Yeah. He be at work.
Posted on 07/19/2007 10:03:52 AM PDT by E Rocc
Councilman Polensek's letter threatens drug suspect, mother says
The mother of a drug-trafficking suspect accuses City Councilman Mike Polensek of threatening her son in a letter that refers to the 18-year-old as a "crack dealing piece of trash" and closes with "go to jail or the cemetery soon."
Polensek sent the letter earlier this month after Arsenio T. Winston was arrested and charged with selling drugs near a convenience store in Polensek's East Side neighborhood.
The longtime councilman said in a telephone interview Wednesday that he often writes blunt letters to troublemakers in his neighborhood and makes no apologies for the one to Winston.
"I'm fed up and the people in my neighborhood are fed up," Polensek said. "There's no political correctness left in me."
Winston's mother, Tonya Lewis, said she plans to speak to her attorney, former City Council President George Forbes, about filing a lawsuit against Polensek. She said she also has written a letter to black activist the Rev. Al Sharpton.
Lewis said she views Polensek's letter as a death threat against her son because the councilman said "he didn't care which one came first, that he went to jail or the cemetery."
She also complained that the letter referred to Winston as "dumber than mud," which she considers a racist remark because mud is black and dirty.
Polensek defended his letter.
"If my letter was offensive, fine, so be it," he said. "If my letter is going to make his mother and family think about what he's done, I'm glad."
But he said his words were not intended as a death threat.
"I don't wish that he dies," he said. "I don't wish that any young person dies. What I'm saying is, this is what will happen to him - it's either the cemetery or jail - unless he changes his life."
Polensek said Winston has been causing problems for a couple of years.
Court records show Winston was charged with aggravated assault in May 2005 and spent three months in an Ohio Department of Youth Services detention center.
Winston lives with his mother in another part of the city, but stayed with a friend in Polensek's ward previously, Lewis said.
The councilman said he confronted the teen and his friends about a year ago after residents complained that the group was trashing a park.
He said he asked them to clean up after themselves. Winston refused, he said, and mouthed off.
Winston, who is out on bail on the trafficking charge, was unavailable for comment. His mother said Wednesday evening that he was at work and could not be reached.
Lewis said she heard her son was disrespectful to the councilman. At a meeting with Polensek, she said, her son apologized.
"I'm from the old school," she said. "You get smart with an adult, you've got to apologize."
Polensek said the three met and Winston apologized.
Lewis said her lawyer advised her not to discuss any legal matters involving her son. But she said she does not condone criminal behavior.
"If he did the crime, he has to do the time," she said. "If he has to go to jail or probation, then that's what he has to do."
But she said it's not Polensek's place to tell him to "go to jail or the cemetery soon."
"It's not acceptable," she said.
When a smartass like me can't even think of a comment....
-Eric
I *LIKE* this guy!
I was stumped by that one, too. And the paper printed it without comment.
I heard him on the radio yesterday talking taxes. I get the impression that he’s a Conservative Democrat*.
*Not sure how you get elected in Cleveland without being a Democrat.
Ze truff hutz
ME TOO!
Wonder if he walks the hood whacking "dumber than mud" a$$ holes in the kneecaps?
Do you like him,
or do you LIKE like him?
Good for him. I've had it too. Enough of the PC BS!!
Yeah. He be at work.
Mothers like her create sons like him.
Mike Polensek is a great guy and has done a lot for the the community. There is more about him at:
http://www.clevelandcitycouncil.org/Home/CouncilMembers/Ward11MichaelDPolensek/tabid/127/Default.aspx
Did Mike Polensek go too far in his harsh letter to a Cleveland drug dealer?
YES—Polensek’s letter was insulting and degrading
2.46 %
NO—Polensek said what NEEDED to be said to drug-dealing thugs
94.26 %
NOT SURE—Polensek was right, but shouldn’t have been so insulting
3.28 %
We can’t let anyone hide behind their race so they can destroy society one act at a time. She’s just a racist herself because she would accuse someone of another race based on some kind of comment that applies to dumb people in general that dates back generations.
This kid must be the black sheep of the family!
(had to be said)
She does not come across as being one bit ashamed of her son’s lifestyle. And THAT is one of the main problems. A generational attitude of being “victims” and therefore not responsible.
Polensek's blatantly racist venom spewing should awaken Cleveland's black community to the depths to which Cleveland's white Nazi patriarchy will go to keep its hobnailed heel on the neck of community activists such as Ms Lewis.
Can't we all agree that little Arsenio is the real victim here?
Why don’t we all agree to make every statement ever known to mankind a euphemism for being racist. Because, *that* is about the only one that anyone could construe the phrase “dumber than mud” as racist.
I think that the woman is dumber than mud for even saying anything like that.
free speech... no more...
No... Arsenio is a repeat criminal. He is in NO way a victim. And people like you are part of the problem.
Dude, pick up on the satire...please!
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