Whither Debbie Does Dallas? Manufacturers and distributors of adult video tapes are threatening to pass up the Video Software Dealers Association national convention in Dallas this May. The convention will fill the Dallas Convention Center, welcome 14,000 participants, and, according to organizers, pump as much as $15 million into the…
Louise and Philip Elam spent the first Valentine’s Day of their 10-month-old marriage poring over yet another daily newspaper story that made their hearts sink. But, friends say, they spent their first Valentine’s Day not at a restaurant, nor with wine and flowers–as newly wedded couples like the Elams usually…
How to make room in Reunion Okay, so the Dallas City Council won’t let us vote on whether or not we want a new arena because we “don’t understand the economics of all this” [“Let them cast ballots,” February 9]. Well, here’s a little bit of economic theory that I…
God is their co-pilot It is common for a journalist to wish a colleague heading off for a difficult interview “good luck.” It is less common to commence an investigative project with a request for divine aid. But that, BeloWatch has learned, is precisely how undercover Channel 8 cameraman Darrell…
JaM’s acid test Thousands of North Texans are probably convinced their kids are druggies after seeing a particularly inane news-you-can-use graphic on Channel 5. The helpful advice came as a bonus during a report from Jammin’ Jane McGarry on the Bedford junior high school LSD scandal. McGarry, backed up by…
When Ron and Regina Godbey in January 1992 bought a used charcoal-gray General Motors Silverado pickup, they fell in love. “It was beautiful,” remembers Ron, a skinny 25-year-old insurance salesman. “People used to stop us in the parking lot and ask to look inside.” The Godbeys, who live in a…
The perfect word Thank you for your article on the Dallas Opera [“Building to a crescendo,” February 2], which was quite good and quite enjoyable. One minor point, however, meant in the spirit of edification and better writing: “Build to a crescendo” is one of those phrases that we are…
Channel 8 stung at Sunset Channel 8 got stung during an undercover investigation at a Dallas high school last week–and the embarrassing result raises serious questions about the use of hidden cameras and undercover cameramen by the city’s leading TV news station. It all began last Monday morning, when security…
The unsuspecting members of the Greater Dallas Planning Council had no idea what they were in for. As far as they were concerned, economist Mark Rosentraub was just another distinguished speaker, addressing just another monthly breakfast meeting of the 49-year-old group–one made up of architects, planners, builders, and concerned citizens…
Sometimes I think I made Warren Chisum up for my own amusement. Brother Chisum, the Bible-thumper from Pampa and chairman of the Legislature’s conservative caucus, is opposing a bill to require that caucuses report who gives them money and how the money is spent, even though last session, he headed…
Trying to understand Texas, New York style The esteemed New York Times Magazine on January 22 spotlighted a trend revealed by the letters-to-the-editor pages of the Dallas Morning News and Fort Worth Star-Telegram. It seems nearly a dozen readers’ letters over the past year–on subjects ranging from women’s rights to…
A bigger Belo The top brass at A.H. Belo Corp. cut a low personal profile. In early 1994, the management of WWL-TV in New Orleans brought some visitors through the station’s offices. “They were nice looking, well-dressed, pleasant,” reported the New Orleans Times-Picayune. In fact, according to a station executive…
I’ve been trying to recall if, in the distant days of my journalistic training, I ever received any guidance on what to do when the speaker of the U.S. House calls the first lady “a bitch.” I know it wasn’t covered in Reporting 101, and I don’t think we addressed…
Judgment day at UTA As an alumnus of UTA (graduated December ’93), it made me angry to read how Ryan Amacher is spending the university’s money so carelessly [“Fast Times at UTA,” January 12]. If Amacher’s goal really is to recruit more students, he is going about it the wrong…
This past Saturday morning, Roland Blumer changed into baggy corduroy pants, a white T-shirt, and an old blue sweater that his wife had bought him at a garage sale a few years back. Then he grabbed an ax and headed out the door to work. Not his work, mind you–the…
The Music Hall in Fair Park was half empty, the writer for Time noted, but it was understandable. After all, “two of the city’s most popular debutantes were giving dances that night.” Still, the opera went quite wonderfully, despite “a Texas chorus that had a lot of trouble learning to…
Each year, the Texas branch of the American Cancer Society receives $21 million and change in donations from the state’s good citizens–individual and corporate–to fund the fight against one of the nation’s leading killers. Who, after all, can turn their back on cancer victims? But after the society’s expenses are…
University of Texas System Chancellor Bill Cunningham announced last week that system officials will audit University of Texas at Arlington’s finances and management policies. The audit began this week, after publication of an Observer cover story (see “Fast Times at UTA,” January 12) containing allegations against UTA President Ryan Amacher…
Jack Yardley has been waiting a year for the phone to ring. Three weeks ago, it finally happened. “Bob Stimson called me one day,” says Yardley, referring to the Dallas city councilman from Oak Cliff. “He said, ‘I don’t know how much you know about Reunion Arena, but why can’t…
Briggs blew it, not Barry In her article “Barry Blew it” [January 19], Jennifer Briggs took every opportunity to take pot-shots at Barry Switzer. C’mon, Jennifer, are you going to blame only the coach because, in your words, “The Amazing Cowboy Reign is Over?” Were we watching the same game?…
The work is painstaking, but Bettie Beets says she likes it. Certainly it beats doing nothing. Every morning at 7, she and three other women settle down in a big room cozily decorated with craft projects they have completed–doilies, afghans, lap quilts. For years, Bettie made toddler-sized dolls, with painted…
A match made in paste-up It gives us a warm feeling when someone actually takes our advice. Two years ago in the Observer’s “Best Of Dallas” issue, we begged Dallas Morning News columnist John Anders to cease using his column to share his mid-life crisis with the world. “John,” we…
