Robert Walter Jones (October 5, 1930 – February 26, 1998) was a Cleveland, Ohio lawyer, politician, law professor, civil rights litigator and environmentalist.
[3] As the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) moved ahead on pollution control, the Attorney General of the United States, John N. Mitchell gave a press conference December 18, 1970: “As in the case of other government departments and agencies, EPA refers civil and criminal suits to the Department of Justice, which determines whether there is a base for prosecution and of course, if we find it so, we proceed with court action…And today, I would like to announce that we are filing suit this morning against the Jones and Laughlin Steel Company.
[5][6] It was the time of the first legal steps taken by the EPA and the Department of Justice to prosecute water polluters and protect the Cuyahoga River and Lake Erie.
[8][9] U.S. Attorney Robert W. Jones filed the misdemeanor charges in District Court Wednesday, alleging violations of the 1899 Rivers and Harbors Act.
[10] A federal grand jury here indicted four corporations yesterday for polluting Lake Erie and waterways in northeast Ohio.
[11] In twin suits filed in U.S. District Court here, the U.S. Steel Corp. was accused of dumping cyanides in the Cuyahoga and Black rivers.
Subsequently, Jones filed suit October 13, 1971 asking that Metals Applied Inc. be enjoined from dumping “hexavalent chromium, suspended solids and oil” into the Cuyahoga River.
The Act creation was inspired by the burning Cuyahoga River fire news reports that had sparked an environmental revolution.
[13][14] In 1972, three years after the Cuyahoga River caught fire and amid pressures from the EPA, Mayor Ralph Perk formed the NEORSD-or the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District with the assistance of Jones.
The Ohio EPA, The NEORSD, The City of Cleveland and many others have celebrated the 50th anniversary of the recovery of the Cuyahoga River and Lake Erie since the fire of 1969, including events and news articles.
This case involving civil and political rights eventually was heard by The Ohio Supreme Court; it was summarized in a Plain Dealer News Article in 1969: “Suspicious Persons Law Killed by Court.”[19] In 1967 the Plain Dealer reported how Jones became his defendant's hero, “Unwanted Lawyer Is Hero Now:” Jack Klein was acquitted of theft charges through the efforts of a court appointed lawyer [Jones] he tried to fire.
“Those ‘deep blue eyes’ were a very light hazel.” Jones was promoted to chief trial attorney after 4 years with the Public Defender’s Office.
Former United Mine Worker's president W. A. Boyle was eventually indicted by a Grand Jury on a charge of conspiring to murder Joseph A. Yablonski, his rival for the union leadership in 1969.
[29] Jones ran as the losing Republican candidate for Cuyahoga County Prosecutor against the long-term incumbent John T. Corrigan in November 1972.
[30] In December 1976 The Bar Association of Greater Cleveland sent Republican Governor Rhodes its recommendations for four vacancies in the Probate, Common Pleas and Municipal Courts.