A quick note to those of you who think the media conspire to wield undue influence on politics: You can stop now. As apparent from the past weekend’s butt-beating of the strong-mayor proposal–supported by The Dallas Morning News, us and other media folk–we couldn’t influence our way to an order…
Voices From Hell It’s all true: I have lived at Waterview Park (“The Dorm From Hell,” by an investigative reporting class at SMU, April 28) for about two years, and I am counting the days until my lease is up. The apartment is expensive, and it takes them sometimes months…
The musicians you see on these pages were not chosen by me. For the first time, we opened up the nomination process to the public, resulting in one of the most eclectic, and representative, ballots ever. Longtime bands this paper has never nominated–The Feds, Fair to Midland, Olospo–stood proudly alongside…
Undiplomatic A whistleblower in the Bolton nomination learns the power of the blogosphere On a warm, windy morning last week, in front of a neighborhood coffee shop, Melody Townsel asks herself the question that hangs in the air. “Would I do it again?” she says. She doesn’t know the answer;…
Dallas leaders often cite Houston as a city with ideas worth copying. Houston has a strong-mayor system, for instance, and its local government corporations and municipal management districts–private/public entities used to redevelop neighborhoods–are considered by some a pattern for redeveloping Dallas’ downtown. Now comes this little gem: banning BO. Last…
Waterview Sucks No lie: Great job! Finally some light is being shed on the deplorable living conditions at UTD’s Waterview Park (“The Dorm From Hell,” by an investigative reporting class at Southern Methodist University, April 28). Having lived here for three years, I am counting the days until I move…
Prathap Rajamani had been looking forward to this day. The chemical he’d ordered online had just arrived. Chloroform, a colorless liquid with a slightly sweet taste, is used today to produce Freon. But in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it was used as an anesthetic. That fit Rajamani’s…
Remember the Bass-amo Two Texans work to regain the state’s fishy pre-eminence In a town not far from here, on acreage sponsored by Budweiser, there swims a 13-pound largemouth bass that may be The One–the one that reclaims glory for Texas, that smites those smug Californians, that proves there is…
The fun vote: To the people who care–chiefly Dallas officeholders and the people who own them–the vote on the city’s strong-mayor initiative is the Most Important Issue in democracy since 1776. To everyone else in the city? Eh, not so much. After the first four days of early voting, Dallas…
Bono Saves the World Jesus, the pope and Bono: Are you serious with this article? (“World Leader Pretend,” by Joe Watson, April 21.) This is the most out-of-line piece of crap point of view I have ever read in my entire life. You can make fun of Bono and the…
The kids who take music lessons from Marc Solomon don’t have recitals. They have concerts. Recitals require stiff suits and taffeta dresses, church manners and minor anxiety attacks. But these kids wear whatever they want–torn T-shirt, faded jeans, a tie if they’re feelin’ it. Backstage, in between their performances, the…
Sinner or Saint DISD’s Marcell Archer is either the best or worst school principal ever Where to start? With the teachers and parents who say the principal is a “megalomaniac,” a racist, “the anti-Christ”? Or with the teachers who went on the record–unlike many of those making disparaging remarks–who say…
Seems like you might expect Peter Lesser’s landlord to know who Lesser is–one of the pricklier in-your-face lawyers in the city. If a landlord knew that, maybe the landlord wouldn’t make the mistake of sending a security guard to his office to push him around. Apparently, the Gaedeke Group, managers…
Ask the Golf Bum Gullible, cynical and desperate: So now Jim Schutze is receiving his political wisdom on the “strong mayor” debate from a wealthy golf bum in a Park Cities watering hole (“Take It or Leave It,” April 14). And what did these hard-boiled news men come up with?…
We squeeze through a hole cut in the chain-link fence and crunch across a gravel yard, using the moonlight to avoid the crates and pipes scattered among the weeds. The factory complex is enormous, with cavernous white metal buildings two or three stories high in some places. On one roof…
Sold Out Mildred Avery thought she had a sweet deal to keep her house. Wrong. When Mildred Avery met Jimmy L. Johnson, the Mesquite financial advisor made her feel hopeful again, despite her cancer and foreclosure notices. Soothing and compassionate, Johnson promised to help Avery save her house. She could…
Buzz doesn’t envy vice cops.Imagine spending your workday viewing all sorts of the worst in human depravity and immorality and then having to go home at the end of the day. Yep, poor vice cops must hate having their shifts end after only eight hours. Bad jokes aside, one imagines…
Those Pesky Potholes The fight goes on: Jim Schutze’s sidebar to your April 7 “Mayorzilla” cover story, “And About Those Potholes…”, is simplistic, misleading and uses figures provided by city staff out of context. In truth, money devoted to Dallas street repairs has remained constant. And the money for street…
At least we have a choice: Is the mess at Dallas City Hall the fault of a stupid goofy do-nothing city council? Or does the blame belong to a power-mad political dominatrix mayor in Cole Haan heels? Ready to vote yet? On May 7 Dallas voters go to the polls…
My Home, the Hospice With three kids facing a life-threatening illness, the McNair family lives one memory at a time The day after Michael and Heather McNair’s wedding, they were in the hospital. Michael’s large intestine ruptured, a result of his battle with Crohn’s disease, an inflammatory bowel disorder. He…
One month ago, in the story “Tee’d Off,” graphic designer Patrick Reeves told the Dallas Observer he wasn’t “trying to make enemies” with his line of novelty T-shirts touting Dallas as “the can’t-do city” and thanking Mayor Laura Miller for losing the Dallas Cowboys to Arlington. “It’s not like we’re…
Sorry You Missed It The genius of Slobberbone: For Tommy (obviously not Stinson): I understand your complaints about the Slobberbone article (“Head Full of Beer,” by Michael Chamy, March 10). But exactly what you request in a band is there, just not written about. Other things about the band were…
