First Place, Feature Picture Story - Chris Russell / The Columbus Dispatch
First Place, Feature Picture Story - Chris Russell / The Columbus DispatchColumbus had 79 homicides in 2007 and the majority of them, 49, were young black males. Melvin Ruffin, 15, was the youngest of them. He was killed by two of his peers in an alley on his way home from a public library. His killing was an outrage but all too common.
First Place, Feature Picture Story - Chris Russell / The Columbus DispatchLaDawnya Ruffin is comforted by family and friends as they listen to the last message her son Melvin Ruffin,15, left on her phone before he was killed on his way home from a local library.
First Place, Feature Picture Story - Chris Russell / The Columbus DispatchA small shrine of blue ribbons and a photograph of Melvin are the last reminders of him at his mother's home. The police believe that the killing was gang related, but could not prove it. Blue is the color used by the Crips gang in Columbus.
First Place, Feature Picture Story - Chris Russell / The Columbus DispatchMelvin's light blue casket is carried from the funeral home by pallbearers wearing custom made t-shirts bearing the letters C.I.P. that , according to Melvin's younger sister, stood for "Crip in Peace", but LaDawnya Ruffin insists that her son was not a gang member.
First Place, Feature Picture Story - Chris Russell / The Columbus DispatchLaDawnya holds a light blue carnation while praying over the grave of her son Melvin Ruffin, 15, who was killed by two of his peers as he walked home from a local library. Blue is the color used to identify Crips gang members, but the police never proved Melvin's killing was gang related.
First Place, Feature Picture Story - Chris Russell / The Columbus DispatchMelvin's sister Kaykimia, 15, eats breakfast while Tyra, 4, plays with one of the posters that were printed to encourage witnesses to Melvin's killing to come forward. It was not until the spring of 2008 that police finally identified suspects in the case. The reluctance to testify in the gang infested neighborhood is common.
First Place, Feature Picture Story - Chris Russell / The Columbus DispatchA member of the Columbus Police Department's bike patrol passes by graffitti sprayed on the wall of a local church that memorializes Melvin's death.
First Place, Feature Picture Story - Chris Russell / The Columbus DispatchLaDawnya is comforted by a relative after returning to the site at Blake and Joyce Avenues where her son Melvin was killed almost one year earlier. The trial for his killer was scheduled to begin within a month.
First Place, Feature Picture Story - Chris Russell / The Columbus DispatchLaDawnya Ruffin places a wreath on Melvin's grave as she and family members gather to mark the anniversary of his death almost one year after the killing.
First Place, Feature Picture Story - Chris Russell / The Columbus DispatchLaDawnya Ruffin wipes a tear away while holding hands with her sister and two of her youngest children during a memorial for her son Melvin who was murdered almost one year from the day.
First Place, Feature Picture Story - Chris Russell / The Columbus DispatchA photo of Melvin Ruffin lying on the coroners table is projected in the courtroom while defendant, Bryant Sebastian and his defense attorney turn to look.
First Place, Feature Picture Story - Chris Russell / The Columbus DispatchAn angry LaDawnya Ruffin prays with her cousin Marilyn Gray and mother Karen Kelley while waiting for the judge to pass sentence on her son Melvin's killer. Bryant Sebastian, 19, was found guilty and sentenced to 18 years in prison. A 17 year old boy was scheduled to be tried for the murder later in the year.
Second Place, Feature Picture Story - Lisa DeJong / The Plain Dealer
Second Place, Feature Picture Story - Lisa DeJong / The Plain DealerOn Oct. 27, 1984, a headline in The Plain Dealer read: ' Disgusted judge gives repeat offender 30 years for rape.' Reporter Joanna Connors writes: "The story followed standard newspaper protocol. In it the victim was anonymous. In this version, the victim has a name. I am Joanna Connors and I am telling the story I kept private for 23 years. I'm doing it for all of the others who have survived sexual assault in silence, ashamed and afraid to tell their stories."
Second Place, Feature Picture Story - Lisa DeJong / The Plain DealerJoanna Connors walks across the grounds at Pickaway Correctional Institution, one of the many stops on her journey to find out about the life of her attacker, David Francis. Francis spent time at this prison in southern Ohio. "I knew he had gone to prison," Connors writes. " Beyond that, I didn't know much more than his name. Yet, if I made a list of the most influential people in my life, Dave would be near the top. He had controlled so much of how I lived my life."
Second Place, Feature Picture Story - Lisa DeJong / The Plain DealerA ghost light burns on the stage of Eldred Theater on the campus of Case Western Reserve University. Connors had not been back here since she was raped on the stage in 1984. "Like most rape victims, I was ashamed," Connors writes. " My shame was not about the sexual nature of the crime. It was about how I saw myself. I was ashamed of trusting this stranger, when I'm supposed to be a skeptical, observant reporter, and of not fighting back. I was ashamed of being a victim when I wanted to see myself as a strong, independent woman.
Second Place, Feature Picture Story - Lisa DeJong / The Plain DealerConnors started her research in the basement of the Old Courthouse in Cleveland. Boxes piled to the ceiling hold files and trial transcripts. "In the hallway, towers of stacked boxes formed a cardboard canyon of mortgage foreclosures. Divorce actions... murder trials, rape trials." Connors writes. " I felt hollow. I had entered a repository of grief, a warehouse holding the collective pain, bitterness, fear and sorrow of the people of Cuyahoga County. " Case Number Cr-193108: The State of Ohio v. David Francis, sat unread for more than 20 years.
Second Place, Feature Picture Story - Lisa DeJong / The Plain Dealer"I put my hand to my neck, where the dagger had been, " Connors recalls. "It felt sticky. I looked at my hand. A bright red smear. Yes: my blood. I looked down and saw more blood on my skirt. In that instant, everything came into sharp focus, as if someone had adjusted the lens on my fuzzy view of the world. 'Now', I thought. 'Now is when it happens to me.' I was 30 years old and this was the day I would die. " This typed page is part of the court transcript of Joanna's rape case.
Second Place, Feature Picture Story - Lisa DeJong / The Plain DealerUniversity Circle police arrested twenty-seven-year-old David Francis July 10, 1984, the day after the rape, in the same place at the same time of day. The gold cross dangled in the face of Joanna Connors as she was raped. David was just 12 when he got the first entry on his rap sheet; 53 other convictions followed. As Connors looked through the files, someone had scrawled the word "Deceased". David Francis died of Hodgkin's disease in prison in 2000.
Second Place, Feature Picture Story - Lisa DeJong / The Plain DealerThis neighborhood, inundated with religious signs, belies the crime-ridden streets where David Francis grew up in Dorchester, a neighborhood of Boston. His father, a pimp, would hang his sons on hooks and beat them with belts. Broke bones. He told his daughters they were nothing but a bed sheet for men. "Them kids didn't have any choice but to turn out the way they did," said Charlene Blakney, sister of David Francis.
Second Place, Feature Picture Story - Lisa DeJong / The Plain DealerIt was heartbreaking for Joanna Connors to only find overgrown weeds where her attacker grew up. She wanted to feel and touch a part of the sadness and poverty that was David's life. His home had since been burnt to the ground in an arson fire. "I used to tell people this family was cursed." David was a real loner. Had a problem with rage. "Nobody in the family knew much about David, 'cause whatever he was doing, he would keep it to himself. It was like David was this big mystery," Charlene said.
Second Place, Feature Picture Story - Lisa DeJong / The Plain DealerPhillip Francis, younger brother of David Francis, in the Massachusetts Treatment Center, a prison for sex offenders. Their father beat all of the boys. "I spend a lot of time crying. It's not my fault I was born, I didn't ask to be born, and I don't know what would possess any man to hurt a child like that, especially his own family. What did us kids do to deserve such a tragic life?" Phillip is in prison for molesting his nephew.
Second Place, Feature Picture Story - Lisa DeJong / The Plain DealerLaura Wills, David Francis' sister, was the youngest of the eight children. "I kept my distance from David, " Laura said. " He was always a problem child. I think he was disturbed in the head." When she was younger, Laura succumbed to drugs and prostitution. Even David, her own brother, wanted to pimp her out. She too, was raped. Now, age 43, she has a three-year-old son, goes to church four times a week and says that the church saved her life. Laura wished that David, too, would have found God.
Second Place, Feature Picture Story - Lisa DeJong / The Plain DealerPastor Anthony Singleton preaches at Emmanuel Christian Center in Cleveland, attended by Laura Wills, one of David Francis' sisters. "Say: 'How I was raised can't hurt me,' " he prompts. "Say: My past might be messed up, but my future is bright.' " For years, Laura Wills has fought drug addiction and depression, two things she blames on her violent childhood.
Second Place, Feature Picture Story - Lisa DeJong / The Plain DealerDavid Francis died in prison on Aug. 18, 2000. The grave is marked with a number, not a name. He is No. 130, marked by a small stone, in the inmate cemetery at Pickaway Correctional Institution in southern Ohio. The department of corrections buried his unclaimed body here, where he lies with 1,236 other inmates. "I looked down at the stone: No. 130. I stood there, feeling an odd emptiness now that my journey had come to an end.
Third Place, Feature Picture Story - Carrie Cochran / The Cincinnati Enquirer
Third Place, Feature Picture Story - Carrie Cochran / The Cincinnati EnquirerSeveral events in 2007 and 2008 made immigration a major issue of discussion. The metro area had seen a 48% increase in Hispanic immigrants from 2000-06. An outspoken sheriff of a county that had one of the most rapid increases, 72%, acquired special Immigration and Customs Enforcement (I.C.E.) designation for eight of his deputies. The Princeton Pike Church of God congregation prays in Hamilton.
Third Place, Feature Picture Story - Carrie Cochran / The Cincinnati EnquirerButler County, weekend of February 1, 2008. The Enquirer/Carrie Cochran
Third Place, Feature Picture Story - Carrie Cochran / The Cincinnati EnquirerPastor Josh Colon of the Princeton Pike Church of God in Hamilton rests his hands on a church member. "No matter what happens in the city of Hamilton.... no matter what people hear about this community, this is a place where people can feel the peace of God, and know that they're going to receive motivation and hope for their everyday lives," Colon said.
Third Place, Feature Picture Story - Carrie Cochran / The Cincinnati EnquirerEduardo Guerroro (left) owner of Cuba's Barbershop in Hamilton, has been in the U.S. for 28 years after living in New York City, Boston and Miami. He has four grown sons, one of which is in the U.S. Marines. Guerrero said that he came to the midwest because it was a better environment for his children and the cost of living here is less than the east coast.
Third Place, Feature Picture Story - Carrie Cochran / The Cincinnati EnquirerFrom left: Danny Bolanos, 8, Maria Bolanos, 31, Maryory Crutcher, 14, and Andrea Crutcher, 12, all of West Chester, wait for Maria's to get her hair done at Cuba's Barbershop in Hamilton, March 1, 2008.
Third Place, Feature Picture Story - Carrie Cochran / The Cincinnati EnquirerFourth-grader Claudia Nava, 9, a U.S. citizen, plays during recess with her friends March 5, 2008 at Central Elementary in Fairfield. She started English as a Second language classes at Central Elementary this school year in Fairfield after moving from Los Angeles. She came to Ohio from Los Angeles six months ago with limited English, but she already helps her mom interpret street signs and labels at the grocery store.
Third Place, Feature Picture Story - Carrie Cochran / The Cincinnati EnquirerClaudia was born on U.S. soil, and is therefore a citizen, but she is raised by her single mother from Mexico who works here illegally. Her mom has talked to Claudia about what she calls the "new law" in Butler County, referring to the stepped-up enforcement of immigration violations by Butler County sheriff's deputies. Her mother says that Claudia understands and sometimes doesn't want her mother to leave the house, for fear that she will be sent back to Mexico.
Third Place, Feature Picture Story - Carrie Cochran / The Cincinnati EnquirerThe Fourth Ward on East Avenue at Hanover Street in Hamilton has the most heavily concentrated Hispanic population in the city. Butler County's 8,200 Hispanic immigrants make up only 2.3% of the population here, but they are changing the social, political and economic landscape of the county.
Third Place, Feature Picture Story - Carrie Cochran / The Cincinnati EnquirerChildren play basketball March 1,2008 in the Fourth Ward of Hamilton, where there is a significant population of Hispanics and African-Americans. Just a few blocks away in June 2005, a 9-year-old white girl was allegedly raped by a Mexican man who was in the country illegally. The incident sparked racial unrest towards Hispanics and even brought the Klu Klux Klan to the area.
Third Place, Feature Picture Story - Carrie Cochran / The Cincinnati EnquirerButler County Sheriff's Deputy Randy Combs processes a suspected illegal immigrant March 5, 2008 at the Butler County Jail. Combs and seven other Butler County deputies completed Federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement training and now have the ability to detain and process suspects for immigration violations. Most law enforcement officials agree that only a small percentage of illegal immigrants commits crimes.
Third Place, Feature Picture Story - Carrie Cochran / The Cincinnati EnquirerHamilton Police Officer Eric Taylor talks talks to the Jasmin store owner March 12, 2008 in the Fourth Ward in Hamilton. She tells him that she just installed new security bars because she has recently been broke into twice. She doesn't think the acts were for money, though, because nothing was taken. She believes it's because someone doesn't want her here because she's Hispanic.
Third Place, Feature Picture Story - Carrie Cochran / The Cincinnati EnquirerLuis Pajares Landa, 22, and his wife, LoriAnn Klatte, 21, sit in their Fairfield apartment, in limbo. They had been married for seven months when I.C.E. raided Koch Foods, a factory where Pajares was working illegally packaging chicken parts. Pajares has a son in Peru, 19-month-old Lucas Pajares, to whom he sends money for food and clothes.
Award of Excellence, Feature Picture Story - Lisa DeJong / The Plain Dealer
Award of Excellence, Feature Picture Story - Lisa DeJong / The Plain DealerThe Zoppe Family Circus welcomes guests hungry for the old-world, traditional Italian circus experience. The 50-foot tent, erected strictly by man-power alone, houses the one-ring circus with 500 seats. Giovanni Zoppe, who now runs the circus, is a sixth-generation circus performer who grew up in his family's circus. The Zoppe Family Circus started in Italy in 1842 and was brought to the United States by his father Alberto Zoppe where the traveling circus performs in almost all of the 50 states.
Award of Excellence, Feature Picture Story - Lisa DeJong / The Plain DealerAcrobat Adrian Poema Jr., 5, juggles rings hoping to attract people to buy tickets for their circus. Adrian is part of "The Poema Family", acrobats originally from Argentina.
Award of Excellence, Feature Picture Story - Lisa DeJong / The Plain DealerGiovanni Zoppe balances aerialist Amy Riccio in front of a gathered crowd hoping to sell tickets to their circus at the Italian American Festival during a stop in Canton.
Award of Excellence, Feature Picture Story - Lisa DeJong / The Plain DealerGiovanni Zoppe dresses up as "Nino" inside his crowded trailer before his show at the Great Lakes Medieval Faire. The Zoppe Family Circus travels constantly in the summer, living with family and animals in tight spaces.
Award of Excellence, Feature Picture Story - Lisa DeJong / The Plain DealerAerialist Amy Riccio gets a sneak kiss from Lady during the performers' prayer circle just before the first show at the Great Lakes Medieval Faire. Before each and every show, all performers grab hands and take turns at a prayer. The dogs are members of "Rudolf's Performing Canines from Bavaria".
Award of Excellence, Feature Picture Story - Lisa DeJong / The Plain DealerSporting full Bavarian regalia, poodles Nicky, left, and Ginger hang in mid air backstage in the hands of their trainer, Carla Heinan, moments before the velvet curtains open for their grand entrance during the Zoppe Family Circus performance at the Great Lakes Medieval Faire in Rock Creek Lederhosen and ribbons have been a part of their world for years as part of "Rudolf's Performing Canines from Bavaria".
Award of Excellence, Feature Picture Story - Lisa DeJong / The Plain DealerGiovanni Zoppe paints his own face of makeup for every show when he performs as "Nino" the clown. The Zoppe Family Circus welcomes guests hungry for the old-world, traditional Italian circus experience. The 50-foot tent, erected strictly by man-power alone, houses the one-ring circus with 500 seats. Giovanni Zoppe, who now runs the circus, is a sixth-generation circus performer who grew up in his family's circus.
Award of Excellence, Feature Picture Story - Lisa DeJong / The Plain DealerGiovanni Zoppe (center) says hello to the crowd backstage at the Italian American Festival in Canton. Giovanni, who performs as the clown "Nino", is a sixth-generation circus performer who grew up in his family's circus. The Zoppe Family Circus started in Italy in 1842 and was brought to the United States by his father Alberto Zoppe, left. Alberto appeared in Cecil B. DeMille's film "The Greatest Show on Earth" as a circus performer.
Award of Excellence, Feature Picture Story - Lisa DeJong / The Plain DealerGiovanni Zoppe performs to a packed house as the clown 'Nino" inside their one-ring tent . The 50-foot-tall tent, erected strictly by man-power alone, houses the one-ring circus with 500 seats.
Award of Excellence, Feature Picture Story - Lisa DeJong / The Plain DealerGiovanni Zoppe performs as "Nino" inside the 60 X 90 foot tent. The one-ring circus is 50 feet tall and can house up to 500 guests. The tent is erected strictly by man power alone, no machines.
Award of Excellence, Feature Picture Story - Lisa DeJong / The Plain DealerRingmaster Tom Eggers claps for the performers as he tries to keep the velvet curtains from blowing inward caused by the fierce rainstorm outside in Canton.
Award of Excellence, Feature Picture Story - Lisa DeJong / The Plain DealerA circus crew member changes a light bulb on the wood sign above the performer's entrance inside the tent at the end of their show
