Plain Dealer editorial cartoonist Jeff Darcy usually spends Fridays sketching ideas for Sunday's paper. But last Friday, he spent most of the day returning phone calls, and replying to emails, trying to explain the previous Wednesday's cartoon to outraged readers.

It depicted an elementary school-aged black girl, running away from a deli store in a t-shirt that reads, "Don't Shoot/I'm a friend of a friend of a friend of Mayor Jackson's daughter." Next to the little girl was a poster, "Wanted: Big Willie."

The cartoon came four days after 12-year-old Asteve'e "Cookie" Thomas was killed in the crossfire of bullets between two men running down a Slavic Village street. Asteve'e was walking home that afternoon from a candy store. One of the two suspects, Eric Wilson, remains at large.

The target of the cartoon was Mayor Frank Jackson, who'd broken a near­total silence on murders and high-profile deaths in his city, until Asteve'e's - because, he said, he knew her mother.

But many PD readers either missed that, or didn't care, and inundated the paper with e-mails and calls. "How dare the Plain Dealer victimize a murdered child in such a way?" demanded one writer, published in Friday's letters section. "Regarding cartoonist Jeff Darcy's caricature of a deceased 12-year-old," wrote another, "I was hurt to the point of tears."

Since then, Darcy and the editors have been in damage control mode. In an interview with the Free Times, Darcy explains what should have been obvious to everyone: the girl in the cartoon was not Asteve'e, but a fictitious stand-in for all the girls and boys living in this violent city.

"It was a good cartoon," Darcy says. "If I had to do it again, I would make it a black boy or a white kid." That's what he's been telling readers over and over again, one by one. The cartoon was a distillation of ideas: gun violence that reaches down to children, and a mayor who seems insensitive until grief touches him personally. But many people mistook the girl for Asteve'e, Darcy says, and him for a racist.

On Friday, alongside three letters ("a portion of the negative reaction we have received") the Plain Dealer published an editor's note: "We very much regret any pain the cartoon has caused in the community or, most especially, to family members and friends of Asteve'e Thomas."

Darcy doesn't mind the apology, he just wishes there was more back-story. If you read the editor's note carefully, he says, "you'll see that it's not apologizing for the cartoon itself, but for offending anyone."

Conspicuous by his absence is Ted Diadiun, the paper's reader representative. His Sunday column was an advertisement of sorts for an upcoming eight-part series on a young woman's ordeal with domestic violence and recovery.

Darcy says he isn't sure why Diadiun didn't address the cartoon. "Maybe he'll write about it in the future." On Monday, Diadiun's voicemail message indicated that he's on vacation this week. - Charu Gupta

BONUS SPIN

Last week, we told you about Attorney General Marc Dann's relationship with two companies that manufacture "skill games" ("Feelin' Fruity," City Chatter, September 5). To recap: The game makers claim their not-slot machines require 51 percent skill (like playing for the Browns?) and are therefore legal under Ohio law, which prohibits "games of chance." Gov. Ted Strickland disagrees and has ordered Dann to shut the games down. When Pace-o-Matic and Playtronics successfully won a restraining order prohibiting police from removing their machines, we wondered if their luck had anything to do with campaign contributions Dann had received from them. And if not, why didn't the AG just give the money back?

Turns out, Dann didn't want to tip his hand.

The Free Times has learned that businesses and individuals associated with skill gaming in Ohio are the subject of an ongoing investigation by the Ohio Organized Crime Investigations Commission. Indictments could be handed down as soon as October.

Leo Jennings, communications director for the AG's office, refused to comment.

Calls to Ohio Skill Games, which distributes Pace-o-Matic's Tic Tac Fruit game, were referred first to their PR department, and eventually to their legal team. President Jay Young did not respond to voicemail messages.

Temporary OCIC President Jeff Rossi keeps his poker face as well. He would not confirm or deny the investigation. He sent us back to Jennings.

When asked about the contributions to Dann, Jennings explains that the events which Pace-o-Matic and Playtronics funded happened a mere three weeks after Dann took office. "We just had no idea these folks were connected to these companies," he says. "I can tell you this: Marc Dann is not for sale at any price."

Jennings goes on to say that we wouldn't be in this mess in the first place if Republican legislators hadn't created the skill-gaming loophole during a closed conference committee session.

"We believe the loophole was clearly meant to protect certain games at places like Chuck-E-Cheese and Cedar Point from being targeted by gambling laws," he says. "But it created a hole that you could drive a Tic Tac Fruit machine through. It would be a simple fix for the legislature."

One solution would be to ban all games with cash pay-outs (that way you could still redeem tickets at Chuck-E-Cheese). "Nobody is playing these games to win a Kewpie doll. If you're paying cash, you're a gambling device. We'd be the happiest people on the face of the Earth if the legislators fixed the problem they created."

Until then, the biggest risk might be distributing anymore "skill games" to Ohio bars. - James Renner

SLAVIC VILLAGE: AUSTRALIAN FOR RUSTIC

America's ongoing subprime mortgage crisis is being felt as far away as Australia. That's why reporter Paul Barry and producers at Four Corners, the Australian Broadcasting Corp.'s answer to 60 Minutes, started researching the issue online a few months ago.

Their reporting led them to California, to document the housing boom, and New York, to interview Wall Street types. But they still needed a human face for this complicated economic story, and that's when they recalled reading Free Times' July 11 cover story "Sue the Bastards," which recounted how local residents, activists and attorneys are grappling with this national calamity that's hit Cleveland especially hard.

A four-person ABC crew was here over the Labor Day weekend. They spent a couple of days with members of the East Side Organizing Project, attending local church services, interviewing homeowners on the brink of foreclosure, and walking through devastated neighborhoods like Slavic Village (which we also profiled in "Stealing Home," June 29).

One more day was spent with Ed Kramer, of Housing Advocates Inc., who is among the first non-profit consumer rights attorneys in the nation to sue lenders for targeting African Americans with high-interest, fee-packed loan products.

The dose of reality put Barry in a reflective mood. Consumer protections are stronger in Australia than in the US, he said. But he hopes that Cleveland's tale will serve as a cautionary one.

Barry, who'd read news reports on Cleveland before, said, "We were expecting Cleveland to be horrible." But the Sydney-based journalists loved the city's wide boulevards and industrial-era architecture.

The Four Corners segment on the subprime lending fiasco, including Cleveland, is scheduled to air on September 17. You can view parts of the program at abc.net.au/4corners. - Charu Gupta

SO WHAT IS IT YOU'RE UPSET ABOUT?

Last week we told you about legal wrangling between White Hat Management and some of its charter school governing board members ("Charters and Gaffes," September 5). Both sides looked bad: The board members, for waiting years to provide real oversight, and White Hat, for using its political muscle to bully them when they did.

And neither side's image was helped by recent court rulings.

In 2006, White Hat, a for-profit company that manages charter schools, got the state legislature to pass a law that, among other things, bars anyone from serving on more than two charter school boards at one time. Nine members of boards that dealt with White Hat - including former Clevelander Robert Townsend, who sat on 19 - challenged the law in court. The law was "an organized plan to unseat my clients," said attorney Robert DiCello. The law also made it more difficult for charter school boards to terminate their contracts with management companies.

But when we talked to DiCello on August 24, he somehow neglected to mention that there'd already been rulings.

Franklin County Court of Common Pleas Judge David Cain ruled on August 22 that, while the first provision was constitutionally kosher, it couldn't be applied retroactively. So Townsend and fellow board members get to stay on their many boards, under existing contracts, until their terms expire.

And Cain had previously dismissed the other part of the challenge on a technicality: "To date, there has been no attempt [by the plaintiffs] ... to terminate White Hat from its position," the judge wrote. "Until the services of White Hat are terminated, the parties have no standing to challenge."

But DiCello confirmed in an August 31 email that the board members still aren't interested in letting go of White Hat, even though it means that an element of the law that had so offended them is allowed to stand.

"This is exactly the sort of relief and clarification that the boards and members sought from the court," DiCello says.

Now, how did all of this help the charter school movement or its students?

- Charu Gupta

PARTY ON, DON

Sounds like a Cincinnati appeals court could care less about Akron resident Rose Wilcher and that stupid Constitution she keeps rambling on about.

Wilcher used to provide Akron-area cable subscribers with about 20 hours of local-access programming weekly, everything from Democracy Now to Army Times. Then, in March 2005, Time Warner and Akron's Mayor Don Plusquellic pushed for and received a new requirement that all public access producers pay $25 per tape to be aired - ostensibly to clamp down on the random porn offered up to the grateful masses. Wilcher sued, alleging the fee abridged her right to free speech. But on August 16, the 6th US Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed Wilcher's lawsuit, stating that the new demand was "content neutral" and thereby "cool with us."

Did we mention that Plusquellic doesn't have to pay to air any kind of boring drivel he decides the public should see on government access?

"Our illustrious mayor here has access to unlimited airtime, while any opponent would have to pay," Wilcher says. "That restricts political speech."

Uncool, says Mark Williamson, Plusquellic's latest spokesman, who would like to highlight the difference between public access TV and government access, neither of which his boss claims to use for soap-boxing.

Regarding the case, Williamson referred those questions to Bill Jasso, Time Warner's national PR wonk, who also happened to do the same job for Plusquellic before Williamson.

At least it's still nice and cozy inside the bubble. - Dan Harkins

CLARIFICATION

Free Times' July 4, 2007 cover story "The Mafia Plot to Kill Dennis Kucinich" linked businessman James Palladino and organized crime figure Danny Greene, who was killed in 1977. An alleged relationship has been reported before, and at least one federal agent has made such claims. But our report failed to point out that Palladino has not been convicted of a crime since 1972, or that investigations into him in the 1990s did not result in prosecutions.

RUST BELT REPORT

Cleveland City Council President Martin J. Sweeney accused of sexually harassing clerk.

"Hey foxy mama, wanna second my motion?"

Cuyahoga County commissioners want to postpone next year's presidential primary.

"Only until 2025," says Tim Hagan. "By then, we should have figured out these damn touch screens."

Channel 3 wins more Emmy's than any other Northeast Ohio TV station.

Carl Monday accosts judges in parking lot, vowing, "When you touch yourself, I'll be there!"

Chrissie Hynde opens restaurant in Akron.

"And the first asshole to ask about the waitress outfit from the "Brass in Pocket' video will be slapped."

Browns pummeled by Steelers in opener, 34-7.

Damn, now the best they can finish is 15-1.

Three Garfield Heights High football players, charged with aggravated robbery, still playing games.

First they stole our hearts, then our DVD players.

Abused skunk shelter opens in North Ridgeville.

A likely excuse, North Ridgeville!

Proposed entertainment resort in South Amherst goes belly-up before construction begins.

So it looks like MTV Spring Break won't be coming after all.

83-year-old Akron man attacks purse-snatcher with his cane.

"Purse snatcher? I don't know anything about that. I just didn't like the way he wore his pants, all hanging down, showing off his skivvies!"

City of Kent drops charges against man fined for littering after posting "Impeach Bush" sign in public garden.

Hope blooms.

Owner plans to sell Thistledown racetrack.

Early bid by Elmer's Glue raises eyebrows.

Bill Cosby offers his opinion about what's wrong with Cleveland.

Not enough college women to drug and fondle?

Steelers QB Ben Rothlisberger's foundation gives $10,000 to Cleveland police department for bomb-sniffing dog.

"And bring him to the stadium," he adds, "'cause I'm gonna be throwing bombs all day!"