Winner: Procter & Gamble has made two generous gifts related to the lurid slave story of Margaret Garner - one to the Cincinnati Opera and the other to the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center opening this summer on Cincinnati's central riverfront.

The P&G Fund made a $600,000 lead grant in sponsoring the new opera Margaret Garner, which will premier in Cincinnati Opera's 2005 season. It's the company's first commissioned opera in 84 years. Grammy Award-winning composer Richard Danielpour and Nobel Prize-winning novelist Toni Morrison have teamed up to create the new work, and mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves already has committed to star in the title role.

This week Procter donated to the Freedom Center a rare 1867 oil painting depicting the Cincinnati cabin murder scene in which escaped slave Margaret Garner killed her 3-year-old daughter rather than let slave hunters take her back to bondage. The painting by Kentucky artist and abolitionist Thomas Satterwhite Noble has been in Procter's corporate collection for more than two decades, since before Toni Morrison's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Beloved (1987) about the Garner case. The Enquirer reported on the sensational 1856 slaying when in happened.

The sponsorship gift to Cincinnati Opera not only anchors the $1.8 million total budget for the new Margaret Garner production but also supports the opera company's community outreach programs, including Thursday's Opera Rap session at Memorial Hall featuring composer Richard Danielpour and the Freedom Center's Carl B. Westmoreland discussing the opera project. Opera Artistic Director Nicholas Muni said, "The deep local ties and national significance of Margaret Garner's story combined with the high-caliber creative team make this new opera a fitting tribute to the Freedom Center and all that it represents to our city and to our nation."

Loser: Fakes of any sort can be a letdown, but fake philanthropists can be cruelly disappointing. Police have charged Kenneth Arron, 41, with forgery involving false promises made to the Taft Museum. Arron reportedly made promises to several nonprofits that a Body Chemistre Cares Foundation would award scholarships and make other charitable contributions. Arron did work on commission for a Chicago-based company, Body Chemistre, but no such foundation exists. If guilty, he is only the latest sweet-talking con man to deceive local leaders. Taft Museum officials on his word awarded two extra scholarships, only to learn later that the foundation was a fake. The Taft honored the scholarship awards. None of Arron's other pledges were ever paid. His attorney Jack Rubenstein said he has seen no evidence to support the charge.

Another fast-talker, LaShawn Pettus-Brown, was indicted this week for trying to defraud Cincinnati out of $184,000. Has the word gotten out Cincinnati is loaded with soft touches? If so, would-be flimflammers should take note: Two of their alleged brethren are vacationing here in jail.

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This feature appears every Saturday. Is there someone or something you think deserves to be designated as a winner or a loser based on the week's news? Send a name and a brief explanation of why you think they deserve the label to Ray Cooklis at rcooklis@enquirer.com.