Buzz has watched with wonder the comings and goings of a sign on Hillcrest Drive outside a large house near LBJ Freeway. The sign says, "Honk if you believe Paula."
At first, Buzz noticed that the sign came down when a settlement seemed near between President Clinton and Paula Jones, who accuses the president of sexual harassment during his days as Arkansas governor. Then someone put the sign back up.
Then Buzz noticed that the sign came down once more when Jones' attorney dumped her. Then the sign came back up.
Buzz noticed that the sign came down yet again when Matthew Harden's accusations about Yvonne Gonzalez had broken the drive-by public's tolerance for sexual harassment charges. Again, the sign came back.
We now suspect that the sign's recurrent appearances might have something to do with partisan wrangling in North Dallas; either that or neighbors are getting annoyed by all the honking from passing Republicans. In any event, we hope the sign stays up at least until Clinton goes to court or The New Yorker publishes photographic evidence of what Paula saw in a very private presidential place.
Mr. Sensitivity
Closer to home, Kenneth "Conflict? What conflict?" Mayfield has joined the prez in the hot water over alleged sexual impropriety. The Dallas County commissioner, an attorney who has been criticized for continuing to practice law before county courts ("Who ya gonna call?" October 30), is accused of improperly touching a female prosecutor and a court reporter while attempting to demonstrate allegations in a sex-abuse case.
Uh, Ken, they do have anatomically correct dolls for that sort of thing, you know.
Laughing, Mayfield told The Dallas Morning News that the charges were a "joke."
Mayfield might do well to remember the saying about "he (or she) who laughs last..." In the meantime, workers at the Frank Crowley Criminal Courts Building should just be happy that he was not representing an indecent exposure case.
Ho, ho, ho
Buzz hopes that U.S. District Judge John Henry McBryde didn't pull any muscles laughing when news broke that his nemesis, U.S. District Judge Jerry Buchmeyer, had his law license suspended last week for failing to pay a student loan Buchmeyer guaranteed for his son. (Buchmeyer called it an oversight and promised to pay back the $11,745).
McBryde is a wealthy man, and with the holiday season of peace and love coming, maybe the feuding pair can bury the gavel. How 'bout fronting Jerry the money, John? Or maybe North Dallas suburbanites--who Buchmeyer has ruled must soon be neighbors to public housing--can hold some bake sales.
If not, the avuncular Buchmeyer, who is known for his sense of humor (Buzz sure hopes he keeps it), could probably pick up some easy cash as a department-store Santa.
--Compiled from staff reports by Patrick Williams
