It had been an embarrassing week of missed deadlines: no master agreement, no arena site, no substantive communication from the teams. City Manager John Ware had spent all day last Wednesday pacing the council chambers, nervously popping nuts into his mouth, waiting for the phone to ring–waiting for a green…
Gene Reitnauer devoted her life and Wise County home to caring for abused and abandoned exotic felines. Now, after a protracted legal battle brought by two wealthy donors, Reitnauer has lost it all–the sanctuary she built, access to the cats she loved, and possibly even the rights to her home…
Beyond crappy Laura, great article [“Priced to sell out,” November 6], but unfortunately the deal is even worse than you presented, because the super-rich owners are not going to have $110 million in it by any stretch of the imagination. First they are free to sell ticket licenses or bonds,…
“That’s not how you do it!” insists Chris Ware, who at a lanky, falsetto-voiced 16 could pass for 11. He’s criticizing friend and classmate Robert Headrick’s impersonation of an effeminate gay man. Sixteen-year-old Headrick is heterosexual, after all, so some important details are lost in translation. We’re waiting for world…
Mr. Schieffer goes to Austin For those Texas Rangers fans who want to know why their beloved baseball team fails year after year to live up to expectations, we advise you look only to the man in charge–general partner and president Tom Schieffer, a man who apparently never took to…
The denizens of the Frank Crowley Criminal Courts Building are no strangers to controversy, gossip, or for that matter, rumbles with the Dallas County Commissioners. Even so, tensions at the courthouse may have reached new heights. First came ParkingGate, in which Dallas County Commissioner Jim Jackson or his lackeys leaked…
To people already in a state of posttraumatic stress from dealing with the boozed-up, belligerent, peeing-in-the-shrubbery nightclubbers who visit their street every weekend, the idea sounds particularly cruel: Turn an old Baptist church that has worked as a weak buffer between their homes and the bars on Lowest Greenville into…
Laura, have some fun Poor indignant Laura. Sensitive, maternal Laura. Semi-retirement in the cause of grub-wrangling hasn’t done much for her sense of humor. She views the arena deal [“Priced to sell out,” November 6] as if all big projects involving the city should be done through Prozac-tinted lenses: calm,…
The time-worn note on the black mailbox is beginning to turn into an urban fossil, but its meticulously typed message is still clear: Please use the mail slot in the door–thank you. It’s been a while since as much concern has been shown for the light brown brick house. Peeling…
Quarterback controversy Great article on Jason Garrett [“Passed up,” October 30]! It’s about time he got some recognition for all the outstanding work he does for this team! I simply do not understand how such a successful franchise as the Dallas Cowboys can make the decisions it continues to make…
“The problem with the big ‘un is he’s too stiff,” Black Bart says to no one in particular as Aaron White’s 275 pounds go on the receiving end of a hip toss. He somersaults to the canvas, a faint “u-u-u-nh!” whistling from his lips as he lands, face up and…
Sitting in Ross Perot’s favorite booth at a fancy Dallas restaurant, Leigh Valentine eats half of her low-fat redfish and then explains her husband’s “disguise kit.” The kit contained several fake moustaches and a $1,200 custom-made wig. Robert Tilton, the Texas televangelist, carried it everywhere, and during their first year…
Explosive” and “heartbreaking” are what former Dallas City Council member Jerry Bartos calls a secret meeting Fort Worth power brokers held several years ago to discuss strategies in combating Dallas on issues regarding the Wright Amendment. The meeting’s five-page transcript, a copy of which was obtained by the Dallas Observer,…
Paula, Bill, and the horn Buzz has watched with wonder the comings and goings of a sign on Hillcrest Drive outside a large house near LBJ Freeway. The sign says, “Honk if you believe Paula.” At first, Buzz noticed that the sign came down when a settlement seemed near between…
The night Frederic Martin became an outlaw, a furniture rebel, was wonderfully serene, perfect to spend in a park. By 8:00 p.m. on September 16, a cool breeze had swept away the day’s heat and a full moon was climbing above the live oaks that dot the neatly manicured landscape…
There it lay, staring up at me from my front lawn, as appealing as a dead possum. It was the Saturday front page of The Dallas Morning News–on this day, a truly nauseating sight. It featured a gigantic color photo of Mayor Ron Kirk, Dallas Mavericks owner Ross Perot Jr.,…
The August meeting of the Swiss Avenue Historic District Association took place, as usual, inside the quaint “garden room” of the Aldredge House, a 17-room mansion well known for its exclusive black-tie receptions and ball-gown affairs.MMMXNormally, the sound of clinking champagne glasses and carefree laughter would have filled the estate’s…
Stop the Insanity Susan Powter, former Dallas pudgy turned fitness guru turned bankrupt Californian, is back on the shelves with a new book: Sober…and Staying That Way: the Missing Link in the Cure for Alcoholism. The spiked, bleached ‘do is a touch longer, though still a long way from the…
Forget the gray beards of the Dallas criminal bar: the Doug Mulders, the Vee Perinis, the Billy Ravkinds, the George Milners. Ignore the up-and-coming generation of lawyers: the Tom Millses, the Jay Ethingtons, the Brad Lollars. If you find yourself in the felony or misdemeanor soup, the man to dial…
You’re Wright, Rita First the good news: I loved Ann Zimmerman’s concise (albeit long, but no longer than necessary to tell the full story), informative, and extremely well-written article on the saga of Legend Airlines [“The (W)right to fly,” October 16]. Part II: Whoever edits your calendar needs to get…
Robert Groden, JFK assassination researcher, has had way more than his 15 minutes of fame. In the mid-1970s, he painstakingly created an enhancement of the Abraham Zapruder film that landed him a high-profile appearance on Geraldo Rivera’s Goodnight America television show. The film showed in gruesome detail President Kennedy’s head…
“Look at the writing–the writing,” exclaims Evan Fogelman, his well-tanned, shaved pate gleaming in the low incandescence of the Melrose Hotel’s Landmark restaurant. With one Bombay Sapphire martini (straight up, with olives) under his belt and another queued up, Fogelman, a Dallas-based literary agent who is the prince of the…
