Hot News!
• Tea Party leader gets grilled by NAACP membership
On today's date in The Beacon archives, we published:
•Smitherman still saying the issue is about a “streetcar” (2009)•More on Amy Goodman’s Arrest and the Struggle for a Free Media (2008)
•Journalist Amy Goodman Unlawfully Arrested At RNC (2008)
•Seizing Illegal Guns—Thinking About 2% (2007)
•Information or Advertisements? (2007)
•Nick Lachey: “I have never supported George W. Bush.” (2007)
Contact Us
v mail: (513) 685-0678
e mail: click here
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
Council Candidate Justin Jeffre meets with Todd Portune, Joins NAACP on Steps of the Courthouse
Posted by Media Release
Hamilton County Commission President Todd Portune met this afternoon with Justin Jeffre and other members of the Southwest Ohio Green Party, attempting to gain the support of progressives for his nearly billion dollar jail proposal.
“I appreciate Commissioner Portune taking time to sit down with us,” said Jeffre. “But I am still waiting to see a real comprehensive plan that addresses the racial disparity in our justice system. And I also want to call on City Council to repeal their Draconian marijuana ordinance. Portune reaffirmed, at our meeting, his desire to see that ordinance repealed. I’m disappointed David Pepper has not followed Portune’s lead on that issue.”
Though the Southwest Ohio Green Party has not voted on an official statement, Jeffre said he continues to oppose the jail plan. That’s why he joined Christopher Smitherman and the NAACP on the steps of the Courthouse for a press conference this afternoon.
“Portune and Pepper have said that 300 prisoners need to be released early due to a lack of jail space,” said Jeffre. “I am behind the NAACP in asking that they make Levonn Smith their first early release.”
In a press statement issued last week, Smitherman claimed that Levonn Smith’s situation is an example of a broken criminal justice system.
“We keep being told about a great need for new jail beds, but I don’t think Levonn Smith is an example of a threat to our community,” explained Jeffre. “This is why so many people oppose the nearly billion dollar jail. We must work towards the equal application of justice.”
• Share This Article! | Listen to this article |
|  |
Register
Anonymous comments are allowed, but you can create an account above to stamp your name and to avoid typing the anti-spam code.
If you are not familiar with our rules for leaving comments, click here! The Cincinnati Beacon is not responsible for the contents of any comments. Comments do not represent the views of the moderators of The Cincinnati Beacon.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 License.
05 Sep 2007 at 08:40 am | #
SOOOooo, it looks like Justin has two campaign websites.
What do you think about changing the headline to: JUSTIN JEFFERIE HIJACKS THE BEACON FOR POLITICAL CAMPAIGN? Where’s MEP’s media release; or are you and Justin throwing him under the campaign bus?
05 Sep 2007 at 01:14 pm | #
“That’s why he joined Christopher Smitherman and the NAACP on the steps of the Courthouse for a press conference this afternoon. ” joining other people who don’t have to work for a living and could be “on the steps of the Courthouse” in the afternoon on an otherwise-workday.
A real Man of the People, that guy.
05 Sep 2007 at 02:29 pm | #
JFD, Patton has some great recent posts here at The Beacon. I wonder why you are upset at this media release, and not the two other media releases I posted today, one from Commissioner Pepper’s office.
Urbanists, Yes, a man of the people stands up for what is right, instead of letting a poor woman sit in jail while we allegedly have a jail space crisis.
06 Sep 2007 at 01:34 am | #
Did you think I was upset? Oh no, far from it; I was just marveling at JJ’s tremendous ability to operate from two web sites. I didn’t know he had that much to say. Does Patten have a media release planned for the near future? You mentioned commissioner Pepper’s release. Does he own the Beacon website and is he running for public office at this time?
I guess thee other post you were referring to, was from the NAACS (National Association for the Advancement of Christiopher Smitherman, and while I have a problem with it; Smitherman isn’t running for political office and it wasn’t part of my point.
06 Sep 2007 at 08:39 am | #
Since the Beacon, Justin Jeffre and Christopher Smitherman have called upon me to call for the release of Lavonne Smith, I looked into the matter and contacted Judge Heather Russell. What I learned about the case is this.
I had thought that Smith was being held pre trial without a bond while other individuals have been released pre trial with a reasonable bond, or on their own recognizance. I was wrong.
Smith had her trial and was found guilty of two First Degree Misdemeanors - the highest Grade, and most serious level of a misdemeanor offense carrying a penalty of a fine up to $1,000.00 dollars, or imprisonment for up to six months, or both. It is not at all uncommon for defendants, post conviction, to be held without a bond while a pre-sentence investigation takes place. That is what is happening here.
Judge Russell informed me that the testimony in this case revealed the dog being chained to a fence that was 8 feet from a sliding glass door in the house. While Smith’s nephew testified that the dog had been found alive, and chained up in the morning, and was found dead in the afternoon when SPCA officers were called, the SPCA officer testified that the dog was showing signs of decomposition, and had several generations of maggots and larvae in its flesh and mouth indicating death at least four days prior. The Nephew testified of food and water being made available to the dog. The responding First responders and SPCA officer testified to finding no food or water at the site. Moreover, the autopsy of the dog revealed no food or water in the stomach or body of the dog.
She also said the evidence revealed a dog treadmill in place at the home.
She said that those facts indicated to her that this was a case of extreme cruelty to an animal and that those facts justified holding her, post conviction, without a bond.
Sentencing occurs today. We will see what else occurs in this case.
It is not, however, a case of someone being held pre-trial in jail occupying needed jail space without a bond for a dog offense. On the contrary, Lavonne Smith was not in jail pre trial. She remained free until her conviction. She is only being held after trial, and after conviction on two First Degree Misdemeanors with the facts at trial as above.
Sincerely,
Todd Portune
06 Sep 2007 at 01:11 pm | #
Dean: given the facts of the case as reported in The Enquirer, do you honestly think Ms. Smith has a right not to be in jail?
I don’t disagree she should have been given the opportunity to bond out, but what she allowed to happen is pathetic.
What’s up with Smitherman’s Chia (r) ‘Fro? How long before our Buttoned Down Black Nationalist is sporting a pick poking out of the back of his hair? He changes appearances more than a man on the lam.
06 Sep 2007 at 05:22 pm | #
No, but check out the print edition of The Cincinnati Beacon, and thanks for asking.
Justin Jeffre does things his way, and I do things my way. I have no problem with the Beacon posting his media releases. I support his candidacy and I hope he wins. (For those who are not familiar with Cincinnati council elections, nine council seats are open, one can vote for up to 9 candidates, and there will be nine winners.)
06 Sep 2007 at 10:16 pm | #
Mr. Portune,
Let’s assume that the dog did indeed die a natural death. The SPCA will not collect dead animals on personal property. It is up to the owner to dispose of the body. I know because my dog unexpectedly up and died suddenly. While I was distraught and in tears, I made calls to the SPCA and was told that they do NOT collect dead animals from private property. Maybe if the dog was hit in the street they would? I dunno. It was a cold, snowy day and burial was out of the question. Anyway, The SPCA told me to call the city for special trash collection. My neighbor helped me put the 50-ish lb body in a trash bag and take it to the curb and waited for the city to collect it. The special collectors didn’t come by dusk, so another neighbor took the dead body somewhere to dispose of it.
My point was so what if the stray dog’s body started to decompose in Levonn’s yard? I wouldnt be out there touching a rotting body no natter what, so even if they knew the body was out there, who would want to go out and expose themselves to disease and pestilence? Decomposition sets in fast during the heat. If I had done the exact same thing (left my dead dog in the yard) instead of putting it out to the curb, would I too be put in jail? If the body was going to rot in the yard instead of a garbage truck, so what??????
As Commissioner you could pass legislation to allow the SPCA to collect dead dogs off private property in effort to keep people out of jail…what about that?
07 Sep 2007 at 03:11 am | #
Thank you Commissioner Portune for getting the facts and setting the record straight in this case. Something that certain journalist wannabes, race-baiting publicity hounds and other members of the peanut gallery failed to do.
I’m talking to you Dean, Smitherman, MEP and others.
07 Sep 2007 at 03:22 am | #
MEP: “For those who are not familiar with Cincinnati council elections, nine council seats are open, one can vote for up to 9 candidates, and there will be nine winners”
Neither you nor JJ will be amongst them. He is a vanity candidate and you are the very definition of a fringe candidate.
07 Sep 2007 at 09:55 pm | #
Here, here Portune. It is amazing what the truth really is when someone cares enough to get down to it. It is really disturbing when the truth gets in the way of rhetoric.
Smitherman’s motives were right - and his position - he just chose the wrong “poster child” for the whole thing. There are alot of cases, in reality, where these issues exist. Smitherman and crew just needs to do a little more homework to find them.
But that’s expensive, it is difficult to get ALL the facts and you need people in respectable and trustworthy positions to bring the data and cases forward.
Oh wait, isn’t that what the CSP is going to do with the CJ Committee——geez, if only the local NAACP could find a public venture, funded by all of us, to initiate and investigate these types of scenarios and who would have an ear to the ground in the black community. If only ....
Again, my hats off to Smitherman for making the effort to enlighten the community on the disparity in treatment of blacks in Hamilton County. It is a real problem, regardless of this flaw. But he’s trying to do with little to no money, work that requires a significant investment of time and funds to do it right.
Re-think the CSP, NAACP
11 Sep 2007 at 05:27 am | #
Great thread, and I’m so sorry I missed it.
And Portune’s letter underscores yet another in a long-line of incidents where Smitherman’s grandstanding gets the facts dead wrong.
Why does he keep screwing up?
Ever since he came into the public eye it’s been one foul-up after another.
ricland