UH cancer patient discovers the healing power of art therapy

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Bulls 113, Cavaliers 98: LeBron James tallies 31, but Derrick Rose, Chicago roll. SPORTS, B1
Development
13, 2015
Friday
Party to your
heart’s content
Celebrating love on Valentine
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love celebrating on Mardi
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Fleetwood Mac: Just
‘Still Alice’: Julianne
in time for their show at The
FEBRUARY 13, 2015
ILLUSTRATION BY
TED CROW | THE PLAIN
DEALER
Q, Christine McVie is back
in the fold. PAGE 14
Moore is heartbreakingly
real as a woman in the throes
of Alzheimer’s. PAGE 7
Cleveland School of
the Arts: Festival of New
Works showcases students’
creations. PAGE 19
Tipoff
UH cancer patient discovers the healing power of art therapy
Jackson
vetoes Flats
East Bank
tax district
Mayor cites lack
of citywide benefits
Weather | A15
Self-service
BMV tries
car license
renewals
via kiosks
Supermarket tests
are planned in area
Leila Atassi
[email protected]
Jeremy Pelzer
[email protected]
Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson
has vetoed legislation that would
have empowered developers of
the Flats East Bank to raise taxes
in the district to pay for future
improvements and maintenance.
In a brief written statement
Thursday, Jackson said, “I do not
support raising taxes that will not
help deliver services throughout
the City of Cleveland or pay for
City debt.”
City Council, which passed the
legislation Monday, can override Jackson’s veto with 12 votes
— a two-thirds majority. But the
chances are slim, given that only
11 members
voted for the tax.
And even if
the council manages to overcome the veto,
the state law
governing the
creation of “new
community” tax Jackson
districts expires
in March. The ordinance needed
12 votes to pass as an emergency
measure. Without that designation, it would take effect in 30
days, likely too late if state legislators decline to renew the statute.
Council members Martin Keane,
Anthony Brancatelli, TJ Dow, Brian
Kazy and Dona Brady voted no on
the ordinance. Council President
Kevin Kelley did not cast a vote because his law firm, Porter Wright,
is representing the developers.
Councilman Joe Cimperman,
who sponsored the legislation,
said in an interview Thursday
that he “will do anything” to rally
his colleagues’ support for the
measure.
“On one side, we have a developer who has spent half a billion
dollars in the city, with a lot of city
support, and on the other, a mayor
who I love and respect,” Cimperman said. “I respect everyone’s
vote and position. But we have to
figure this out. We absolutely want
this project to get done the right
way. And there are gaps, there are
needs that must be met.”
The legislation would authorize the council clerk to sign and
submit a petition asking the state
legislature to create a new community authority — essentially
declaring the Flats East Bank a
special tax district.
Doing so would empower the
developers, The Wolstein Group
and Fairmount Properties, to impose a 1½ percent sales tax, a 2
percent bed tax and a 2 percent
parking tax in the district in addition to the city’s normal tax
rates.
Columbus — Renewing your
Ohio vehicle registration might
soon be as easy as a trip to your
local supermarket.
The Ohio Bureau of Motor
Vehicles is preparing to test selfservice kiosks in supermarkets
in Cleveland, Cincinnati and Columbus, according to the Ohio
Department of Public Safety.
The machines are part of the
agency’s “BMV4U” pilot project
set to start in the next six to eight
weeks, Safety Director John Born
said.
Kiosk users will just need to
swipe their driver’s license and
credit card, and the machine will
spit out vehicle registration stickers, Born said. The BMV won’t
charge any additional fee for using
the machines, DPS said, though
credit-card charges will apply.
see BMV | A16
Tax season
PHOTOGRAPHS BY LONNIE TIMMONS III | THE PLAIN DEALER
Peter Rinaldi’s artwork is on prominent display at University Hospitals Case Medical Center.
Creative outlet during chemo
brings comfort, spurs exhibit
Peter Rinaldi touched his right index finger to
a small button on his throat, activating a voice
box prosthesis, and spoke in a slightly froggy but
pleasant tone:
“They’re kind of all my favorites,” he said as he
surveyed his work on prominent display at UniMichael K. versity Hospitals Case Medical Center. Doctors
and nurses — some of them his caregivers as he
McIntyre
receives treatment for cancer — hobnobbed at the
first-ever opening for a patient/artist.
Even the hospital’s bigwig, CEO Tom Zenty,
stopped down to take in the show and chat up the artist.
Each of the eclectic works spoke a different message to patrons,
and each told a story. They were created during a time — after
surgery for laryngeal cancer — when Rinaldi had no other voice.
Rinaldi, 78, worked as a General Motors machine technician
much of his life in Warren, where he lives, but he always had an
artistic side. “As far back as I can remember, I liked to draw. I got
scolded in school for drawing in class when I wasn’t supposed to be
drawing. I was always doodling,” he said.
see TIPOFF | A3
see FLATS | A16
As a young student, “I was always doodling,” says Peter
Rinaldi, 78. But until his cancer, he didn’t know what a
comfort art could be, and what a voice it could give him.
Need IRS
about now?
Good luck
with that
At this busy time, try
irs.gov before calling
Teresa Dixon Murray
[email protected]
This weekend is expected to
be one of the busiest periods for
customer service workers at the
Internal Revenue Service.
You might want to do yourself
a favor: Don’t call them.
The IRS this week said the Presidents Day holiday weekend is a
popular time for many of the nation’s more than 130 million tax filers to dig out their records, fire up
their calculators and log onto software to start preparing their return.
But because the IRS has endured $600 million in budget
cuts, including cutbacks in its
customer service department, tax
filers are encouraged to try to find
answers on the IRS’ website, irs.
gov. see IRS | A16
TODAY’S NEWS
METRO, A6
PAGE 2
METRO, A5
BUSINESS, A10
The Great Backyard Bird Count
IDs of men lost
in 1813 revealed
Dems pick Philly
for ’16 convention
Bill would raise
minimum wage
The 18th annual count will be held today through Monday. The event
offers bird lovers of all ages a chance to participate in creating realtime snapshots of bird populations.
CES: Ohio Department of Natural
rces; Audubon; Ohio Ornithological Society
ckli
cklist
House Sparrow
6
74776 18011
4
Blue Jay
The names of the two American
sailors whose bodies were washed
up in Avon Lake have been revealed by author and Avon Lake
Pileated
native William Krejci. Henry Van
Woodpecker
Poole and Richard Williams, both
of Pennsylvania, died on a boat
and their bodies were “buried at
sea” in the lake, not far from Avon
Lake, on Sept. 22, 1813, said Krejci. They had died of typhus and
wounds suffered in the Battle of
Lake Erie days before, Krejci said.
They were being transported to a
hospital in Erie, Pennsylvania, at
the time of their deaths.
Philadelphia will host the 2016
Democratic National Convention,
emerging from a field of finalists
that included Columbus and New
York. The convention is set for
the week of July 25. The decision
means Ohio won’t host back-toback political conventions in the
summer of 2016. Republicans selected Cleveland for their event,
which is scheduled for the week
before Democrats gather. The lure
of going toe-to-toe with Republicans in a big battleground state
was figured to be at least one factor in Columbus’ favor.
The low-wage workers’ movement, which successfully lobbied
last year for minimum wage hikes
in many parts of the country,
could rally to increase Ohio’s minimum wage to $10.10. Recently
State Sen. Kenny Yuko, the Richmond Heights Democrat, introduced Senate Bill 25 that would
give minimum wage workers in
Ohio a $2-an-hour raise in January 2016. The state’s minimum
wage is currently $8.10. As of Jan.
1, 29 states and Washington, D.C.,
have minimum wages above the
federal minimum.
The Plain Dealer | cleveland.com
MN
John Caniglia
[email protected]
C l e v e l a n d — A Cuyahoga
County judge Thursday threw
out the 1985 murder conviction
of death row inmate Anthony
Apanovitch based on DNA evidence, and ordered a new trial
into the slaying of Mary Anne
Flynn.
Common Pleas Judge Robert
McClelland also acquitted Apanovitch, now 59, of one count
of rape and dismissed another
count of rape.
Mc Clelland ordered Apanovitch to be released on
$100,000 personal bond, pending the new trial.
Based on the decisions involving the rape allegations,
the new trial would focus solely
on the charges of aggravated
murder and aggravated burglary.
County Prosecutor Timothy
J. McGinty said his office will
seek to block the judge’s ruling
and keep Apanovitch behind
bars. McGinty said he will take
the case to the 8th Ohio District Court of Appeals.
“Setting a personal bond —
which means the defendant
doesn’t have to post a dime —
on someone charged with aggravated murder, aggravated
burglary, and two counts of
rape is unprecedented in the
history of this courthouse,”
McGinty said.
“These shockingly and disturbingly brutal crimes were
proved. This is hardly a crime
meriting personal bond, which
endangers the safety of the
public. Worse yet, Apanovitch
committed these crimes while
on probation for a sexual assault, and he also had been to
prison for aggravated robbery.”
In his nine-page ruling, McClelland cited a hearing in October in which experts testified
about the DNA in the case.
“The evidence at the hearing is substantially different
than at the original trial, and
the earlier decision is, at least
in part, clearly erroneous and
would work a manifest injustice.’’
The judge said a suspect’s
DNA was found in two places
in Flynn’s body. One sample
did not contain enough material for a valid result, according
to McClelland’s ruling.
The judge said Apanovitch’s
exper t , Dr. Richard Staub,
stressed that the other sample
excluded him.
McGinty disputed that. His
office said initial DNA tests
proved that Apanovitch was
the killer. A subsequent test
was inconclusive.
“Since his conviction, DNA
testing was perfected and
proved that the jury was ab-
solutely right all along by the
odds of 1 in 285 million Caucasians that Apanovitch committed these crimes,” the prosecutor said.
Mark DeVan, one of the attorneys who represents Apanovitch, hailed the decision.
He said Apanovitch will not
simply walk out of prison. He
said a suitable place for him to
live would have to be found,
and he would have electronic
monitoring.
“Mr. Apanovitch is grateful
the court reviewed the evidence and granted him a new
trial,’’ DeVan said.
“He has maintained his innocence for 30 years.’’
Attorneys from Crowell and
Moring, a Washington, D.C.,
firm that also represents Apanovitch, could not be reached.
Prosecutors said Apanovitch
raped, beat and strangled
Flynn, a 33-year-old nursemidwife, on Aug. 24, 1984 in
Cleveland.
Authorities said the attack
took place at her Archwood
Avenue home, which she had
hired Apanovitch to paint. Witnesses testified he intimidated
and lusted after her, and he
gave police conflicting statements.
But the issue has gained a
great deal of publicity over the
years.
It took off when Ohio Supreme Cour t Justice Craig
Wright wrote to the state parole board in 1996, saying he
had changed his mind about
the case and believed that Apanovitch’s sentence should be
reduced to life imprisonment.
Wright had been the author of
the 4-3 opinion upholding Apanovitch’s conviction and death
sentence.
“I’m pretty numb right now,’’
said Martin Flynn of Shaker
Heights, Mary Anne’s older
brother. “I’m stunned by the
whole thing. I didn’ t see it
coming.
“Every time something like
this comes up, we get dragged
right back into it. I still have
the knot in my stomach that I
had when I found my sister’s
body. This is a nightmare that
you can’t wake up from.’’
Mc G i n t y a g r e e d : “ D e a t h
penalty cases have been subjected to ridiculous levels of
scrutiny, creating decades of
absurd delay at the cost of millions of dollars and countless
hours of agony and frustration
for families of victims who
have not received the justice
they deserve.
“We have been fighting for
Mary Anne and her family for
30 years, have won appeal after appeal, and will continue to
do so. This is only a temporary
setback.”
from A1
He draws and paints and
sculpts and carves. He makes
fine furniture and stunning
stained glass. He’s known for his
whimsical work with golf balls
— goofballs, people call them —
where he cleanly removes half
the white cover and then carves
an interesting design, a name or
a face into the rubber core.
But until his cancer, he didn’t
know what a comfort art could
be, and what a voice it could
give him.
“It kind of made my pain subside,” he said. “When you got
the blues, it’d go away.”
A nurse at UH’s Seidman Cancer Center first noticed Rinaldi
drawing on a “Boogie Board,”
an inexpensive, paperless memo
pad he used for communicating.
He drew a portrait of Rainbow
Babies & Children’s Hospital,
which he could see out his window. She alerted the art therapy
department.
In came art therapist Stephen
Macek, who had a cart filled
with all kinds of media and
supplies. Rinaldi had always enjoyed realistic depictions in his
work, with colored pencil or oil
paint. Macek got him to branch
out into abstract works which,
especially when chemo took a
hard grip, was more soothing.
“It was a relief,” said Rinaldi.
“I could express myself, but
I didn’t have to do something
somebody could recognize.”
“He is a man who is willing
to take risks and adapt and
that translates to his treatment
as well,” said Macek. “And the
importance of the art here was
having people learn about who
he is. It goes beyond just him
being a patient. He is a human
being with a story to share and
not just someone with cancer
who is being treated.”
He spent 18 days in the hospital, his in-bed art projects making the recovery more tolerable.
“Imagine waking up and you
are not able to talk and you
breath through a hole in your
throat,” said Rinaldi’s wife,
Kathy, who ge ts choked up
when she talks about how much
his engagement in art during
the toughest times of his illness
helped pull him through. “It
was a godsend for him.”
Rinaldi was discharged in December 2013. In the meantime,
he worked on art projects in
his art room and workshop at
home. He learned a few months
back that the cancer had spread
to his lungs, and so he continues a two-weeks-on, one-weekoff regimen of chemotherapy on
Thursdays. And he continues to
work on new pieces, taking a
break to organize the UH exhibition.
He was pleased to see some of
his paintings already have red
dots on their name cards. That
means they’ve been bought.
Tom Huck, UH’s art curator,
said he’d heard about Rinaldi’s
PHOTOGRAPHS BY LONNIE TIMMONS III | THE PLAIN DEALER
One of the paintings that is part of the art therapy program at University Hospital.
works and thought it might be
nice to display a piece or two in
the hospital. Then he met the
man and saw his collection.
“I saw the variety, realism to
abstract, and just said, ‘This really warrants an exhibition,’ ”
said Huck. “It was really powerful. And when I talked to him in
infusion [where he was getting
chemotherapy] about his art, he
just sat up and got full of energy
and it was like, this is why we’re
here.”
The art therapists at UH are
excited about Rinaldi’s talent,
the role art is playing in his
treatment and in his success.
But they are quick to caution
that most patients don’t possess his innate talents. Which
is just fine.
“People think you have to
have ability to do art therapy,
but it is often the opposite,” said
art therapist Barbara DiScenna.
UH has a new studio in the
Seidman Cancer Center for patients to use to create and it
is offering workshops for the
broader community through
a grant from Cuyahoga Arts &
Culture.
Rinaldi’s art, which will be on
the wall in UH’s Lerner Tower
until Feb. 20, is a testament
to the strength of the patient,
to his own strength. His letter
hangs on the wall preceding the
exhibition. His words carry as
much power as the acrylics on
canvas.
“[Art] gives me not only inner strength, but physical motivation to persevere beyond my
body’s weaknesses due to illness
and side effects from treatment.
… When I am making art, I become very focused on what’s in
front of me. Concerns and issues I have seem to drop into
the background. … [Art] picks
my brain for better thoughts and
allows me to tuck the pain away.”
POISON HOTLINE
The Northern Ohio Poison Center offers emergency advice and
information about potentially
dangerous products. Call 1-800222-1222 anytime.
Peter Rinaldi’s art will be
on the wall in University
Hospital’s Lerner Tower
until Feb. 20. “[Art] gives
me not only inner strength,
but physical motivation to
persevere beyond my body’s
weaknesses due to illness and
side effects from treatment,”
Rinaldi said.
Judge tosses out
inmate’s murder
conviction in ’85
A3
TIPOFF
DNA evidence
Friday, February 13, 2015
WR
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