Cleveland (continued)

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CLEVELAND (continued)

     From PLAIN DEALER (Cleveland), 11 December 1978, pg. 24-A, col. 3
(letters):

     It would be easy to renounce my homeland.  When asked, I could simply
reply that I'm from somewhere between New York and Chicago.  Personally my
pride runs a bit deeper than that.  Although it may not be chic, I'm from
Cleveland.  Ask all the people who have suffered through my version of "The
Best Things In Life Are In Cleveland," or were curtly enlightened concerning
the cultural aspects of the "mistake on the lake."

     I went through nine reels of the Cleveland Plain Dealer from
October-December 1978, and that's the earliest I found.  The term may be in
August-September 1978 (when Mayor Dennis Kucinich barely survived a recall
election and lots of Cleveland jokes started).
    The term wasn't in the New York Times, 13 November 1978, pg. 1, cols.
2-3, "Cleveland Caught in Long Decline," or the letters about this article in
the Plain Dealer of 26 November 1978.  The New York Times article begins:

     "The best location in the nation" was the way the Cleveland Electric
Illuminating Company characterized this big industrial city in 1944.  So
promising did the city's future seem that the slogan was picked up by the
city's leaders and became its unofficial motto.

    OCLC WorldCat shows the CEIC using "Best Location In the Nation" in the
1940s.  It was also used by the Cleveland Convention Bureau in 1946.
    The Plain Dealer ran a page one article about the city's troubles on
October 29, 1978.  The continuation on page 11, col. 6, "For city, 1978
started badly, got worse" (which doesn't have "mistake on the lake") ends
with:

    It's no coincidence that this was the year when T-shirts  saying
"Cleveland--You've Got to be Tough" appeared.
    And the year's not over yet.

    Maybe I'll go through August-September 1978 next week.  I e-mailed the
Case Western Reserve University library about John C. Ransom's  THE "BEST
LOCATION IN THE NATION" TO "MISTAKE ON THE LAKE":  THE IMAGE AND REALITY OF
CLEVELAND, 1920s-1970s (1992).

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TOP TEN REASONS IT'S PROBABLY NOT A GOOD WEEK
#5--IRS AUDITORS

     Both of my parents died within 90 days of each other in 1997; my
mother's estate (she died last) is being audited.
     The auditor wanted about 100 receipts--all for small amounts.  My sister
spent the entire month getting receipts or replacement receipts.
     When we showed them to the auditor, he didn't even look at them.  He had
known all along that the expenses were legitimate.  We had done all that for
nothing!
     "It's a trick they pull," my sister said.  "It was mentioned in that
stuff you gave me off the internet.  It's to break you down.  We're going to
be killed."
      I was going to donate some money to DARE.  At least I know my money's
going to responsible government officials who care about me.