George Allen

The Bizarre Life and Troubling Death of DarkSide, the Dallas Rave Church That Never Was

For over a year, a registered "spiritual organization" was the hottest after-hours spot in Dallas. Then it all came crashing down.

Holy Moses, Courthouse Flooding Gives Inmate a Shot at Freedom. For Now.

The Sheriff's Department sent over a boatload (heh) of photos from this morning's flooding at the Frank Crowley Courthouse, plus a mugshot of Juan Ramires, a jail trusty called in to join the mop-and-bucket brigade when a busted water main filled the courthouse's first floor with 1 to 3 inches of wa ... More >>

If You Ever Wanted to Own Valley View Center, Well, Now's Your Big Chance

​The place: the north side of the George Allen Courts Building, below the overhang. The date: February 7. The time: between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.That's your invite to the foreclosure auction for Valley View Center, which, since August 2010, has been in the hands of LNR Partners out of Miami, who took ... More >>

Tomorrow, Dallas DA Craig Watkins to Ask Judge to Free Innocent Man in Prison Since '97

Dallas County District Attorney's OfficeDale Duke​On April 30, 1992, Dale Lincoln Duke was indicted by a Dallas County grand jury on the charge of aggravated sexual assault of a child. Four months later, according to the Dallas County District Attorney's Office and its Conviction Integrity Unit, D ... More >>

Yucatan, Service Bar's Hearing Canceled As City, Clubs Agree on Temporary Arrangement

​Several Friends of Unfair Park have asked if we're planning on covering this morning's scheduled hearing concerning Yucatan and Service Bar's lawsuit over the Greenville Avenue Planned Development District ordinance. As you're well aware by now, City Code now dictates that in order for Lower Gree ... More >>

After Doing Business With Wai-Wize, County and City Have to Sue Over Owed Back Taxes

From the Wai-Wize site: "WAI-WIZE is currently providing services in conjunction with Applied Technologies to design turnkey facilities for the new City of Dallas Convention Center Hotel."​Speaking of Wai-Wize ...As Jim points out, between Brett Shipp and yesterday's News, there's plenty out there ... More >>

That's Church: After All That, Glenn Hudson Agrees to Shutter DarkSide and Playground

And now, 3027 Northwest Highway can go back to being empty.​After much talk about his civil liberties and all the spiritual good his clubs were offering young adults and couples, Wyakie Glenn Hudson, who operated DarkSide and The Playground, agreed to shut down both locations. His approach was ... More >>

The Top 10 Lamest "Rivalries" in Sports

​As I watched Mitch Moreland's gargantuan, 472-foot homer sail into the soon-to-be stormy June night, I was reminded that the Rangers-Astros' fight should be stopped on account of inhumane bludgeonry. Moreland's blast -- tied for third-longest in baseball this season -- capped an 8-3 Texas c ... More >>

Sure, Traffic Will Suck Downtown Tomorrow. On the Plus Side: Muni Court's Canceled!

​Down below, a few Friends are arguing the pros and cons of tomorrow's downtown shutdown courtesy Your Champion Dallas Mavericks. But this surely has to fall into the good-thing column, no? From our friends at Dallas City Hall: "Municipal Court canceled for tomorrow." The details, such as they are ... More >>

On Our Summer Reading List: The U.K. Book About Tom Hicks's Days as Liverpool FC Owner

​Well, this is certainly is disappointing -- there goes my first book. While using the Google Machine to find something Tom Hicks-related this evening, I came across this: a review published two days ago in The Independent of a book called An Epic Swindle: 44 Months With a Pair of Cowboys, which i ... More >>

Wet Suit Against City Now Down To: Did Beer, Wine Backers Gather Enough Signatures?

Leland de la Garza​While package stores keep on feeling the "significant impact" of the election that opened up beer and wine sales citywide, lawyers for the city are one step closer to beating back that legal challenge over the petitions that got the issue on the ballot back in November. Today at ... More >>

After That Show-Stopper at the Luxury Inn Two Weeks Ago, a Court Date Is Set For Tomorrow

Photo by Patrick MichelsMayor Dwaine Caraway, with City Attorney Tom Perkins standing next to him, asks DPD Chief David Brown to stop talking with attorney Frank Hernandez at the Luxury Inn shutdown two weeks ago.​No doubt you recall the show Mayor Dwaine Caraway put on April 1 in front of the Lux ... More >>

At Today's Hearing, Mayor Caraway Throws Most of City Hall's Highers-Up Under the Bus

Sam Merten​[Update at 8:09 p.m.: Jim sends word from the courthouse that Judge Snelson has denied that request for an injunction, leaving the temporary restraining order to dissolve at midnight -- and the records will be released after all. Tomorrow, maybe, no word yet on when.] Jim's at the Georg ... More >>

Never Mind That September Trial Date in Beer, Wine Case. There's Now An April Hearing.

​If you click to embiggen the image at right you'll note it's  an invite to a beer-and-wine "launch party" at the Preston Forest Whole Foods scheduled for tomorrow; it arrived this morning with the header "It's the end of Prohibition at Preston Forest's Whole Foods Market." Soon as it landed ... More >>

U.K. Judge Rules That Tom Hicks Can't Bring $1.6-Bil Liverpool FC Claim to Court in Dallas

Kit Nelson​As we noted last week, attorneys representing Tom Hicks in the U.K. were in court trying to get a judge there to overturn his ruling that keeps Hicks from suing in the U.S. over last October's sale of Liverpool FC to New England Sports Ventures. Hicks and his Dallas legal team, of cours ... More >>

If You Thought Tom Hicks Had Forgotten About "Epic Swindle" In Liverpool, You Were Wrong

Kit Nelson​It's been a whole two months since last we contemplated Tom Hicks's threat to sue for $1.6 billion over the sale -- pardon, "epic swindle" -- of Liverpool FC to New England Sports Ventures way back in October. But right on schedule, Paul Girolami, a barrister repping Hicks and George Gi ... More >>

Before Court, Who's Got Some Beer and Wine?

​Off to the George Allen in a few for that 9:30 court date I told you about last week, during which attorneys representing the city, Keep the Dollars in Dallas and those contesting the election allowing for the wetting up of Dallas will hash over some legal matters, baby. Top of the anti side's to ... More >>

Tom Hicks and His Attorneys Haven't Filed Suit in England. Yet. But Also "Haven't Given Up."

Tom Hicks on SkyNews over the weekend​Following Friday's hearing at the George Allen, Tom Hicks's attorney in the Liverpool FC case, Fish & Richardson's Steve Stodghill, issued a press release announcing that Hicks and George Gillett's attorneys would "apply all of their legal energies toward ... More >>

About Last Night, The Texas Rangers Feel Really Bad About ... the Overpriced Parking Problem?

Rally towel or the white flag of surrender?​For seven innings, the guy wearing the Alex Rodriguez Texas Rangers jersey in Section 314 taunted the young man in the Alex Rodriguez New York Yankees jersey sitting but one row back. A lot of: "Yankees suck! Yankees suck!" And: "You're on steroids! You' ... More >>

As Liverpool FC Sale Moves Back to English Court, a Motion for Contempt Filed in Dallas

George Gillett and Tom Hicks​Following yesterday's surprising turn of events that landed the sale of Liverpool FC in the 160th District Court at the George Allen, attorneys representing the Liverpool board and Royal Bank of Scotland were back in U.K. High Court this morning trying to push through ... More >>

Update: Dallas District Judge to Rule Early Tomorrow Morning on Temporary Restraining Order in Liverpool FC Sale

Outside Judge Jim Jordan's courtroom, TV cameras awaited the judge's decision. Till tomorrow!​I'm at the George Allen this very moment, where attorneys representing New England Sports Ventures and Kop Holdings (which is to say, Tom Hicks) are squaring off over who owns Liverpool FC. In light of th ... More >>

As Shooting Wraps Downtown, The Good Guys' Crew Is Going Out with a Bang

Patrick MichelsOne of a few fireballs set off during filming for The Good Guys this afternoon across from the Dallas Municipal Court.​Just up the street from Robert's encampment out at the George Allen Courts Building, The Good Guys crew was wrapping up shooting the second half of its first seaso ... More >>

Lawyers Spar Over HP Developer's Defamation Suit and How to Prove An Alliance "Unholy"

​Carla Main says she did everything she could to sit down with Highland Park developer Hiram Walker Royall while reporting her book Bulldozed: "Kelo," Eminent Domain and the American Lust for Land. She finally got in the same room with him today, though, in a morning hearing over Royall's defamati ... More >>

Prediction: Dallas Cowboys Will End The NFL Season In Their Own Backyard (With A Little Luck And A Lot Of Health).

Cowboys-Redskins: The Top 10 Games

​Ain't what it used to be.   To me the Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants rank ahead of the Washington Redskins as the Dallas Cowboys' most fierce rival these days. While the Cowboys have played the Eagles and Giants in playoffs games the last couple years, I don't recall the last t ... More >>

While City, Railroad Museum Await January Trial, Vague Hints of Track Being Laid to Frisco

Museum of the American Railroad/Larry Ford, Wilson & CompanyOne of five new "views" of the Museum of the American Railroad's new home in Frisco ... one day​Man, those were good times back in February and March -- headin' down to the George Allen seemingly every other week for a hearing in City ... More >>

Ex-Baron & Budd Lawyer Has About Nine Million Reasons to Be Happy He Sued Firm

McKool Smith's Gary Cruciani​Everything you need to know about the lawyer-on-lawyer lawsuit pitting former Baron & Budd attorney Gary Cruciani against Russell Budd and his namesake firm you'll find in this April 21 story in Texas Lawyer by John Council.But, to recap: Cruciani alleged that in 2 ... More >>

Looks Like the Train Museum May Be at Fair Park Till Well After the New Year

​Got to Judge Martin Hoffman's courtroom in the George Allen a few minutes past 9 this morning for a long-scheduled injunction hearing in the case of City of Dallas v. Museum of the American Railroad. It figured to be an interesting hearing, what with all the he said-he said going on between First ... More >>

As Judges Heard Arguments For and Against Same-Sex Divorce, the World's Tiniest Protest Took Place Outside

Patrick MichelsMichael Robinson, left, and David Bowling were the sole protesters at today's same-sex divorce hearing downtown.​So much for the media circus outside today's highly anticipated (judging by the advance news coverage, anyway) hearing at the George L. Allen Sr. Courts Building, where t ... More >>

Tomorrow, Texas AG to Make Case That Gay Divorce is Gateway to Gay Marriage

Attorney Pete Schulte and the petitioner still known as J.B. on The Daily Show in January​Mark it down: 2 p.m. tomorrow, George L. Allen Sr. Courts Building. That's when the Fifth Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments for case No. 05-09-01170-CV -- otherwise known as In the Matter of the Marri ... More >>

Judge Orders Mediation For City and Railroad Museum, Then Rules on TRO

Museum of the American Railroad CEO Bob LaPrelle and attorney William Brotherton before today's hearing​It was all hugs and kisses in Judge Martin Hoffman's courtroom at the George Allen today -- but only because before the city and the Museum of the American Railroad faced off over the museum's r ... More >>

Judge Has Ordered the Gutted Avila's on Maple Be Returned to the Way It Was By Today

Ricardo Avila with Guy Fieri on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives last year​The legal wrangling over the fate of Avila's on Maple Avenue will continue this afternoon at the George Allen Courts Building: Judge Ken Molberg has ordered Ricardo Avila appear in his courtroom at 1:30 p.m. To many, Ricardo's t ... More >>

Conservation League Goes to Court to Stop DISD From Razing Oak Cliff Christian

Spike JohnsonEarlier this week, crews were cutting off the gas to the old Oak Cliff Christian Church, which DISD wants to raze for tennis courts for the new Adamson.​Now we know where we'll be at 4 p.m. today: at the George Allen Court House -- specifically, in Judge Teresa Guerra Snelson's court ... More >>

Free Fair Park!

​I swear -- swearswearswear -- this is our last item about Fair Park. At least, for today -- I'm headed over to the George Allen, so. But, seriously, I highly recommend attending Park and Rec board meetings, mostly because Park and Rec's the only city entity I'm aware of that uses the Texas Discov ... More >>

Dallas County Commissioners to Discuss Privatizing Security Forces at County Buildings

There's a chance Dallas County could privatize security at buildings like the George Allen Courthouse downtown.​Flipping through the agenda for today's meeting of the Dallas County Commissioners Court, I came across an interesting item on page 193 concerning potential plans to privatize "all secur ... More >>

The Top 10 Most Memorable Cowboys-Redskins Games

Take a Progressive Tour of Dallas, More or Less

Ron Springs' Family Gearing Up For Legal Battle, Starting Tomorrow

When Getting Screwed on a New Car Takes on a Whole New Meaning

Be Careful What You Ask For

Celebrity Secrets and Other Stuff You Already Knew

I Am Somebody -- Well, Two Somebodies, According to Dallas County

Eyes Wide Shut

Blinded by desperation, Cowboys refuse to see T.O. as B.S.

Be Cool

A Shot in the Dark

Plus: Tourist Trap

Lost Son

The Vietnamese son of a black American soldier faces a long trip "home"

Killing machine

It is 6:07 p.m. John Albert Burks salutes the Oakland Raiders and says goodbye to his friends. Minutes later, he is a dead man. This year's 21st execution.

Accidental activists

A fight over Greenwood Cemetery's future wakes the living

Perotnoia

The great mystery of Perot's 1992 presidential bid was his sudden decision to quit the race. Biographer Gerald Posner found that Perot was a victim of a shadowy soldier of fortune-- and his own delusions.

What I did on jury duty

Only the fates could land me in J.P. Jones' court