The Cincinnati Enquirer from Cincinnati, Ohio • Page 1

TRAVEL, Fl AM ISM LIFE, F7 A fx sC Prnrinr.tc 1 1 i-f" 4. VWIrv- I recognize National rs I TV vwu.y II I AT mm WBM 11 HI MM WW Breast Cancer i Dreasiuanci 1 ri Adams County takes visitors wTCW 5 Awareness "f2 I to simpler times it fail Fnily MirUt li Stiniu, Ottt IIIUIIMI nrv CWCMMI1 ENQUIRER CINCINNAT1.COM FN $1.50 lii IN SPORTS: BENGALS-PATRIOTS PREVIEW Up Front Must reads inside today's Enquirer The Bengals, at 3-0, are playing like one of the top teams in the NFL Can they stay unbeaten vs. the Patriots today? Stories: CI, C4-6 When: ml Where Pool Brown Stadium IV: (K Radio: WCKY-AM OB30), WOFX-FM (925) (inonnotrtom for photo galleries and the latest Bengals news. Keyword: Bengals i Jv'vx -PAGE SPECIAL 9(11011 1 jl. 1 GET BOAT PROFILES, SCHEDULES, MAPS AND GUIDES ALONG WITH A LOOK AT THIS YEAR'S MUSK LINEUP.

Campaign cash charts high court's decisions Ohio's elected justices often side with backers AT (IlliTUOM VIDEO 11 PAGE MO Why is the river so important? It's part of our lives. Starting Wednesday: Special wraparound sections. Take a ride on the Ohio River with a trip on the Delta Queen. Keyword: video. Tall Stacks updates.

Keyword: Tall Stacks Enquirer file Reds manager Jerry Nar-ron's playoff hopes evaporated Saturday. REDS MISS POSTSEASON The Reds lost to Pittsburgh 3-0, but Cincinnati's elimination from the playoffs came earlier Saturday when St. Louis rallied past Milwaukee. See who else is in and out ci Also in Sports: UC-Mlaml: The Bearcats defeated Miami 24-10, ending a string of six straight losses to Division I-A teams for UC. Ohio State-Iowa: Troy Smith and the top-ranked Buckeyes had a big first half en route to whipping their Big 10 rival 38-17 in a primetime contest in Iowa City.

Sunday extras Forum: Editorial opens its doors and lets you into the conversation. Today marks the beginning of "Today at the Forum," the Enquirer Editorial Board's new blog. You can tell us what you think and see how your opinions help to shape ours. El TALL STACKS BIG BUCKS By Adam Liptak and Janet Roberts The New York Times COLUMBUS In the fall of 2004, Terrence O'Donnell, an affable judge with the placid good looks of a small-market news anchor, was running hard to keep his seat on the Ohio Supreme Court. He was also considering two important class-action lawsuits that had been argued many months before.

In the weeks before the election, ODonnell's campaign accepted thousands of dollars from the political action committees of three companies II IMIIWail mi that were defendants in the suits. Two of the cases dealt with defective cars, and one involved a toxic substance. Weeks after winning his race, O'Donnell joined majorities that handed the three companies significant victories. O'Donnell's conduct was unexceptional. In one of the cases, every justice in the 4-3 majority had taken money from affiliates of the companies.

None of the dissenters had done so, but they had accepted contributions from lawyers for Terrence O'Donnell favored supporters 91 of the time. WEATHER SO High 72 Low 47 Partly sunny the plaintiffs. Thirty-nine states elect judges, and 30 states are holding elections for seats on their high courts this year. Spending in these races is skyrocketing, with some judges raising $2 million or more for a single campaign. As the amounts rise, questions about whether money is polluting the independence of the judiciary are being fiercely debated across the nation.

And nowhere is the battle for judicial seats more ferocious than in Ohio. An examination of the Ohio Supreme Court by the New York Times found that its justices routinely sat on cases after receiving campaign contributions from the parties involved or from groups that filed supporting briefs. On average, they voted in favor of contributors 70 percent of the time. O'Donnell voted for his contributors 91 percent of the time, the highest rate of any justice on the court. In the 12 years that were studied, the justices almost never disqualified themselves from hearing their contributors' cases.

In the 215 cases with 1c iV COMPLETE FORECAST: B8 An edition of The Cincinnati Enquirer The EnquirerSteven M. Herpplch Delta Queen passengers scream as the Belle of Louisville wins the Riverboat Races during the 2003 Tall Stacks. Attendance is on par with the Indianapolis 500, but its economic Impact doesn't measure up to the race's $337 million. Hordes of visitors expected to buoy local economy the most direct potential conflicts of interest, jus- tices recused themselves just nine times. share your news, photos and vents Published! Share your news and photos.

Go to Cincinnati.com, click GetPublishedl and post on your own community's Web page. By Jon Newberry Enquirer staff writer KD-0ICl See JUSTICES, Page A8 I his week's Tall Stacks I Music, Arts and Heritage Festival is set -weather permitting to INDEX 13 sections, 166th year, No. 175 ate the publicity that Indianapolis and Louisville bask in from hosting world-famous races followed for decades by millions around the globe. That's not Tall Stacks, not yet," said George Vredeveld, chairman of the Economics Center for Education and Research at the University of Cincinnati. Yet in terms of crowd size, ifs getting there.

The 360,000 people who went to Tall Stacks 2003 was roughly equal to the 400,000 people who attend the Indy 500 and more than double the 150,000 fens who jam Churchill Downs on the first Saturday in May for the Kentucky Derby. Jl Movies J2 Business Dl Obituaries B6 Forum El Region B5 Life F7-U Sports CI Lotteries B8 TV TVWeek Classified GM6, Hl-20, 11-18 'A completely closed system' Critics want foster-care decisions out in the open Butler County child-protection officials refused to release case records after Marcus Fie-sel's death, a moved that sparked more criticism of the foster-care system. They hide behind silence, privacy, 'Nobody need to What you have is a completely closed system," says Hall Thompson, chairman of the board that oversees Butler County's children services. Proceedings are often kept secret from the public and media, and decisions are often made with little outside oversight Story, Bl put a $50 million charge into the local economy as hundreds of thousands of visitors converge on the riverfront with pockets full of cash to spend. An estimated 360,000 people attended the last event in 2003, pumping money into the cash registers of an array of local businesses, according to sales data and research conducted by Tall Stacks.

About a third of the 2003 visitors and half the spending came from out of town, surveys indicated. Tall Stacks doesn't gener First Run Classified E6 Copyright, 2006, The Cincinnati Enquirer III! The EnquirerErnest Coleman Ken Cromer (left) and Mike Dedeck of Gateway Concrete Forming Services put up scaffolding at the Public Landing to create an 1880 village for Tall Stacks. See TALL STACKS, Page A10 I140901II2Q10111 eckerKi i 'ril'iinii riifi 1 i iifiim i.