had done more for blacks Hurricane Frederic’s tail hit Cleveland, than any other white mayor. Sept. 14, raising the in Valley The mayor who had been written View to 22.1 feet, second only to the January off as a lame duck after the recall But when the votes were counted it 1959 flood. Police evacuated 125 families, vote now looked like a good bet for re- was 94,000-73,000 for Voinovich. many by boat. election. “He’s unbeatable!” exulted Confrontation-weary voters had top aide Bob Weissman. ended the Kucinich era. Voinovich • announced he would meet immedi- With enrollment down to 365 boys, Cathe- • ately with Gov. James Rhodes to dis- dral Latin School closed in June. The E. 107th Others didn’t think so. State Sen. cuss state aid in clearing up the debts St. high school had been a perennial football Charles Butts announced he was run- left from default. power and also produced many of Cleveland’s ning in April. On July 5, Basil Russo, As for Kucinich, his critics leading lawyers, judges, doctors and priests, council majority leader, entered the chortled, his career was over. He including two cardinals. In 1988, with the sup- race with the backing of most black could never be elected to any office port of alumni, it was resurrected and merged council members. George Voinovich, again. with Notre Dame Academy as a coed school. the Republican lieutenant governor, twice indicated he might run and • twice said he wouldn’t. Then, on July McGunagle is a Cleveland free- For the second time in six years, the OPEC 26, he announced “one of the most lance writer. oil cartel raised prices. Once more, auto- difficult decisions in my life.” E-mail:[email protected] dependent Cleveland was hit harder than the rest of the nation by the recession that re- sulted. Gasoline hit $1 a gallon. Other prices were up too, wiping out the wage gains of the 1970s. President Jimmy Carter called energy LOOKINGATAYEAR conservation the moral equivalent of war, which had the unfortunate acronym MEOW. The Federal Reserve Board raised interest Died: Nelson Rockefeller, John legal action, actor Lee Marvin’s long- May 3: England’s Margaret Nov. 26: In Iran, the Ayatollah rates, checking inflation but worsening the re- Wayne, Mary Pickford, Richard time girlfriend sues him for “pali- Thatcher becomes Europe’s first fe- Khomeini supports students holding cession. Two years earlier Youngstown had Rodgers, Arthur Fiedler, Emmett mony.” male prime minister as the Conserva- 49 hostages at the U.S. Embassy in lost 5,000 jobs when the Campbell Works of Kelly, Al Capp, Cyrus Eaton. March 29: Uganda dictator Idi tive Party wins a decisive victory in Tehran. the Lykes Corp. closed. Now, on Nov. 27, U.S. Amin Dada is driven from office. Jan. 30: The Shah of Iran flees his elections for Parliament. Dec. 10: Mother Teresa wins the Steel Corp. announced the closing of its Ohio March 31: A leak in the Three Mile Works inYoungstown and a dozen smaller fa- country, soon to be replaced as the Island nuclear power plant in eastern Aug. 30: British war hero Earl Nobel Peace Prize. cilities, throwing 13,000 out of work. nation’s ruler by the exiled Ayatollah Pennsylvania causes the evacuation Mountbatten is killed when Irish ter- Dec. 20: Congress approves a $1.5 A shudder spread across the whole Midwest. Khomeini. of people living within five miles of rorists explode his fishing boat off the billion loan bailout to save Chrysler March 10: In a precedent-setting the plant. coast of Ireland. Corp. from bankruptcy.