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There's two things that just completely burn my ass that I had to write in about. Number one: I have on video people getting high at the Cleveland Public Library (across from my house). They do it daily and cops drive by and give no attention to it.

It's right across from all these people trying to bring the best out in Ohio City by opening their businesses here -- Fit, Johnny Mangos, Kimos Shushi, The Studio. It's the freaking library. Seriously, daily from 3 to whenever you will find 30 year olds smoking dope and drinking all day...

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What to do with a man who robs a video store with a cologne bottle?

I am very disappointed in a Denise Grollmus articles -- here's the first, here's the second -- pertaining to Michael Kaminski. She did not report as accurately as I would have imagined a "crime fighter" reporter to do. She appears to have a hidden agenda here and we would like to know what it is. Please advise. Thank you.

Concerned
Akron

Editor's note: Denise's agenda -- if you could call it that -- isn't exactly hidden. Call it a difference in perspective between rocker world and the rest of the world. Seeing as how we have a pretty significant crime problem in these parts, you might say people are sick of it. So when you try to rob a video store -- and a clerk just trying to do his job -- you're probably not getting much sympathy. For most people, the dope addict excuse stopped working around 1962.

As for suing the guy from the neighboring store who kicked the shit out of Kaminski: That dog don't hunt. Take this before any jury between Pittsburgh and the Mississippi River, and they're not just finding the guy innocent -- they're giving him a plaque and taking him to Red Lobster. He's the guy everyone wants around when something like this happens.

But who cares what we think? Let's go to a higher authority, our readers: What does everyone else think?

After reading this week’s feature story, “No Oasis,” about women being raped and harassed by their colleagues while working for private contractors in Iraq, a reader named George called in to offer his insights. As a Vietnam veteran, he says the Army should be responsible for investigating these crimes:

“It’s sad to hear these things are happening nowadays. But again, I think you’ve got idiots 9,000 miles away from home, they think they can do things that ordinarily they wouldn’t think of doing here at home.

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Well, it has finally happened. WMMS has gone all talk all day long. Although WMMS has struggled since its glory days to find a morning team, it seems they are satisfied to just forget the music and fans that made them and just go talk all day.

Don't get me wrong, I listened to Rover before his move to WMMS and more power to him for advancing himself. But we have longed for a morning show that combined talk AND music for far too long. I have listened to internet stations that are creating listener driven playlist mixes that ARE working and are a pleasure to listen to.

So I guess i'll retire my buzzard sweatshirt, remember the glory days of Jeff and Flash, the boom (rip), kid leo and so on. For those that like talk all day long you now have a great source, but damn if I'm gonna just listen on nights and weekends. R.I.P. WMMS

Ralph Depetris
Rock Creek

If you put yourself in harm's way, says our reader, expect to be attacked by perverts.

In case you missed Dick Feagler this week, an anonymous caller to Scene is providing your substitute fix for crotchety old man commentary.

He was calling about “No Oasis,” this week’s expose on women working for private contractors in Iraq. Several women, including an Olmsted Falls truck driver, allege they were raped and harassed by their co-workers, and the crimes were never prosecuted. But according to this caller, they should “stop whining!” …

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At first blush, your First Punch bashed another Judy in belittling attempts to coax people into buying Cleveland homes ("Marketing Cleveland," third item). Reportedly, the new townhomes and lofts in the central city will sell for more than a quarter-million dollars, but you rankle at a brochure trying to lure the capitalists to buy!

So a photo shows lush trees and cozy houses through a loft's windows -- an admittedly less than realistic view of the urban environs What then? Have you never heard of artistic license?

A worse aspect of the commercial message is the portrayal of the homeowner returning to his city residence, having a drink, resting on the sofa, feeling the breeze and hearing "the hum of the city." Drinks, comfortable furniture, and breezes also exist in suburbia; hence, the restful murmur of traffic is the sole conceivable enticement to purchase. Yeah, but we got that out here, too.

William Dauenhauer
Willowick

Just like a number of contributor's comments to the October 2007 article "Racism Reversed," I found fault with the implications of its title. Racism is racism. Implying that discrimination against whites is the opposite of "standard" racism doesn't aid tolerance or progression. The term itself is bigoted, although I appreciate the content of the article. It was well-written and researched, and would have left me satisfied with Clevescene's reporting had it not been for the hasty headline.

Laura Crawford
Cleveland Heights

Hello Elaine,

I wanted to thank you for the review [“The Accidental Restaurant,” April 2]. Your comments were fair and we are deep into correcting those concerns you had. The acoustics, the staff, the information that the two and a half-pound ribeye takes 30 to 45 minutes to cook, the undercooked) haricots verts -- it's all a continuous improvement.

I hope you come in during the late spring/summer and experience the patio as well as the updates (familiar beers to go with the craft-brewed ones, the casual tapas menu, the improved staff and acoustics). Yes, there are growing pains, but we're forging on quickly and checking the problems off of the list as they come up and are solved.

We truly appreciate your fair assessment; we can use it to grow.

Chris & Robin Rose,
Owners
Good Taste Wine & Food Shop
Medina

Scene Magazine Staff:

I just wanted to give you some constructively critical feedback on your magazine, and how I've seen it developing as of lately. It's getting bad. Your people really need to focus more on writing stories and stop using the paper as a way to make money through advertising.

What really is the point of having a newspaper? To employ people so they can earn wages and consume? NO! To raise conciousness, investigate corruption, break through people's ignorance, cover events, and let people know what's happening! ...

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"People don’t know the deviousness of that twerp," says George from Lakewood.

A voice mail...

Good morning, the name is George. Excellent article you had, “Time to Discard Denny.”
I have the misfortune – well, the good luck -- to live in Lakewood, but the misfortune to have Denny represent me.

As a teacher, one of the things that people realized way back was for democracy to work, you had to have an educated public. And this was the start of public schools. You can’t just vote for any jerk, you’ve got to know something. And this is where we’ve fallen down...

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Lisa Rab's article on Progressive was typical misinformed hyperbole normally found within the pages of Scene.

Lisa begins by discussing how employees were let go, alluding that their salaries were instead spent on naming rights for Progressive Field. She failed to mention that this amount is paid from an advertising budget and not an operating budget. While accurate that naming rights are in the "ballpark" of $50 million, she also failed to mention this cost is only about $3.5 million annually – a small drop compared to competitors’ budgets. Also lost was the fact that competitor's GEICO's $500 million advertising budget (nearly five times that of Progressive)
is being backed by billionaire tycoon Warren Buffet's seemingly bottomless
checkbook…

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An anonymous reader responds to "Empire Regressed," the recent Scene story about the troubles of Progressive Insurance.

Great article! A few years back, after nearly 20 years of working at Progressive and each year receiving outstanding performance evaluations, they decided to let me go, "because they wanted a different perspective." Progressive touts itself as a young company. There's a reason for that ... once you hit 15 or 20 years, there's a good chance you'll be gone. There was a point when they valued their employees; now there is literally no commitment of any kind on their end. They replace long-time, knowledgable employees with Harvard and Wharton MBAs at the drop of a hat. I don't think Peter would have laid off a 20-year person "just because." If you look into it, you'll see these types of individual "layoffs" happen much more than you'd think. Look at where it's gotten them. Since Glenn has been in charge, Progressive has lacked the innovation that made them great, and it shows in a stock price that's a few cents higher than it was 5 years ago. Anyway, great article and definitely on-point.

According to a new documentary, the pictures that made Cleveland's 1969 river fire famous were actually of an earlier fire.

This blog is way better if listening to “Burn On,” by Randy Newman:

On Saturday, enough Clevelanders braved a Siberia-esque snowstorm to pack Tower City Cinemas for the Cleveland Film Festival. And while most of the films seem to be about far-from-Ohio topics (did you see the one about the hermaphrodite Scottish whaler facing the onset of globalization?), a few are closer to home . There’s even a film about that big watery thing that snakes through our city and that hammered people occasionally fall into: the Cuyahoga River.

The WVIZ-produced Return of the Cuyahoga chronicles Cleveland’s history with the river. As you might have guessed, it’s a pretty abusive one. ...

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Mark Dottore has a history of plucking clean the carcasses of dying businesses

Hostile takeovers are usually reserved for big business, but not in Cleveland. Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas is a party to a hostile takeover, with its most recent victim being Myers University.

With Mark Dottore as special master, “hostile” and “takeover” are quite literal. Judge Gaul spoke to Myers University students, faculty, and staff on February 28 and reiterated that he and Dottore are running the university. The next day, they lay off more employees, and they aren’t done yet...

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Joe Cimperman was correct in his determination to get Dennis Kucinich’s portrait hung in Cleveland City Hall. After all, Kucinich saved Cleveland $195 million between 1985 and 1995 by refusing to sell Muny Light in 1978. As it turned out, the default was politically motivated and the city’s poor financial status could be attributed to the budget inherited from Ralph Perk and a city with an ever-decreasing tax base...

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