The Porn Moms of Shaker Heights and other pro-Issue 1 lies you’ll likely hear this weekend: Today in Ohio

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Backers and opponents of Issue 1 have bought the equivalent of wall-to-wall airtime for the final week before the election, and ads include blasting the “porn moms of Shaker Heights.”

We’re talking about how the “yes” side is spending around $5.9 million while the “no” side is spending around $5.3 million for wall-to-wall commercials this weekend on Today in Ohio.

Listen online here.

Editor Chris Quinn hosts our daily half-hour news podcast, with impact editor Leila Atassi, editorial board member Lisa Garvin and content director Laura Johnston.

You’ve been sending Chris lots of thoughts and suggestions on our from-the-newsroom text account, in which he shares what we’re thinking about at cleveland.com. You can sign up here: https://joinsubtext.com/chrisquinn.

Here’s what we’re asking about today:

They needed 679 additional valid signatures to get recreational marijuana on the ballot in November. How many new signatures did the backers submit Thursday?

We have one weekend left before Tuesday’s special election on Issue 1. Why might people be best off going outside or reading a book, rather than watching television?

We wondered how the village of Mayfield would cope with losing one of the two Progressive Insurance campuses and all the income taxes from workers who now work from home outside the village. Sean McDonnell figured it out. What did he find?

Which Ohio County has the highest prevalence of Alzheimer’s Disease?

We talked about this when the lawsuit was filed, so we should talk about it now that it is over. Why did a federal judge dismiss a lawsuit by a former Avon Lake cheerleader against the nation’s top competitive cheerleading organization?

Cuyahoga County failed in its effort to end the use of plastic shopping bags, but all the publicity about the fight persuaded some shops to abandon them voluntarily. Now the county is tracking which ones. Who are they?

Let’s do a crime story. We had a group that terrorized Northeast Ohio with robberies of mail employees and mail, check fraud of innocents who had mailed checks, stole major muscle cars in multiple states. It was big news when the ring was arrested. How much time in prison will all of these criminals serve?

Sean McDonnell has done it again. His common-sense brand of consumer writing has taught him a few things about making tradeoffs in his work to save money. He has built them into his “golden rule of being frugal.” What is that?

It’s the eve of the first weekend of August. We’re running out of summer weekends to have some fun. So let’s talk about what is on the weekly list we publish about the best way to enjoy Northeast Ohio this weekend.

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Read the automated transcript below. Because it’s a computer-generated transcript, it contains many errors and misspellings.

[00:00:00] Chris: I was shocked last night to find in my Facebook feed an ad about issue one that says the porn moms of Shaker Heights have come out against it. And then there were all sorts of what I believe to be phony comments by people saying, ha, this is why I am voting. Yes. The lies that are gonna be told in these last three days of the campaign are over the top.

It’s a subject we’ll be talking about on today in Ohio, the news podcast. Discussion from cleveland.com and the plane dealer. I’m Chris Gwynn. I’m here with Lisa Garvin, Layla Tassi, and Laura Johnston. Before we get to issue one, we wanna talk about marijuana. Lisa, they needed 679 additional valid signatures to get recreational marijuana.

On the ballot in November. How many new signatures did the backer submit on

[00:00:52] Lisa: Thursday? Yeah, the coalition to regulate marijuana like alcohol turned in almost 10 times more signatures than they needed. It’s sixty [00:01:00] five hundred and forty five signatures. Went to the Secretary of State’s office on Thursday.

Um, they do need to reach a total of 124,046 from 44 counties in Ohio, and they did come in under the wire, the dent. 10 day cure period to get more valid signatures end today, but they got it in early. Uh, attorney Tom Herron says he’s very confident this will end up on the ballot. He says that 10 times the number of signatures needed validates what we’ve been saying all along.

That regulating marijuana is popular in Ohio, so county elections officials have eight days to validate these new signatures, and then the Secretary of State certifies their work, and that usually takes a couple of days. But I do wanna point out that this is an initiated statute. So if it appears on the November ballot, it will pass with 50% plus one majority, even if issue one passes next week.

Issue one only applies to constitutional [00:02:00] amendments.

[00:02:00] Chris: I doubt we know the answer to this, but maybe we do. If they have 6,000 and they start verifying them, if they get the 679, do they stop or do they verify all six, 6,000 plus to see how many total signatures we have? Hmm. That’s

[00:02:16] Lisa: a good question. I would think they would go the go the distance, but I don’t

[00:02:20] Chris: know, in case there’s a challenge to any of them.

Right. You know, probably and pro, you know, they’ve gone through so many already, it’s not going to be that hard to go through 6,000. So we’ll have two issues on the ballot. We’ll have abortion and we’ll have this, it’s going to be a Progressives field day at the ballot box in November. You’re listening to today in Ohio.

We have one weekend left before Tuesday’s special election on issue one. Laura, why might it be best for people to go outside or read a book or do something other than watching television?

[00:02:52] Laura: Because it is going to be wall to wall advertising. I guess you can watch something streaming. I don’t think these.

[00:03:00] Ads are going to infect your Netflix or Hulu viewing. But if you are watching something on a network channel, be prepared to see all sorts of probably really, really annoying ads for and against issue one. Um, it’s gonna be all, basically all of the airtime until Tuesday they bought. $5.9 million for the yes side and th $5.3 million for the no side.

So it’s gonna be pretty neck and neck, what you’re seeing. And I, I, I, my husband was trying to watch like Wheel of Fortune the other night and he is like, can’t do it. I can’t watch this turning it off. So yeah. Until Wednesday. Uh, when then we’ll probably start seeing the abortion, um, ads come on. But for right now, if you don’t wanna see the ads, don’t turn on your tv.

[00:03:47] Chris: Well, I, I get back to this porn moms thing that I saw. Mm-hmm. Because that, that’s what is worrisome, is what these ads will say. This thing pops up it, and it’s got a photo of a. Woman drinking wine, and then with a [00:04:00] Black Lives Matter sign, then has a picture of somebody from Black Lives Matter. It, it’s like all the dog whistles in one picture.

Mm. And the porn moms of Shaker Heights are against issue one. And, and it refers you to, uh, a, a website that’s run by, you know, a completely bought and paid for pseudo news website. It’s a lie, and what it says is that the Frank LaRose and Matt Huffman brigade know they don’t have a winning argument, so they’re lying.

There is no porn. Moms of Shaker Heights. We’ll have a story about this today explaining the many, many leaps they make to try and say that, but, but it’s bogus. And if this is what you have to do to win the argument, You have no argument, and people should understand that. If they see this, they should realize they’re dragging this stuff out because the argument’s against this idiotic issue.

Are all too powerful. So they’re gonna lie and play, play to it. They’re also using, I believe it or not, L G T Q issues [00:05:00] about issue one. Issue one has nothing to do with that, right? I mean, it’s completely off the, their, the rails. But that’s what Frank LaRose, Matt and Huffman are resorting to because they’re trying to convince voters to give up their

[00:05:12] Laura: power.

Right. It’s always been doublespeak, right? This idea of protect your constitution, like protect it from yourself apparently, because what it is is gonna take away your power take away Majority rule. But I do have to say porn moms of Shaker Heights, if that was a book title, I would 100% pick it up and read that book.

[00:05:30] Chris: But, but I wonder if that’s so absurd. It actually works against them. Is anybody gonna see porn Moms of Shaker Heights or against issue one and believe it? Or is everybody gonna do what I did? Now, here’s the other thing. Why is that? In my Facebook feed, what algorithm on this planet puts that in front of me?

I mean, it was for me, it’s like, okay, let’s do a news story and punch this through. The point is, for anybody listening to this, you’re gonna see a lot of other lies over the weekend. They’ve spent a lot of [00:06:00] money to hit the airwaves. It’s lies. They don’t have it. They’re making things up. Matt Huffman and Frank LaRose are on the ropes.

They’re worried about this thing going down. It’s gonna destroy their political careers if it does. So pay attention because they’re coming at you with false narratives. I do

[00:06:16] Lisa: wanna say something I’ve been seeing over the last couple days while driving mostly East towards Geauga County, is that alongside the Say Yes to issue One Signs, I’ve seen one sign that says, Women regret having abortions, and I just saw a new one yesterday that said men regret, you know, not having a family.

So that, and they’re right next to the Say Yes sign. So they’re trying to tie the, the abortion thing to issue one. Well,

[00:06:42] Laura: it is a hundred percent tied. I mean, that is what Frank LaRose said. That’s what one of the ads that I’ve seen says, like it is 100% abortion. And now that I think about it, that was on streaming.

So they’re, they are infecting your streaming channels. Um, and, and they, they would like to say this is about the good of the constitution. But no, they put [00:07:00] it in August to stop the Abortion Rights Amendment. And that’s why we’re here.

[00:07:04] Chris: The porn moms of Shaker Heights gonna rank right up there with the Red China postcards.

We got about corrupt HB six. Yes. Which is sad because it means they’ve learned nothing that you know they should have learned from HB six. Okay, let’s not tell over the top lies to the electorate because it brings about anger, but

[00:07:21] Laura: it worked. I mean, the red China ads worked. They never got that. Um, they didn’t even get it on the ballot, right?

People were not signing the sign, the

[00:07:30] Chris: petitions. I guess it worked. Ask Larry Householder if it worked

[00:07:34] Laura: well, or Chuck Jones or

[00:07:36] Chris: Samran does here. Well, it worked for him. That guy’s still walking free. Exactly. Believe it or not, you’re listening to today in Ohio. We wondered how the Village of Mayfield would cope with losing one of the two progressive insurance campuses and all the income taxes from workers who now work from home outside the village.

Sean McDonald figured it out. Layla, what did he find? I. Well,

[00:07:58] Leila: Mayfield is a village [00:08:00] of 3,400 people. Progressive has been everything to them, right? So progressive employees outnumber residents by more than two to one, so losing those taxes will mean a projected million to 3 million deficit each year. But Mayor Brenda Bodnar says the village has.

$42 million in reserves to see them through. And that is a product that seems of of good budgeting over the years and, and a lot of frugality. So we all remember that in 2020 when people started working from home, municipalities were permitted to keep receiving tax money from employees who once worked there.

But you know, that’s all tangled up in the courts. We’ll see if we get our money back from that time, but starting in 2022, Employers had to send taxes to the cities and villages where remote workers were actually working, presumably their hometowns. So Mayfield collected $10.4 million less in income taxes in 2022 than it did the previous year, and they’ve collected 6.4 million less through June, 2023 when compared to [00:09:00] the first six months of 2021.

Finance director Ronald Winey said that Mayfield used about 2 million of its rever reserves in 2022, and it would have to use up to 3 million in 2023 if it has to give refunds to taxpayers from 2020. So in the meantime, Mayfield has been, has been freezing its wages for most employees. They’ve cut some recreational programming, but they haven’t had to make any layoffs or any other cuts like that, that have been dramatic from 2016 to 2021.

They’ve been leaving the extra 2 million or more in their general fund each year, building it from 12.3 to the 42 million that we see today, and they’re, they’re being very conservative about planning any new capital projects. And, and they’re just crossing their fingers and hoping that that old progressive facility will one day be available for some new business headquarters, which would hopefully replace some of that lost tax revenue.

[00:09:57] Chris: I, I guess it’s good that they have the reserve to [00:10:00] carry them through. I’d be annoyed if I were a taxpayer there because governments basically supposed to collect taxes to pay the bills. They’re not supposed to way over collect and build up these big funds. I do think it’s interesting. To talk about this as a company town because Layla, in a previous life, 18 years ago, I assigned you to do a story about Mayfield as the modern day company town, and the story is incredibly present when you go back and look at it.

I know they knew how endangered they were and said remarkable quotes about Uhoh would be in trouble if anything happens. Yeah. The

[00:10:37] Leila: mayor at the time I remember had said they were very candid about. The tenuous relationship that they had with Progressive, they said something like, you know, they remind us every day that all they need is a phone line and they’ll be outta here.

So it is, but it, it’s, it’s interesting to read that story through today’s lens because I don’t think anyone [00:11:00] back then could have foresaw that we would be in today’s world where, You know, people, people work from home. I mean, I don’t think that was ever on their radar of things to watch out for. They thought Progressive might pack up and leave, uh, for another, for another headquarters elsewhere.

But never could you imagine that how how prevalent work from home would become

[00:11:21] Chris: No, but, but it did raise the point that when you have all your eggs in one basket, you’re in trouble if the basket gets damaged. It only took 18 years for your story to prove out. I’d say go back and read it on cleveland.com, but I bet it’s really hard to find.

You are listening to today in Ohio. Lisa, this one passed a couple of days ago. We didn’t discuss it, which Ohio County has the highest prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease. I. Well,

[00:11:51] Lisa: it’s Cuyahoga County, and this data comes from the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference. It was held last month, so the highest prevalence [00:12:00] here in Cuyahoga, 13.4% of those 65 and over in the county have Alzheimer’s.

That equates to about 31,000 people. Number two is Hamilton with 16,500. That’s about 12. 0.5% of the 65 and over population, and then in descending order, Montgomery Mahoning, Lucas and Franklin County, uh, Guga County was way down the list. They only have 2100 people over 65 with Alzheimer’s, and that’s about 10.6% of that population.

Lake County also down the list. About 50, 200 people. So, uh, yeah, I, I would’ve thought, ‘cause I always thought there the population of geograph skewed older, but maybe they’re older and healthier.

[00:12:44] Chris: I wonder if this has more to do with the social determinants of health. We’ve talked often about with neighborhood you live in, has a lot to do with your health condition.

And I wonder because of the, the huge poverty rates in the city of Cleveland, [00:13:00] if that skews our numbers on things like Alzheimer’s, higher. Because people are just not getting the care they need.

[00:13:07] Lisa: There was no mention of socioeconomic factors here, but uh, they did say in the study or in the, the data that age, of course is the primary risk factor, but blacks are two times more likely to get Alzheimer’s.

Hispanics, 1.5 times more likely to get Alzheimer’s than an older white population.

[00:13:25] Chris: Okay, you’re listening to today in Ohio. We talked about this when the lawsuit was filed, so we should talk about it now that it’s over. Why did a federal judge dismiss a lawsuit by a former Avon Lake cheerleader against the nation’s top competitive cheerleading organization?

And we should point out, Laura, this is not about Avon Lake High

[00:13:45] Laura: School. No, it’s not. It’s a cheerleader who lives in Avon Lake, not in the skit city or school organization cheering. Like organization, so, and I know when you say cheerleader, your mind goes to a girl, but this is a male cheerleader [00:14:00] who accused the top.

Competitive cheerleading organizations in the country of failing to protect him from sexual abuse. But US District Judge Pamela Barker tossed out nearly all the accusations against Varsity Brans, as well as US All-Star Federation and U S A Cheers because the cheerleader was 16 at the time and therefore there was no criminal conduct.

And that’s a necessary component of the lawsuit. So, This cheerleader didn’t say anyone. And we’re talking about choreographers here. Two choreographers, rape that didn’t accuse anyone of rape. Just sexual abuse in 2016 at a hotel in Westlake. And apparently so. It’s in Westlake. The person’s from Avon Lake and it’s Rocky River Police that did the investigation.

But they determined that because of Ohio’s law of age of consent at 16, there was no crime committed. Something inappropriate happened.

[00:14:52] Chris: But so are they saying. It was consensual, so I, because it was consensual, no crime occurred. [00:15:00] That’s,

[00:15:00] Laura: I, I don’t know. We’re also saying inappropriate, so we’re just saying it’s not illegal.

I don’t know what it is, but for this lawsuit to say that these cheer organizations are responsible, the statute says it has to be illegal, and there’s the, the police found nothing illegal. Very strange. Uh, I know case. It, it is complicated and whatever it is, it’s sad and I’m sorry for that kid. ‘cause 16 is still a

[00:15:25] Chris: kid.

Okay, you’re listening to today in Ohio, Cuyahoga County failed in its effort to end the use of plastic shopping bags, but all the publicity about that fight apparently persuaded some shops to abandon them voluntarily. Now the county is tracking which one and posting that information on its website.

Layla, who are they? Yeah,

[00:15:47] Leila: so the backstory, of course, CUA County, they did try to outlaw single use plastic bags with an ordinance, but then the state legislature banned those bans in a bag ban ban. So [00:16:00] the CU County Department of Sustainability has refocused the county’s effort. They incentivized stores to come up with ways to reduce their use of bags, and the county gave out $130,000 in grants to 31 businesses to come up with alternative ways for their customer.

Customers to take their stuff home and they’re making it easier for consumers who wanna reduce their reliance on plastic bags too. And to do that to help consumers, they’ve created this sustainable stores map that identifies stores around the county that have either eliminated the use of plastic bags at checkout or are trying to do that.

And so far they have 149 stores on this map. The public can submit stores to be included in it after the Department of Sustainability confirms that in fact they are working toward that goal. And it turns out Giant Eagle is the regional leader here. Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods have also stopped providing them in Cuyahoga County, but Heins has not.

Mm-hmm. Although it promotes customers bringing their [00:17:00] own bags and, and offers the option of paper bags.

[00:17:04] Chris: I was surprised that my Home Depot continues to just use paper bags ‘cause they don’t have to. And I, there’s probably some cost effectiveness of using plastic, but after. That band began, they went to the paper bags and they’ve pretty much stayed there.

[00:17:21] Laura: I think a lot of companies that are nationwide, just rather than doing it separately at different locations, if, if, you know, full states have banned them and so they say, okay, we’re just gonna make the switch. Kohls has paper bags, which is really surprising. Mm-hmm. Um, it’s funny, I went to Heins over the weekend with my daughter.

We almost never shop at Heins. She’s like, mom, they gave you plastic bags. They. Double bagged you. And she was like four plastic bags. What? The impact on the landfill? Yeah. She was like, what? I was like, it’s okay. We’ll use ‘em for poop, but still.

[00:17:52] Lisa: Yeah. And at Heins they do, they’ll put two or three items into a plastic bag, so they’re people that have like maybe a bag’s worth of groceries, but [00:18:00] six.

Plastic bags worth.

[00:18:01] Leila: Oh my gosh. I’ve never understood why we’re so resistant to this because Aldi does just fine without bags and everyone shops there from every socioeconomic strata. So the argument that it’s redu, you know, eliminating bags is a hardship on on low income. Families who need to take transit, whatever.

I mean, everyone shops at Aldi and you don’t have bags there. You bring your own if

[00:18:26] Laura: or if you forget it, you can take like one of those boxes, right, that they have stacked. Right. And and of course though it’s always like really awkward that you’re like, I’m trying to get like a giant pizza out of the store in my.

Cardboard half box. Or

[00:18:39] Leila: you could do what I do, which is use the cart to take it out to your trunk and all the groceries. Just roll around your trunk until

[00:18:46] Laura: we get home. So you just call the kids outside. Everybody grab would grab form full

[00:18:51] Leila: of stuff and haul it in.

[00:18:54] Chris: Okay. You are listening to today in Ohio.

Let’s do a crime [00:19:00] story. We had a group that terrorized northeast Ohio with robberies of male employees and mail check fraud of innocence who had mailed checks. They stole muscle cars in multiple states. It was big news when the ring was arrested. Lisa, you were affected by this. You mentioned that every time you went to mail something, your mailboxes were roped off.

How much time in prison will these guys get for causing. All that

[00:19:23] Lisa: trouble. Yeah. The one of the four who pled guilty to stealing muscle cars, robbing male carriers, and stealing and altering checks. Jalen Harris, he was the last of the four to be sentenced. He got three years in, 10 months in federal prison.

He was sentenced by s. District Judge Sarah Le uh, previously sentenced in this case where Hakeem Benjamin, he got the smallest sentence at two years and three months. He was a former Boy Scout and he was a former FedEx worker. Never had been charged before. Lavelle Jones got three years in one month. He was a church youth leader again, never had any priors or a criminal record.

[00:20:00] The only one that did have a criminal record, Devin Rice got the biggest sentence. He got four years and three months. So this group stole. To $2.4 million in stolen cars and stolen checks in just two months before they were arrested in May of 2022, the F B I started looking into a stolen mail ring after rice was arrested by Shaker Heights police for robbing two mail carriers at gunpoint and stealing their mailbox master keys.

He also bought a universal key for a thousand bucks, so a search of rice’s home unearthed evidence to. Dozens of Detroit car thefts, mostly Dodge Hellcats and Jeep Track Hawks. So these big muscle cars, they used a device called a prop pad that would copy key FOB information at car lots. And then they would go after those lots closed at night to steal the cars.

And they sold about 30 cars from Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Indiana. And they were working with the Detroit crew on on the car thing. The

[00:20:58] Chris: sentences feel light to me. [00:21:00] Not not for the car theft, not for the property crime, but it feels that this, that a, a sentence for crimes should be commensurate with the suffering of the community.

And many, many people in northeast Ohio were consternated by worries about their mail. Mm-hmm. These guys were just stealing mail left. Than Right. And there were all sorts of phony checks and it made everybody worry. I mean, you couldn’t use mailboxes. So the, the Cleveland Heights mailboxes were roped off for a couple of years because of this.

Mm-hmm. And it doesn’t feel like they’re really paying the penalty for that, that they should be paying.

[00:21:34] Lisa: And I don’t know, you know, of course in federal court you have sentencing guidelines that you have to follow. I don’t want. Know what the range was here, but you know, as they said, three of the four had no priors.

So maybe that weighed into it. Agreed. They did a lot of damage in a very short period of time, and there are still things in the blotter. People are still getting their checks, you know, stolen in.

[00:21:57] Chris: All right. Right. It’s [00:22:00] affected a lot of people. Are your mailboxes back in use yet? I haven’t been to the Cleveland Heights post office in a

[00:22:04] Lisa: while.

Uh, the, the two that I go to in South Euclid in, in Lyndhurst, yes they are. But I don’t put my mail in there. I go into the office.

[00:22:13] Chris: Yeah. Will you ever trust a mailbox? Nope. Again, I guess is the question. And that, that’s undermining all of our faith in a key government institution. Uh, just doesn’t feel like they got what they deserved.

You’re listening to today in Ohio, Sean O’Donnell has done it again. His common sense brand of consumer writing has taught him a few things about making trade-offs In his work to save money, he has built them into his golden rule of being frugal. Laura, what is that?

[00:22:43] Laura: Sean McDonald writes our Saving You Money column every week, and he does all sorts of wacky stuff like.

You know, drilling holes into coolers so we can figure out if that you can make your own Yeti. Basically, his golden rule is you can get something good, fast, cheap, and easy, but not [00:23:00] all at the same time. There are always trade-offs and if you choose cheaper options, you’re often choosing more work. Or more inconvenience, or maybe it’s not as good a quality.

So there are no wrong answers. It’s all about context and what you decide is more valuable for you. So he goes through all sorts of examples in this column, like making your own ice cream, like maybe it’s cheaper. Does it taste better? Is it a better quality? It obviously takes a whole lot more time than picking it up at the store, so you can’t have.

All four at one time.

[00:23:31] Chris: Yeah. I guess in, in the end it’s, you get what you pay for. Is that kind of the shorthand?

[00:23:37] Laura: Well, yes, you get for, you pay for and work for and wait for, right? Like all of those things go into your calculations. It that you can, and also that you can go nuts trying to find perfect things, but you’d be spending all of this time doing it.

So you have to think of what is good enough and what you’re willing to live with. So Sean’s very sensible reading through his [00:24:00] column. You’re like, okay, here’s a guy who. Totally gets it. He feels very Cleveland to me. Like he drives around in a 2015 car where he has a, um, Oh, like, I don’t know. He’s holding up the bumper, front bumper of his car with the bungee cord, and he’s like, no.

Is that like a pretty solution? But it’s, you know, it’s $4. Right? So he’s willing to live with it. It’s good enough.

[00:24:24] Chris: Okay. You can check out his piece. It’s on cleveland.com and you’re listening to today in Ohio. You get the happy news story to end the week. What happened with the police dog and his handler that we talked about a week ago who were being kept separate by the mean municipality where he used to work?

[00:24:43] Leila: I. Well, I, I debated whether I should bury the lead here. I think I’ll just say that they’ve been reunited. I’ll start with that. But the backstory here is that that Bedford Heights police officer Ryan Kesel, has been with the police department since 2011. He was the canine handler of Bosco [00:25:00] the police dog since 2018.

Last month he sued Bedford Heights because he said he should have been paid overtime as the department’s handler of the police dog. And when Kettl was informed he’d have to return Bosco to the city, his attorney filed an amended complaint that accused the city and its police Chief Mike Marada of retaliating against the officer by forcing him to return Bosco.

The lawsuit is, is still pending in, in, uh, federal court, but before. The lawsuit, the police chief told Kessel that the department planned to disband the canine unit and that the officer could have Bosco. So there’s that wrinkle In this argument, Ohio law allows for canine handlers to buy their police dogs for a dollar each from cities, and then later Bedford Heights reversed course and ordered him to return it.

Presumably, you know, as they argued, uh, in a retaliatory measure. So all of this created public outcry in favor of, of reuniting Kesel and, and Bosco, a GoFundMe had sprung up and, and there was a protest that was planned, I think for this [00:26:00] weekend, but the Cindy City ended up. Acquiescing and letting Kettl keep the dog so they’re together,

[00:26:06] Chris: that this was so venal what they did to separate them.

It felt like Ron DeSantis was the mayor there. Right. Just let’s just be vicious and mean-spirited without any consideration of the poor. Dogs. Dogs, but years with this guy. It’s. Hits his companion and just at a pure spite they were holding it back. I was glad to see the community outrage on this and people raised all sorts of money to just buy the dog.

Mm-hmm. Outright that I didn’t think the city had any choice. But to finally do the right thing. But what a shame that they did the wrong thing. If I lived there, I’d be furious with my elected officials for, for embarrassing the city the way it did.

[00:26:47] Lisa: But didn’t they say, they said at one point the Bedford Heights Police Department said, oh no, we’re gonna continue the canine unit and we’re gonna continue to use Bosco.

So they made all sorts of flip flops.

[00:26:58] Chris: Well, and the, and the [00:27:00] counter they got for that was, okay, you wanna continue your canine unit, we’ll give you the market value of Bosco so that you can go and buy a new puppy to start, start a new, and I, they just, they were being so unreasonable that you could tell the community just wasn’t going to have it.

They were going to buckle eventually, unlike Ron DeSantis. So I guess it’s not totally Ron DeSantis. Um, it’s just they embarrassed themselves for the period that they, they didn’t, all’s well, it ends well. I hope we get to go and talk to this guy and get some pictures of him with his dog. People love to see that.

I kept getting notes from people asking for updates on this story. I mean, we do all sorts of stories about tragic news, but what people wanna know about is, did that dog get home? Mm-hmm. And, mm-hmm. He did. That’s it for the Friday episode and today in Ohio. I, I, I’ll be interested, um, Laura, Layla. Lisa, if all of a sudden you start seeing porn moms of your cities, porn, moms of Rocky River Porn, moms of Bay Village are.

Are [00:28:00] against issue two. We’ll have to see one issue one or issue one. If, uh, Lisa, if you have poor moms of Lyndhurst popping up on your social feeds, it’s gonna be a wild and wooly weekend. Thanks, Lisa. Thanks Layla. Thanks Laura. Thanks to everybody who listens to this podcast. We’ll be back Monday on the eve of special election day, talking about issue one.