Help Wanted

When we last left Richard Daniels, he had been removed as a security guard at the Dallas office of KTVT-Channel 11 (Buzz, October 9). He was let go after he had a run-in with Deborah Norville of Inside Edition, who was in town and had to tape her show in the Channel 11 studios. Norville, who was running late, had words with Daniels, and within an hour, Daniels was told his security services were no longer required. The station admitted that the Norville incident led to the firing, although they said it was only the final straw, as Daniels had been rude to other visitors. (Daniels and three other station employees dispute this.)

Well, after Buzz's piece was picked up on Jim Romenesko's online media blog (www.poynter.org), Norville took notice. Even though the station took responsibility for the firing, and even though Buzz quoted an Inside Edition spokesman as saying Norville knew nothing about Daniels' fate, she made sure to call him last Friday and apologize. Norville told Daniels to fax her his résumé and that she would try to find him full-time work in Dallas if she could. That may not be necessary now, as Daniels was told by the firm that contracts with Channel 11 that they should have full-time work for him by next week. (He's currently working part time.)

"She was very polite, and I told her that it was OK," Daniels says. "I didn't have any problem with her in the first place. It was the station that thought I did."

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Assault and buttery: It is, of course, wrong to assault anybody, and Buzz would never condone domestic violence. Still, we can't help but share this Dallas grand jury indictment faxed to us anonymously last week.

The name of the accused was whited out, but according to the indictment, on July 14 the "defendant did intentionally, knowingly and recklessly cause bodily injury to complainant by striking complainant with a sandwich."

"This indictment is a result of a high indictment rate," the sender wrote.

Well, maybe. On the other hand, what sort of city would this be if savage deli-related crimes were left unchecked? Sandwiches today, calzones tomorrow, we say. Lucky for all, presumably there was no spicy mustard involved, or we'd be looking at aggravated assault.