Unstoppable churches Terrific piece on the St. Ann’s landmark case [“On holy ground,” February 4] and the larger issue of George W. Bush’s so-called religious freedom bill (by the way, Steve Wolens is a co-sponsor). Almost without exception, the courts have thrown out landowners’ suits claiming property damage–including diminution in…
For much of the first half of the decade, psychiatrist Robert Hadley Gross felt like a hunted man. Federal agents let the young doctor know he was in their crosshairs, and they were hell-bent on pulling the trigger. Perhaps no one was more relentless in his pursuit of Gross than…
When Steven Holt’s dream came true, no one else was there to see it. There he was, living the musician’s fantasy, signed to a big-time record label–what every boy longs for from the moment he straps on his first guitar and plays his first clumsy chords. There he was, a…
Last week city council member Laura Miller barely had resumed her chair at the briefing table when the mayor seized the floor, followed quickly by several of her fellow council members, all eager to apologize for the attack she had just made on Dallas 2012 Olympics promoter Tom Luce. She…
Phil Thomas is undeniably obnoxious and, to be blunt, weird. He speaks–loudly–of being a “commando” for truth, democracy, and open government. That much was evident during a February 8 court hearing, at which Thomas repeatedly refused to lower his voice and extra sheriff’s deputies were summoned to state District Judge…
Assumption of risk Here’s a health tip for all you youngsters out there: If you don’t want to risk a raging case of herpes, never have unprotected intercourse with anyone in the NBA. OK, so that one’s a bit obvious. Apparently, however, some people are clueless, and one of them…
A lost soul Thank you so much for the incredibly sad story on Terry Southern [“Odd man out,” January 28]. I just had to dig out my copies of Texas Summer and Red Dirt Marijuana and reread. Hopefully, this article will open up a new audience and get him the…
Dallas Plan Commissioner Rick Leggio doesn’t have any doubts about the purpose of a letter he received last month from a member of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Dallas days before commissioners were to vote on a plan to designate St. Ann’s building a historic landmark over the church’s objections…
Passengers sit placidly at the gate, waiting to board a plane at Houston’s Hobby Airport. Most of them are reading silently when a sudden gust sweeps through: Loud bluster from a boastful man. Texas Monthly publisher Mike Levy is on their flight. They lift their eyes above book and magazine…
The much-investigated Dallas County Community Action Committee has a new bunch looking into its free-spending ways: the feds. Ann Gerner, a lawyer for the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs, and Brian Montgomery, its department spokesman, say the FBI has been investigating the Dallas anti-poverty agency, which the state…
Was it something we said? Buzz really hates it when our targets turn the tables on us. We were ready to scorch state Rep. Jerry Madden after someone from the Richardson Republican’s office called the Dallas Observer last week and asked us to please stop sending a complimentary copy of…
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison will introduce later this week–as soon as the president’s trial stops long enough for some legislating to take place–a bill to bar the federal government from horning in on Texas’ $17 billion tobacco settlement. The Texas senator is co-sponsoring the bill with her Democratic colleague Bob…
Famed bad-boy chef Avner Samuel is back in signature form. That’s assuming, of course, there was ever a departure. Notorious for incessant kitchen-hopping, questionable business practices, and colorful people skills marked by demeaning, profanity-soaked outbursts fired at employees and patrons alike, Samuel was thought to have undergone a dramatic personal…
Anti-Christian-bias? I take issue with the tone and thrust of the article written by Thomas Korosec [“Holy handouts,” January 21]. Does this mean that the Dallas Observer is mounting an anti-Christian campaign? If a business brings economic development to a town, does the town have a right to discriminate against…
Peter Fonda told him to call back at 4 p.m., January 16. “I’ll be here,” he promised Nile Southern, who has been waiting for years to hear those words, that hint of promise. “We’ll talk then.” It’s now 3:58 p.m. that Saturday, and Southern paces around the basement office in…
With a satisfied smile, Jack Lowe Jr. works his way through the nest of cubicles at TDIndustries, a Dallas-based plumbing and air-conditioning contractor where he serves as chairman and chief executive officer. Lowe, dressed casually in an open-collar shirt, walks at a leisurely pace, stopping several times to greet employees,…
Party pooped Well, this is just great. Just when we thought we had our New Year’s plans down, The Turn: America at the Millennium goes belly-up and Buzz faces greeting the end of the century with Dick Clark and a bottle of cold duck. Frankly, we hesitated at taking a…
At 9:30 last Friday morning, moments before the start of a court hearing that centered on his installation as president of the Dallas branch of the NAACP, the tall, nattily dressed Lee Alcorn conceded he was perplexed. “I just don’t understand it,” Alcorn said of a battle that has erupted…
Alone protester ushered in the 26th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade last Friday at Denton’s only abortion clinic. “I’m a sidewalk counselor,” said Sue Cyr, who carried a poster of a bloody fetus in front of the gray medical office on Elm Street. Cyr’s sign read, “Stop Clinic Violence,” a…
High scores for game story Just had to congratulate you on one of the finest pieces of journalism on the gaming industry I have ever read [“Stormy weather,” January 14]. As a marketing professional with five years of experience swimming in that polluted pond, I have been following ION Storm’s,…
The use of sales tax money to bankroll sports stadiums and other private projects has always been contentious. In Arlington, voters approved a half-cent sales levy eight years ago for a new stadium so the Texas Rangers wouldn’t pack up and leave. Critics argue it ended up shifting wealth from…
Reid Ryan remembers bumming around the streets of San Francisco alone as a 12-year-old kid, carrying $20 that his dad slipped him before heading to work. It was enough cash to cover Reid’s cab fare to Candlestick Park, the wind-swept stadium on the bay where the boy’s dad suited up…
