Last Friday, a Cleveland Housing Court magistrate ruled that General Environmental Management can reopen, allowing the company to continue treating hazardous waste at its warehouse in the valley below Cleveland. Well, what remains of its warehouse.

For years, students at Tri-C, residents of Ohio City and travelers passing through downtown Cleveland have complained about the noxious smells that arise from the waste treatment plant ("Smell You Later," January 11) — a piney yet vomit-like stench that makes us nostalgic for that Lake Erie dead-fish smell we used to bitch about. Exposure to the airborne chemicals — benzene, toluene, chloride — can cause severe headaches and tingling in hands and feet.

In 2005, GEM officials were served with citations from the Cleveland Fire Department and Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District. After the Division of Air Quality got involved, they promised to fix the vapor leaks in their corroded tanks and said they would clean up the pools of black sludge collecting on the ground behind their property.

But they used duct tape to seal the leaks. And on April 20 their factory blew up, surprising just about nobody. Flammable vapor ignited when a contractor got too close to the gas with his acetylene torch. The smoke that billowed from the charred remains of Tank 99 blanketed businesses nearby, subjecting employees to enough toxins to create a mutant superhero army. Quick-thinking Sewer District employees contained the mess, barely averting a massive spill into the Cuyahoga that would have turned the river toxic. OK, more toxic.

Since the explosion, over 1,300 people have sent letters or petitions to Mayor Jackson, pleading with the mayor to shut the business down before a major accident occurs. They must have gotten lost in the mail. It's a big steamroller of a problem heading our way at two miles an hour and no one wants to get out of the way.

Anyone living within the future GEM epicenter would do well to call the mayor's action hotline at 216.664.2900 or visit OhioCitizen.org for the most up-to-date information. — James Renner

'04 CHRISSAKE

Congratulations to local filmmaker Laura Paglin. Her short documentary, which details the chaos that occurred inside one Cleveland precinct during the 2004 presidential election, has just been purchased by the Sundance Channel. If you missed the screening at the International Film Festival this past spring, you will now be able to see it on cable when it airs before the upcoming election in the fall.

No Umbrella: Election Day in the City shows how the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections failed to provide proper voting equipment for black voters, how then-mayor Jane Campbell mostly ignored the real problems with inner-city precincts, and how Councilwoman Fannie Lewis tried desperately to save the day. It's a sample of everything that went wrong in Ohio in 2004, probably by design Hopefully, it will serve as a reminder for local liberals to get out to the polls in November. — James Renner

WITCHES AT WAR

Pagan rights activist and Cleveland Heights resident Larry Cornet spent his Fourth of July in Washington D.C., fighting for the separation of church and state. He went to our nation's capital to join a protest that hopes to convince the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to approve the Wiccan pentacle for use on veterans' memorial grave markers.

During the nine years since the Wiccans first petitioned the VA to approve use of the pentacle, Cornet says, the symbols of at least six other faiths have been approved.

So, seeing that the witches had been dissed, Americans United for Separation of Church and State sent a letter to the VA June 7, asking that a pentacle be placed on the marker for the late Sgt. Patrick Stewart per his widow's request, and that other Wiccans' families requests be honored as well. Sgt. Stewart was killed in Afghanistan Sept. 25, 2005, according to Americans United. He had been decorated with the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart, among other honors.

Cornett says the protest in Washington was a "last-ditch effort" to avoid litigation to win witches the same rights in death as Christians.

"We're hoping to avoid litigation," Cornet says. "We'll win, but it will take years." — Michael Gill

RUST BELT REPORT

Ohio revamps lethal-injection procedure a month after botched execution.

Inmates now given choice between the chair or watching an hour of Good Morning Cleveland.

Lizard stolen from Botanical Garden display.

Botanical Gardens spokesman says lizard is about 12 inches long; wife says, "It's really more like six."

Cleveland school district officials accidentally toss hundreds of textbooks in the trash.

Explain that they're preparing fire barrels for when all those ancient boilers start conking out next winter.

Department of Education grants area schools $4 million to improve math and science classes.

Cleveland expected to throw that away too.

Teen pregnancy in Ohio on the decline.

Ken Blackwell ordered that state only count pregnant teens who show up in the "right" clinic with 37 forms of photo ID.

Eastlake ex-mayor Dan DiLiberto gets 30 days for falsifying loan documents.

Just like the ballpark that was going to save his town, dejected mayor stuck in minor leagues.

Strange thermos shuts down Hopkins Airport for 40 minutes.

Homeland Security goes to Threat Alert Plaid.

Photo shows Rep. Bob Ney meeting with Native American lobbyists.

Thankfully it's one taken from the House floor, and not the one where Ney is all fucked up on 'shrooms and waving his hairy beanbag around in the sweat lodge.

American Greetings profits tumble 42 percent.

Strawberry Shortcake receives pink slip in her own sympathy card. Ziggy denounces God.

Cleveland Freedom Festival kicks off July 4th at Edgewater Park with fireworks display.

To save money and boost attendance, city decides to launch Nate Gray into stratosphere.