CAC: The Event - May 22nd

Get more info at: www.contemporaryartscenter.org

Tweetup for Tarbell April 21st at Neon's

Do you want to make a difference? Do you want to have fun? Do you want to drink beer? You can do all of that and more on April 21st from 5:30 to 9:00PM at Neon's where everyone can show their support for Jim Tarbell by attending a Tweetup for Tarbell event. You will have the opportunity to meet Jim and interact with people who support his campaign. This gathering is organized by a group of independent minded Twitter users who have met Jim and appreciate the experience he brings to everything he does. Just so you know, outside of paying for your own drinks, there is no charge to attend.

Former Cincinnati Vice-Mayor Jim Tarbell is running for Hamilton County Commissioner and needs your support and your vote in the Democratic Primary on May 3rd.

Jim is a strong advocate for smart development in all of Hamilton County, but Jim understands the importance of development in the City of Cincinnati. Jim will work to get the county budget in order and establish a tone throughout the county that inspires cooperation, not conflict.

Please come out on Wednesday April 21st from 5:30PM - 9:00PM to Neon's Unplugged, 208 E. 12th St.,Cincinnati, OH 45202.

The Main Event???

While on my Saturday morning walk I saw to my surprise a couple of signs in the windows of 835 Main Street. They read:

The Main Event
Opening on or Around
April 15th

This location was formerly Guido's Corner Tap and before that it was Lava. I've done a search on-line, but found close to nothing.  I saw some reference to a possible liquor permit transfer at that location in City Council records from late last year, but that was it. Via word of mouth I've heard it is being opened by the people who run the Subway bar, which is slated to close with the rehab plans of the Metropole.

If anyone has any additional details, please chime in.

Silence at the Enquirer

In this week's CityBeat, Kevin Osborne references the Enquirer's recent action in turning off the comments on the on-line news article about the St. Xavier High School football player who fell to his death from a hotel balcony while on Spring Break in Florida.

What Kevin may not know and what the Enquirer management will not come out and report is that they have changed the overall policy on stories about deaths. If you check on the following article Monday shooting victim dies, you will see that the option to comment is not included. I don't know exactly what stories qualify for this new no-comments policy, but there clearly is some type of policy in place.

What I will "speculate" has happened is that the Publisher of the Enquirer got wind of the comments on the stories about the St. Xavier student. She didn't like that and she pushed for the policy change because it affects someone she cares about.

It took the publisher to either be lobbied by people she knew or she knew the kid herself to notice the kind of comments that flood the Enquirer website.

Kevin's points are not lost on this at all. The Publisher had let countless comments about he deaths of kids from OTR and other inner-city neighborhoods, younger than this St. X student, killed for making mistakes, flood those articles. It took the death from the right socio-economic circles to get her attention.

Why she's not making the policy change public is the surprise. Or is it? Does the Publisher know that making an announcement about the comments policy change will only point to obvious motivation it took for her to act? I would guess the Editors and Staff of the Enquirer and Cincinnati.com would really like to announce this policy change. I don't think any of them want people to think they are only silencing the hate-filled comments about Suburbanites. I will surmise a silence ploy is the chosen tack. Say nothing and wait for it to blow over. I don't think that's going to work. To use another cliché, the bell can't be unrung. It is time to announce the policy change and maybe get new software to make commenting less anonymous and less offensive to everyone.

I'm only speculating here, but If I can figure this out, anyone can.

Reds 2, Cardinals 1

The Reds get their first win, courtesy of a walk-off home run by Jonny Gomes. The Reds thus avoid being swept in their first series of the 2010 season. An encouraging sign for the Reds: Bronson Arroyo turned in a stellar outing, pitching eight innings and giving up just one run on four hits.

Fewer People On Death Row In Ohio

Last week, the Columbus Dispatch reported that as executions become more frequent and death sentences become less frequent, the number of people on death row in Ohio is down to 160, from a high of 204. Only one person (Anthony Kirkland, by Hamilton County) has been sentenced to death in Ohio this year, and only one (Hersie Wesson, by Summit County) was sentenced to death last year. The Dispatch's article is based on Attorney General Richard Cordray's 2009 Capital Crimes Annual report, the full text of which is available here.

According to Cordray's report, 51.25% of death row inmates are African-American; 44.38% are white. Of the offenders' victims, 32.3% are African-American and 61.7% are white. Only one of the 160 death row inmates is a woman. The average age of a death row inmate is 45.95, and the average length of time spent on death row for current inmates is 14.48 years.

Hat tip: Professor Douglas Berman, who offers this interesting observation:

In this post yesterday, I suggested that the number of death sentences are rising in California during its de facto moratorium on executions because California jurors in capital cases (justifiably) consider their vote for death to be largely symbolic with little or no practical consequence on the likely fate of the defendant they condemn. I think these Ohio data reflect the other side of this coin: [because of] the frequency of executions in Ohio in recent years, Ohio jurors in capital cases (justifiably) consider their vote for death to be very consequential and thus it seems these jurors are being especially cautious when decid[ing] who should be condemned to die.

New Lunch Menu at Mayberry

I've meant to post this for the past several days, but haven't had a chance.

Last Monday, Chef Josh Campbell (see my previous panegyric) unveiled Mayberry's new lunch menu. I knew the new menu was coming, and viewed this with not a little trepidation. You see, I don't subscribe to the notion that change is generally good. In fact, when I find a restaurant I like, there's usually two or three (or sometimes just one!) item that I'll order on a regular basis. At Mayberry, that had been the tuna melt and the chicken Caesar salad, both of which are casualties of the change to a spring/summer menu.

So what's on the new menu? Replacing my chicken Caesar, there's a spinach salad with berries (that can be ordered with chicken). If you like a spinach salad, this is a good one! There's also a hot dog. That was an interesting experience for me. I've not yet been to the Senate because of its $9.00 hot dog. (Yes, the same reason that everyone goes is the very same reason that I stay away.) I'm generally of the opinion that the only reason to pay more than a couple bucks for a hot dog is that it's accompanied by a baseball game. Nonetheless, I tried Josh's $7.00 hot dog.

And....it was great. It's a quarter-pound dog that comes with apple-bacon-fennel slaw. I don't like cole slaw, and particularly don't like letting it ruin a good hot dog, so I wasn't sure I was up for this. But this slaw is nothing like cole slaw. No cabbage--that's replaced by the fennel, which is perfectly balanced by the apple and bacon flavors. Had you set a bowl of the slaw in front of me, I'm pretty sure I could have eaten it for lunch.

There are other items, too, most of which I've forgotten since I waited too long to post. A very good sandwich with apricot mustard. A new pasta salad that I thought was quite good (though my friend thought it was a tad over-dressed.) And some of the old favorites, like the burger and the "Sloppy Josh" (which a friend describes as having a crack-like addictive property), remain on the menu, as do the tater tot casserole and the mac-and-cheese.

So if you haven't been to Mayberry in a bit, definitely check out the new menu!