Gary Larson, creator of The Far Side, once did a cartoon that showed a grizzled old cowpoke lifting a coffeepot from the campfire. Though at first glance both the poke and the pot appear to be standard cattle-drive issue, upon closer inspection the pot has some funny-looking spouts and attachments…
Faced with the single biggest embarrassment in the modern history of their newspaper, top Dallas Morning News editors went to great lengths last week to explain why they had published, then retracted, then reasserted a story about a government eyewitness to sex between the president and a 21-year-old intern. Unfortunately,…
The dog never smells its own DISD board member Don Venable has a tendency to attach himself to nitpicky legal issues like a rabid chihuahua, running, yapping, ripping, and biting till he manages to score a bloody chunk of flesh. Venable has sued the district several times over the years,…
Biting back It was comforting to have “Buzz” confirm it was my fault that “It’s A Bad Deal!” lost by 1,600+ votes [“Winners and whiners,” January 22]. I thought it was a little arrogant of me to assume that responsibility since over 300 people worked in our campaign and over…
Richard Hamburger, Dallas Theater Center’s artistic director, has a taste for the perverse. Maybe that’s why he’s preparing to stage Long Day’s Journey Into Night, Eugene O’Neill’s claustrophobic drama about one tormented family’s day of bitter revelation, in the Arts District Theater, DTC’s gigantic downtown space. That’s roughly the artistic…
The courtyard at the new Treymore Apartments in East Dallas was filled with high-profile types–visiting dignitaries, elected officials, land developers–most of whom wouldn’t be caught dead in a subsidized housing project if not for the staged photo-op that kept TV cameras rolling on a hot afternoon last September. The city…
Tanks a lot, Mr. Loncar Tank-driving attorney Brian Loncar doesn’t see the inside of a courtroom that often. After all, as Dallas Observer staff writer Thomas Korosec revealed in his January 9, 1997, cover story “Smash ’em and smile,” Loncar essentially ran a lawsuit mill–where untrained, underpaid staff churned personal…
Black and Hispanic community leaders–at each other’s throats in recent months over the Gonzalez-Harden mess at DISD–are drawing together, very carefully, over a school issue that could really blow the roof off. Both blacks and Hispanics think they may finally be onto the reason why kids of color come out…
Dallas’ richest deadbeat Having just finished reading your extensive article on Vance Miller’s financial “woes” [“Deadbeat,” January 15], this has to be, without a doubt, one of the most egregious examples of upper-class arrogance and refusal to accept responsibility that I have ever heard of. Hell, if the rest of…
On this cold January morning, patches of steam rise from the ground that separates the homes of Charlotte Parkhurst and Mike Rhoads, two Pleasant Grove neighbors who are in the most unfortunate predicament of being stuck with each other. Their homes sit atop the second-highest point in Dallas, a hill…
If the grand plan to rebuild the Trinity River floodway through Dallas ever gets done–a one- to two-billion-dollar package of levees, parks, highways, and ponds–someone should erect an obelisk beside it with the words of Noah Cross. This genially evil character from Chinatown, Roman Polanski’s 1974 movie, says: “Politicians, ugly…
State regulators are finally getting tough with the Dallas County Community Action Committee, the anti-poverty agency where nepotism, sweetheart contracting, and other shenanigans have flushed tens of thousands of dollars of taxpayer money down the pipes. In a letter dated December 30, the state demanded repayment of the $66,963 the…
Winners and whiners Buzz has conducted its own statistical analysis and concluded that at least 1,643 pro-arena votes–last Saturday’s margin of victory, plus one–can be attributed to the ghastly presence of Sharon Boyd, treasurer of the It’s a Bad Deal! campaign. In numerous interviews, and most notably in a televised…
Pick the Mayor’s pocket I’ve heard the pro-arena forces swear up and down that the new tax on hotels and auto rentals is only going to affect those that travel to our fair city and not our existing hard-working, over-taxed citizenry. Well, there’s an easy way to prove this—just waive…
This should be a routine collection matter. Two federal marshals, a locksmith, several appraisers, and a lawyer armed with a court order approach the two-story mansion at 3815 Beverly Drive, making ready to seize art, jewelry, antiques–anything of value to satisfy a judgment that has remained outstanding for far too…
Parting shots The fat lady is warming up her voice, and by the time Buzz rolls around again, the Mavs and the Stars will be laying plans for a new Dallas arena or reserving a U-Haul to move out to the sticks. So, here it is, our last chance to…
No matter what bleeding-heart notions lured them in the beginning, eventually those who toil at the business of crime and punishment tend to develop tough hides. But every now and then, a case makes its way through the criminal justice system that awakens outrage in the most scabbed-over heart. Like…
The change certainly was swift. In less than 48 hours last week, Dallas Independent School District trustees made a 180-degree turn in their position about the release of more of the notorious Peavy Tapes. At least, that was how it appeared from letters board lawyer Kim Askew sent to federal…
Sack man I remember the Dallas Cowboys’ ’77 season very well. Harvey Martin [“The comeback of Harvey Martin,” January 8] is correct on his sack total. The Dallas Morning News kept a running total that year. He ended up “Martinizing” quarterbacks 23 times. The NFL tends to glorify Reggie White,…
The football field is a dull, dry brown against the blue December sky. It’s generous even to call it a football field; it looks more like an enormous patch of dead grass bookended by goalposts so lopsided, it seems a strong gust of wind could blow them over. Along one…
Thin air Enough is enough. In the past, Buzz has tried to show compassion when KERA radio talk show host Glenn Mitchell dragged out his intro or lingered over an anecdote a little too long, obviously trying to fill what otherwise would be dead air. But this week, Mitchell hit…
Samuel Abraham’s cell in the Dallas County Jail offers, as one would expect, few amenities. On one side of the small quarters where Abraham has lived since his arrest November 4 sits a narrow, hard bed. On the other, a stainless steel contraption doubles as a toilet and sink. But…
