Case ID: ohio-st_127/html/0084-01.html
Source: Caselaw Access Project
Author: {"author": "By the Court.", "license": "Public Domain", "url": "https://static.case.law/"}
Date Created: 2024-08-24T03:29:51.129683

The State, ex rel. Ellis, City Solicitor, v. Urner, City Auditor.
    (No. 24148
    Decided June 21, 1933.)
    
      Mr. John D. Ellis, city solicitor, and Mr. Murray Seasongood, for relator.
    
      Messrs. Zielonka S Kuerts, for respondent.
   By the Court.

It was held by this court in the case of Bising v. City of Cincinnati, 126 Ohio St., 218, 184 N. E., 837, in the third paragraph of the syllabus, that:

“In this instance, a city ordinance adopted a periodical, styled the ‘City Bulletin,’ as ‘an official newspaper’ of the city. The publications contained in the Bulletin were confined solely to the proceedings of the city and its municipal officers; it contained neither news of other public bodies nor notices of general current events, either local or foreign. Measured by the definitions given to the word ‘newspaper,’ by lexicographers and by the courts: Held — That the City Bulletin was not a newspaper, within the meaning of that term as used in the ordinance and city charter.”

The record in this case presents numerous facts with reference to the nature of the City Bulletin, published by the city of Cincinnati as its official newspaper, which were not presented in the Bising case. It appears in the stipulation entered into on behalf of all parties to the controversy that the City Bulletin was entered as second class matter at the post office in Cincinnati upon March 19, 1928, under the Act of March 3,1879, Section 7 et seq. (Title 39, Section 221, et seq., U. S. Code), and has ever since enjoyed the privileges of second class mail matter. It also appears in such stipulation that the clerk of council publishes the City Bulletin, and it has been published once each week from May 3, 1927, to date. It contains the following:

Annual Appropriation Ordinance
Auction Sales of the City
Advertisement for bids of the City
Police Confiscations
Council Proceedings
City Planning Commission Proceedings, including complete minutes of meetings
City Manager’s Annual Budget
City Manager’s Annual Report
City Manager — Bulletins
City Auditor’s Annual Report
Cases decided by the Zoning Boards of Appeals
Civil Service Examinations and full information of requirements therefor
Contracts awarded with names of bidders and amounts thereof
Election Notices — by City Manager
Legal Notices — Public Hearings (Council)
To Improve Sidewalks
To Non-resident Owners
Estimated Assessments
Preparation of Sewer Plans
Sales of Property
Mayor’s Annual Message
Municipal Court Report
Municipal Directory and Telephone Numbers
Mayor’s Proclamations
Notice of Regulations — Street Openings
Ordinances Passed
Public Hearings — Zoning Board of Appeals — Civil Service Rules
Regulations — Board of Health
Resolutions Passed

In addition to lished: the above the Bulletin has also pub-

May 3, 1927 Welfare Department request for clothing
Thanks to Recreation Commission
May 10, 1927 Memorial Day Parade Planned
May 24, 1927 Traffic Markings Designated
Warning to Builders
City Manager explains Traffic Ordinance
In re Typhoid Fever
June 7, 1927 Value of Building Permit, illustrative chart
Tribute to Charles P. Taft
Donation of Dirt
June 14, 1927 A poem on Carelessness
Aug. 2, 1927 Workhouse Opening
Aug. 23, 1927 Recreation Commission Activities
Aug. 30, 1927 University Evening Courses
Sept. 6, 1927 Changes in Civil Service Commission
Columbus Day Hike
Oct. 4, 1927 Good Times for Girls
Jan. 10, 1928 City Manager’s New Year’s Remarks
Jan. 17, 1928 Phenol Condition in Water
Apr. 3, 1928 Employes plan Banquet
May 8, 1928 Mayor and City Officials to attend Municipal Dance
May 29, 1928 Memorial Day Parade Planned
June 6, 1928 Speech of William von Hoene on “Municipal Government”
Oct. 16, 1928 Talk by Fred K. Hoehler re Welfare Department
Oct. 23, 1928 Grover C. Smith talk on “Safety”
Oct. 30, 1928 “Why a City Treasurer?”
Nov. 6,1928 Supervisors’Club Proposed
Nov. 13, 1928 Cincinnati Municipal Court Explained
Public Health and Public Business
Nov. 20, 1928 Municipal Housekeeping
Nov. 27, 1928 The General Hospital
Dec. 4, 1928 History of the Cincinnati Police Force
Dec. 11, 1928 The Recreation Commission Explained
Dec. 18, 1928 Municipal Airport
Dec.' 25, 1928 Notes on Street Paving River Front Abstract
Jan. 1, 1929 “Our FireDepartment’’
Jan. 8, 1929 Announcement — Junior Executive Group Dinner
City Plan of Cincinnati
Jan. 15, 1929 Public Welfare
Jan. 22, 1929 ‘‘Civil Service — What is it?” City Manager Address
Jan. 29, 1929 Municipal Accounting
Feb. 5, 1929 Rapid Transit and the Central Parkway
Feb. 12, 1929 Municipal Junior Executive Association Dinner
City and Railroad Terminal
Feb. 19, 1929 City Council — A dissertation
Feb. 26, 1929 City Finances
March 5, 1929 The Department of Buildings — re Public Welfare
March 19, 1929 Information Service for City Governments
March 26, 1929 The Sewer System of Cincinnati
April 2, 1929 Municipal Employes Dance; Public Prosecutor Talk
April 9, 1929 An Address on Zoning
April 16, 1929 Park Recreation — A Talk
May 7, 1929 Park Development
May 14, 1929 Personnel Administration
May 28, 1929 Street Repair and Maintenance; City Employes Honored
Aug. 20, 1929 Memorial to Sir Richard Crane
Jan. 1, 1930 Inaugural Address of Mayor Wilson
April 4, 1930 Picture Cut of Elsinore Tower
Supplement to Code — Notice of Sale
Oct. 9, 1930 Information of General Interest re
University Evening Courses
Aug. 30, 1932 University Evening Courses Outlined
Analysis of 47 Cities’ Tax Rates for 1932 Expenses
June 28, 1932 Request from New York Library for City Bulletin
March 28, 1933 Conservatory in Eden Park Officially Opened
Distribution of Building Code

It therefore now appears to the court 'that the periodical in question contains news and happenings of local and general interest, social, political, moral, business, professional and educational, intended for the information of the general reading public of Cincinnati. None of these facts were presented in the Bising case, supra.

The third paragraph of the syllabus in the case of Bising v. City of Cincinnati, 126 Ohio St., 218, 184 N. E., 837, is hereby overruled.

Since the defense of the city auditor is bottomed upon the decision in the third paragraph of the syllabus in the Bising case, the writ will be allowed.

Writ allowed.

Day, Allen, Stephenson, Jones and Matthias, JJ.? concur.

Bevis, J., not participating.