guy paints “Welcome To Cleveland” on his roof. he lives next to milwaukee airport....

The Balloonfest of 1986 in Cleveland...

In 1986, the United Way of Cleveland in Ohio decided to organize a fundraising event and at the same time break the world record for the most simultaneous release of balloons set by Anaheim, in California, on the 30th anniversary of Disneyland just the previous year. On the morning of September 27, 1986, and the night before, a crowd of 2,500 students and volunteers filled 1.5 million balloons with helium inside an enormous white plastic balloon bin on the southwest quadrant of the square. A giant net covering the box kept the balloons together. At 1:50 p.m, the restrains were removed and the enormous mass of rubber and gas lifted out of the bin and towards the sky as spectators watched in awe. It was an incredible sight, but only for a while. Then the weather started to play havoc. The day was overcast with strong winds blowing in the northern direction - nowhere near the ideal weather condition to release so many helium balloons. With a forecast of rainstorm later in the day, the organizers released the balloons early only to have them get caught in the storm clouds above. When the clouds opened, the rain pushed the balloons down and they started dropping all over clogging the land and waterways. The balloons blanketed Lake Erie hampering the Coast Guard's search efforts for two men who had been lost on the lake after their boat capsized. The balloons covering the lake surface made it impossible to find the head of any floating person. Their dead bodies later washed ashore, and of the wives sued United Way. The drifting spheres also caused the Burke Lakefront Airport runway to close off for 30 minutes. In Medina County, a woman sued claiming the balloons spooked her Arabian horses resulting in injuries. A couple of car accidents were also reported as drivers swerved to avoid slow motion blizzards of multicolored orbs or took their eyes off the road to gawk at the overhead spectacle. United Way spent $500,000 organizing the event, and lost millions more in settling lawsuits. On the event's 25th anniversary in 2011, a spokeswoman for United Way told cleveland.com: "We would not do a balloon launch ever again. We've learned a lot in the last 25 years." [+]

Cleveland Cop Who Fired 49 Rounds Into Car Acquitted of Manslaughter

On Saturday, an Ohio judge acquitted Cleveland police officer Michael Brelo of manslaughter, the New York Times reports. During a November 2012 car chase, Brelo, who is white, and other police officers, fired 137 rounds at Timothy Russell and his passenger, Malissa Williams, who were black and unarmed.

Throughout the trial, prosecutors argued that, after other officers had stopped firing, Brelo climbed on the hood of Russell's car and fired 15 shots at the pair, killing them. This, they said, was evidence that Brelo had acted recklessly.

"We're asking our officers, based on their training, not to be compelled by fear to kill people when there's other reasonable, objectively reasonable, options available to you," said assistant county prosecutor James Gutierrez in his closing arguments. "And there was. He wanted to kill."

Brelo's lawyers argued that he—and the other officers—believed that they had been shot at. "What would make him want to shoot through the windshield at another human being?" defense attorney Patrick D'Angelo said. "Could it be that he was shot at? Could it be that he reasonably perceived that the occupants of the Malibu were shooting at him? That's what all the other officers perceived. That's what Officer Brelo perceived."

A Justice Department report from December on the city's police department found "reasonable cause to believe that CDP engages in a pattern or practice of the use of excessive force in violation of the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution."

Cleveland is still awaiting the results of an investigation into the killing last year of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, which was ruled a homicide.

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