Balch Springs

In Pleasant Grove, Building A Playground and Bringing an Abandoned Church Back to Life

At dawn yesterday, the lot behind the former New Revelation Missionary Baptist Church was mostly empty, save for dust, rocks and scrubby grass. Although the Pleasant Grove church still looks normal from the street, it too has been empty since going into foreclosure earlier this year. By April, the s ... More >>

Off-Duty Cop Arrested For Drunk Driving at Last Night's Shooting

Dallas police sent out a bare-bones press release this morning announcing that officer Matthew Gaines, who has been with the department for two years, is on administrative leave after being arrested at about 5:30 a.m. It didn't give any additional details like where he was arrested. I had no luck fi ... More >>

Feds Say Cartel Laundered Cash Through Horse Racing Operation. In Balch Springs of All Places

Horse racing may be a dying sport,, but it's apparently enough of a going concern to be used by Mexico's most powerful cartel to launder millions in drug profits. According to an indictment unsealed yesterday, Los Zetas, the notoriously ruthless organization that effectively controls large swaths o ... More >>

The Texas Honeybee Guild and their ZIP Code Honey Has Gotta Bee Real

When the weather drops below 50, most honeybees cluster in the hive. So with winter (technically) upon us, there aren't a lot of bees buzzing around right now. But, when you meet with Brandon and Susan Pollard of the Texas Honeybee Guild, there's no telling what bees will do. The February day I met ... More >>

Vandals Attack a Local Bee Colony. Like Facing Extinction Wasn't Hard Enough.

Vandalized bee hives at Eden's Organic.​Marie Tedei created Eden's Organic Garden Center and CSA farm for several reasons. One was self-fulfilling: She's a studied horticulturist and has a passion for living clean and healthy off the land. But the primary reason was to have a place where the l ... More >>

The Dallas Observer 2011 MasterMind Awards

The winners of our second annual art awards delve into the past and personal loss to bring new visions to Dallas

According to the Feds, the (Repetitive) Life and (Precarious) Times of a Coke Kingpin in Dallas

An alleged coke trafficker used this Knox-Henderson-area apartment as his stash house.​If, by any chance, you spent the first few months of this year blowing lines in the bathroom of various clubs around town, there's a decent chance the source of your cocaine was Christian "Cri Cri" Ocana, wh ... More >>

Small-Town Muckraker Joey Dauben Will Run the World Some Day. Just Ask Him.

In the little towns outside of Dallas, publisher and aspiring politician Joey Dauben is on a crusade to expose abuses of power, civic mischief and -- most of all -- himself.

Following Arrests, Feds Outline Vast Cocaine, Heroin Ring Operating Out of Dallas, Fort Worth

​The U.S. Attorney's Office sends word: Federal authorities have rounded up dozens suspected of trafficking heroin and cocaine from Dallas to Atlanta to Baltimore to Philadelphia to Nashville and all points in between. Those arrested yesterday come from all over, including Dallas and Fort Worth an ... More >>

Five CSAs That Aren't Just For Earth Day

​Earth Day is this week's cause celebre. Everyone from food trucks and arts institutions to television networks and giants of industry has jumped on the green bandwagon. Come Monday, many will have forgotten the simple message of how each of us can do our part to protect our planet. One method ... More >>

All About the All About Uptown Fest

Photos by Sam MertenMike Rhyner​Despite the rain early on Saturday, I found myself at the All About Uptown Festival for the third-straight year, and it wasn't until checking out the festival's website just now that I realized it's only the third year of its existence. Not a heckuva lot has cha ... More >>

From Farm to Table: Chef for Farmers Event
To Boost Local Producers

Photos by Robert BostickRandall Copeland, Bruno Davaillon, Janice Provost, Chad Houser, Nathan Tate and Matt McCallister​A unique twilight dinner has been scheduled at Eden's Garden Organic Garden Center and CSA Farm in Balch Springs that will pair seven chefs from five Dallas restaurants for ... More >>

Last Night: AC/DC at American Airlines Center

AC/DC, The AnswerAmerican Airlines CenterJanuary 23, 2009 Better than: Watching Spinal Tap for the hundredth time while smoking crack in a trailer park in Balch Springs.   In front of a sold out crowd at the American Airlines Center, legendary hard rock icons AC/DC delivered nearly ... More >>

Un-Super Size Me: One Week of Eating Local

One man’s attempt at slow food living in the Dallas metroplex

Tom Leppert Bows to the Will of the People. No People We Know, But Still.

Goodbye, Groovy East Dallas

How Jim Schutze forsook his hippie-dippy days and learned to love the snout house

Cruising With the Whore Cop

Officer Terry Peters knows just about every hooker in town. And they love him--because he keeps them alive.

Sour Town

You think Dallas City Council is nuts? Well, yeah, but look at Garland.

Beat the Rap

Suburban cops to kids: Turn that rap stuff down

The Way of the Gun

The untold story of why Lenell Geter was freed

Between heaven and hell

A father robbed of his sons is caught between a cult and fear of another Waco

Buzz

Art lovers; Justice at work

After the fall

Heartbroken by the loss of his son on a DISD field trip, a father fights to prevent future tragedies

No place like home

Thousands of Texans say they can do a better job teaching their children at home. But some local truant officers claim parents are using a massive loophole in Texas law to skip school altogether.

Bucking Crazy

Want in on the dirt floor of rodeo's marquee event? A guy in Mansfield has your ride.

Poor man's prime

Dunston's smokes out affordable steak

Letters

Robbing 'em blind

For burglar Carnell Johnson, willing fences, indifferent neighbors, and friendly dogs ame for an easy living

Manhunters

The Dallas bounty hunter's arsenal includes the pizza scam, the utility-clerk hustle, and the occasional M-1 rifle. Now who's the crook?

Flood money

The Trinity River Plan's billion-dollar vision of levees, parks, and ponds has Mayor Ron Kirk--and most of Dallas--spellbound. But engineers warn it could lead to a flooding catastrophe and destroy the same poor neighborhoods it's designed to help.

Poor Relations

Guess what happened when Cleo Sims and her felonious offspring took over a Dallas anti-poverty agency

Dumped On

How greedy property owners and careless bureaucrats let a massive illegal landfill grow in the back yard of a black Dallas neighborhood

Talk to the animals

Veterinarian Norman Ralston favors acupuncture, herbs, and homeopathy instead of traditional animal medicine. He says pets speak to him through a channeler, and he lets them prescribe their own treatment. It's no wonder state regulators are keeping a clos

Events for the week

Wish Woman

She hasn't got money or connections. But straight-shooting Linda Terrell is helping dying grownups live their dreams.

Death Row Granny

Bettie Beets killed two husbands. Now she's likely to become the first woman the state of Texas has ever executed

Power Ranger

Candidate Richard Harvey and his tall tales