News

Damn: Last week, Buzz suggested that The Dallas Morning News could provide a service to its readers if it would begin publishing longer Sunday pieces that wrap up big breaking local news stories, rather than letting the news come in bits and pieces. Specifically, we were looking for a scorecard…

America’s Mom Democracy in action: I agree Ms. Cindy Sheehan (“Camp Death,” by Craig Mailsow, August 25) has the right to freedom of speech just as you and I or anyone else does. I don’t believe anyone is in favor of shutting her up. I find it hypocritical how leftist…

She spotted her blind date right away: the clean-cut guy in the black T-shirt that said Special Forces. Kristen Rhoad had first come into contact with Phil Haberman on Match.com in December 2003. One screen name he favored was 19thSFguy–an allusion to his role in Army Special Forces. A self-described…

He’s 64 this week and should be, if he were a reasonable man, sitting beneath the hot glow of studio lights spouting his views on this or that NFL team, semi-retired and secure in his reputation as one of the league’s greats, waiting for that Hall of Fame induction. But…

Camp Death The site of Cindy Sheehan’s war protest is crowded with opinions and ghosts CRAWFORD–There’s a bunch of people standing across the street from the Yellow Rose, waiting to see if it’ll blow up. An hour earlier, someone called the Crawford Police Department and said the general store was…

Feelin’ groovy: One of Buzz’s all-time favorite lines about the news business comes from the 1994 movie The Paper: “We taint them today, we make them look good on Saturday. Everybody’s happy.” It’s funny, as Homer Simpson would say, because it’s true. Take, for example, two stories that appeared within…

Mad Bubbas Call in the Guard: It is understandable that people are nervous about others beyond their control (“Bubba Patrol,” by Keith Plocek, August 18). I have written Governor Perry to suggest that he should activate the Texas State Guard to help guard the border with Mexico. His official reply…

Bill Parmley’s dad was a sheriff and his granddaddy was, too, and one thing Bill learned early in life was the difference between right and wrong. Now a month shy of 50, Parmley grew up in the small South Texas town of Sarco, 10 miles down a dirt road from…

Errant pet owners serve time in doggie defensive driving At 10 a.m. on the first Saturday of August, a glum group of people gathered at the Skyline branch of the Dallas Public Library, as a different group does each month. They are the rogues, the rapscallions, the “dog-at-large” violators. You…

Al redux: A few new faces are walking around the Dallas Observer offices, as former staffers have left for new “opportunities” (rehab). Among the newcomers is right-hander Matt Pulle (3.72 ERA) brought over from Tennessee as a reporter. To acquaint Matt with the city, Buzz sent him over to last…

Deep and Dirty Where the sun don’t shine: Jim Schutze is apparently the last old-school investigative reporter in Dallas. He is mining a mother lode of corruption at Dallas City Hall. His recent article “Payback” (August 4) is a good example of classic investigative reporting. Dallas is going the way…

You know those guys you see in a Starbucks at 2 o’clock in the afternoon, nursing a cup of Iced Caffè Americano that sits by the side of the laptop over which he toils. (Maybe you are that guy; if so, wait, this story has a happy ending for you.)…

Told Ya So At last, someone is listening to Texas Lottery watchdog Dawn Nettles It would seem that Dawn Nettles could rest for once. The tenacious critic of the Texas Lottery was for years a lone voice proclaiming the error of the Lottery Commission’s ways to all who would listen…

Push poll: It’s no secret that developers responsible for rebuilding downtown oppose the construction of a homeless center there. On June 3, some 30 property owners and “stakeholders” who’ve put hundreds of millions into renovating downtown properties sent Mayor Laura Miller and the City Council a letter urging them to…

Sick, Busted, Disgusted Keep kicking that ant pile: Thank you, Matt Pulle, for all of your help with the many concerns of inmates in the Dallas County jail (“We Hate Your Guts,” July 28). Most people who don’t have loved ones in jail are likely to be a bit insensitive…

Let Him Rot No excuse: It breaks my heart to think about what happened to Mr. Cunniff and what his daughters witnessed (“Gypsy Blood,” by Sarah Hepola, July 28). There’s positively no excuse. Chaddock can fucking rot. Chad Armstrong Via e-mail A great human being: There must be, literally, at…

Early one morning this spring, Chris Lawler accidentally kicked a coiled rattlesnake slumbering in a row of grape vines. The rattle didn’t shake. The snake didn’t strike. It barely moved. The reptile was immobilized by the chilly desert air. This same air is why Lawler thinks he can move Texas…

If You Can’t Argue the Facts… County commissioners go to comical lengths to suppress jail study Last March, George Rodrigue, the managing editor of The Dallas Morning News, received a rather stern letter from a high-paid private attorney representing Dallas County. Aggrieved that reporter Jim O’Neill documented the blistering findings…

Just because you’re paranoid: So Buzz and the missus were doing our monthly shopping at Sam’s Club this weekend–bottled water, beer, toilet paper. When we got to the checkout, the clerk told us that our account had changed. We could no longer use a debit card but had to pay…

A year ago David Cunniff was not the same person he is today. If you met him then, you would have seen a tall, rugged guy, something of a ladies’ man, with a handsome face weathered by the sun and an aimlessness that suggested, at 44 years old, he might…

Jerry Wayne Mooney sat and shivered in the Dallas County jail. He was a grotesque sight: Several gunshot wounds, exchanged in a bizarre shootout with Irving police more than a year earlier, had shredded his abdominal muscles, causing his guts to push into a bulging, wrinkled sac of pink and…