Mellow drama
So exactly who is Dallas school superintendent Yvonne Gonzalez afraid of these days?
Last week, the head honcho of the embattled school system--weary from months of firing administrators, holding press conferences, and rooting out fraud and corruption at DISD--decided to take an evening off and attend the Shakespeare Festival's production of Twelfth Night.
Buzz readers surely know the drill--Shakespeare lovers flock to Samuell Grand Park, spread blankets on the grass, sip wine, nibble grapes, and watch the bard's plays staged under the open sky.
Apparently, those Shakespeare crowds can be tougher than we knew. Festival organizers typically invite some celebrity in attendance to make a little speech on stage, thanking the festival's sponsors and so forth. Gonzalez was asked to do the duties the night she attended.
But who, playgoers wondered, were those three guys flanking the stage while Gonzalez made her speech? And why were they wearing suits on a sweltering July night in Dallas? Witnesses say the stern-faced escorts looked an awful lot like bodyguards.
Bodyguards? At the Shakespeare Festival? Hey, Buzz says you can't be too cautious. God knows what would happen if a bunch of irate taxpayers got tanked up on Chablis and started hurling brie at Gonzalez. Presumably, the bodyguards were trained and ready to take a turkey leg for the superintendent.
We know Gonzalez couldn't have been scared of DISD's employees. Judging by their time cards, most of them would have still been on the job--racking up overtime.
Paying the Price
Until now, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram has been just one more reason that it's better to live in Dallas. Even The Dallas Morning News looks credible when compared with Cowtown's undistinguished daily paper.
But the Star-Telegram is finally receiving some long-overdue national recognition. People for the American Way--a national watchdog group--has included the FWST in its latest annual report on anti-gay activity in the United States.
The report, "Hostile Climate," is a state-by-state roundup of the most outrageous acts of bigotry and intolerance directed at gays and lesbians during 1996.
The FWST is taken to task for its decision last year to transfer Todd Camp--an openly gay editor--from his job working on a special supplement that the paper publishes for teenagers.
You may recall the Dallas Observer's stories last year when a member of the American Family Association--Texas' most virulent anti-gay group--wrote to the FWST complaining that it was inappropriate for a gay man to hold a job that occasionally called for him to meet with teens. Debbie Price, who was then the paper's editor, promptly caved in and transferred Camp to another job.
After transferring Camp, Price pledged that the paper would do its best in the future to uphold the "highest standards of decency."
Price, of course, has since been canned, and the paper has new owners. Buzz is still waiting to see anything decent in the paper.
--David Pasztor
