No end for Grand Finale

100 95 90 80 70 60 50 40 30
Product: ENQUIRER PubDate: 09-28-2005 Zone: Final
Time: 09-27-2005 23:56 User: dhooven
Color:
Cyan
Black
Yellow
Magenta
20 10 5
Edition: 1 Page Name: A1.0
No end for Grand Finale
IN
LIFE
30 years later, Larry and Cindy Youse know how
to keep their restaurant customers coming back
THE CINCINNATI ENQUIRER
CINCINNATI.COM
FINAL NEWS/SPORTS
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2005
CINCINNATI.COM
Proposal aims to protect home buyers
By Alexander Coolidge
Mortgage fraud, predatory loan crackdown sought
Ohio would become one of
the last two states to expand
consumer protection laws to
cover mortgage broker practices, under proposed legislation designed to crack down
on predatory lending.
State Sen. Joy Padgett, RCoshocton, last week intro-
duced a bill amending the
Consumer Sales Practices Act
to give the attorney general’s
office jurisdiction to pursue
mortgage lenders that engage
in deceptive or unfair trade
practices.
Virginia is the other state
whose laws do not cover mort-
Enquirer staff writer
RUDI ON THE WEB
Rudi Johnson shares his
thoughts on a variety of
topics, and his comments are posted each
Wednesday morning.
KEYWORD: RUDI
How should Chad Johnson celebrate his next
touchdown? You can
weigh in.
KEYWORD: BENGALS
gage broker practices.
Padgett and others point to
Ohio’s rising foreclosures as
evidence of the need for reform.
The bill would let the attorney general take action
against two specific kinds of
actions – inflated appraisals
and equity stripping – that
have been at the heart of an
ongoing federal investigation
of mortgage fraud in Greater
Cincinnati.
Two dozen real estate investors, loan officers and title
agents have signed plea agree
ments in the probe of the buy-
Must reads inside
today’s Enquirer
Bengals ticket suit
could grow larger
More rooms
with a view
By Lara Jakes Jordan
The Associated Press
A 49-town-house project is
rising just south of Devou
Park, called Devou Lofts.
BUSINESS D1
Consumer confidence suffered its biggest drop in 15
years as Hurricane Katrina
made Americans anxious
about rising costs.
BUSINESS D5
UC-Miami football
on national TV
The University of Cincinnati and Miami University
continue their rivalry for
the 110th time tonight.
SPORTS B1
COMING
THURSDAY
Chris Harris of East Walnut Hills needed a little
help creating an after-8
look for the charity ball
circuit. The latest in NotSo-Extreme Makeovers.
LIFE
High 83°
Low 52°
Mostly
sunny
COMPLETE FORECAST: C8
INDEX
Six sections, 165th year, No. 172
Abby .............. E2 Lotteries ......... C2
Business ........ D1 Movies ........... E9
Comics ........... E8 Obituaries ...... C4
Editorial ......... C6 Sports ............ B1
Kids’ Corner .... C8 TV .................. E2
Classified ................................... F1-22
First Run Classified .......................... C5
Copyright, 2005, The Cincinnati Enquirer
Portions of
today’s Enquirer
were printed on
recycled paper
See MORTGAGE, Page A7
Louisiana government was
‘dysfunctional,’ Brown says
Bengals fans forced to buy
tickets ask to make the
case a class action.
LOCAL C1
WEATHER
low, sell-high scheme.
The federal probe came to
light in August 2003, as part of
an Enquirer investigation.
Ohio’s percentage of loans
in foreclosure crept above the
U.S. average in 1999 and has
since spiked to more than
three times the national aver-
age in the past two years, according to the Mortgage
Bankers Association.
Halfway through 2005, almost 3.3 percent of all Ohio
loans were in foreclosure
compared with 1 percent nationally, the trade group said.
Kentucky’s
foreclosure
rate is almost 1.9 percent.
Ex-FEMA
chief: Not
my fault
From school halls of Mason To deserts of Iraq
Up Front
Katrina pounds
our confidence
50 CENTS
Provided photo
Mason school parent Rod Zeigler pauses from his work with U.S. troops in Mosul, Iraq, to check on his children’s schoolwork via his laptop computer. Zeigler is a civilian morale and recreation coordinator.
Cyber report cards keep
parents posted on grades
By Michael D. Clark
RUSSIA
Enquirer staff writer
H
alfway around the world, Mason
parent Rod Zeigler pauses each
day from his work with U.S.
troops in Iraq to pull out his laptop and check on his kids’ school work.
At the click of a key, he can e-mail
teachers in Mason, review his children’s grades, attendance, homework
assignments and progress reports.
Zeigler can also offer real-time homework suggestions to his children while
simultaneously looking at the exact
same page of schoolwork they are
viewing.
“I can do everything here I did at
home in Mason except meet face to
face with their teachers,” Zeigler explains from Mosul, Iraq, where he
works as a civilian morale and recreation coordinator for American troops.
Enrollment down
City schools cut
more teachers
Cincinnati Public Schools
are cutting more teachers because of declining enrollment.
Teachers at Hughes Center in University Heights and
Withrow University in Hyde
Park said they learned of
cuts Monday.
Other buildings also are
trimming staff, but the district did not provide a breakdown.
Some departures could begin as soon as next week.
LOCAL C1
At
O c l a n t ic
ean
EUROPE
AFRICA
A tl a n t ic
O cea n
Mosul,
Iraq
ASIA
n
Ind i a
a
e
c
O n
More Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky school parents are using
this newfound freedom of school Internet links, which provide a more comprehensive and detailed link between
teacher and parents.
The Internet links offered by a
growing number of area schools are al-
so removing the reliance on students
as messengers to relay vital information between schools and parents. No
more forgotten homework assignments – you can pull up a fresh copy
online – lost field-trip permission slips
or having to wait until the end of the
academic quarter to learn of your
child’s plummeting grades. E-mail
alerts can be flashed home instantly.
Playing phone tag with busy
teachers is a thing of the past, as is the
old excuse that “the dog ate my homework.”
“It’s revolutionary,” said Tina Blair,
director of technology for Warren
County’s Kings schools, which this
week joined more than a dozen other
Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky school systems already offering
Internet access to parents.
See SCHOOLS, Page A6
WASHINGTON – A combative Michael Brown blamed
the Louisiana governor, the
New Orleans mayor and even
the Bush White House that
appointed him for the dismal
response to Hurricane Katrina in a fiery appearance Tuesday before Congress.
In response, lawmakers
lambasted and mocked the
former FEMA director.
House members’ scorching treatment of Brown, in a
hearing stretching almost 6½
hours, underscored how he
has become an emblem of the
deaths, floods and stranded
survivors after the Aug. 29
storm. He quit Sept. 12.
“I’m happy you left,” Rep.
Christopher Shays, R-Conn.,
said. Added Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Miss.: “You get an F-minus in my book.”
At several points, Brown
turned red in the face and
slapped the table.
“So I guess you want me to
be the superhero, to step in
there and take everyone out of
New Orleans,” Brown said.
“What I wanted you to do is
do your job and coordinate,”
Shays retorted.
Well aware of President
Bush’s sunken poll ratings,
legislators of both parties
tried to distance themselves
from the federal preparations
for Katrina and the aftermath.
Brown acknowledged mistakes. But he accused New
GULF STORMS
AFTERMATH
m New Orleans chief quits. A2
m Reports of murders and
rapes likely exaggerated. A2
m Residents finding mold that
“smells like death.” A2
Online: Get the latest on the
aftermath of Katrina and Rita.
Keyword: hurricane
‘So I guess
you want
me to
be the
superhero,
to step in
there and
take everyone out of
New Orleans.’
Michael Brown
Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin
and Louisiana Gov. Kathleen
Blanco of fostering chaos.
“My biggest mistake was
not recognizing by Saturday
that Louisiana was dysfunctional,” he said.
Nagin said that “it’s too early to get into name-blame and
all that stuff” but that “a FEMA director in Washington
trying to deflect attention is
unbelievable to me.”
Brown said FEMA coordinates and manages disaster
relief, but the emergency first
response is the job of state
and local authorities.
Immigrant boom brings need for interpreters – and money to pay for them
Non-English-speaking
defendants costing courts
By Kimball Perry
Enquirer staff writer
Luis Galarza has stood before Hamilton County judges
thousands of times, but he’s
never been to jail, and he’s
not a crook.
Instead, Galarza is the face
of an issue exasperating
courts: How do court systems
deal with those who can’t
speak English?
“I notice that when I’m on
the bench, we get people
from Iraq and Iran and other
places,” Ronald Panioto, administrative judge of Hamilton County Domestic Relations Court, said. “We’re
seeing them more and more.”
It’s mostly an influx of
Spanish-speaking
immigrants to Hamilton County
that has required more interpreters such as Galarza. The
number of Hispanics in Hamilton County grew by 18
percent to almost 12,000 between 2000 and 2004.
The budget for interpreters for the domestic relations
The Enquirer/Gary Landers
court grew by 480 percent
from 2002 through 2004.
Luis Galarza (right), of Global Language Services, interprets for defendant Godo Fredo Velasco, with his lawSee TRANSLATORS, Page A7 yer, Robyn Cambron, in Municipal Court.
Come to the new delta.com, a two-dimensional paradise where good goes around and people come with the sole intention of leaving. © 2005 Delta Air Lines, Inc.