Let’s be fair. The man can’t help it that he sounds like a yapping Chihuahua when he’s angry. After all, if you’d been charged with keeping order in the mighty dysfunctional world of DISD board meetings, you, too, might find yourself letting loose a few high-pitched canine squeals of aggravation…
The man should be relaxing in a calm bath, but his hand is gripping the soap dish. There’s a coffee mug on the edge of the tub, and a bathmat spread out neatly beside it. The man is wearing a watch. There is a toaster resting on his lap. The…
On the final night of Courtney Barnett’s high school wrestling season, she is waiting, as usual. Waiting to see if any of the boys on the opposing team will agree to face her. Waiting to learn which weight class she might compete in. Waiting to see if a referee will…
If Brenda Reyes doesn’t get elected to the Dallas City Council in May, perhaps it will be the electoral equivalent of three strikes and you’re out. Formal filing for the spring council elections hadn’t even opened by the end of last week, and the 36-year-old businesswoman already found her campaign…
Should we tip? A new low has been reached in the continuing saga of desperate and incomprehensible management moves at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. If you’ll remember, the S-T has taken to humiliating itself over the last couple of years–like by removing top managers in the dark of night, only…
No easy out I must commend you on your sensitive handling of a socially taboo subject [“Late Bloomer,” January 30]. Many people are upset when a previously married woman with children comes out of the closet to follow her own inner leanings. She no longer fits into a neat and…
One afternoon in the fall of 1985, three disgruntled employees gathered for lunch at the Luby’s Cafeteria at Interstate 635 and Midway Road. They didn’t know it, but their meeting would be one of the more portentous in the history of Hispanic Dallas, signaling a new course for the city’s…
Cheyenne Turner bursts into the Unity Church’s carpeted lobby, looks around, and, with lips pursed, executes a hasty head count. Maybe 250 people are buzzing and milling around, but Turner isn’t impressed. “Could be better,” she says, sending off the efficiency vibrations of a million-dollar real estate agent–or the lady…
The sprawling new apartment complex called Jefferson at Gaston Yards has become popular in recent months. The trendy, gated complex in Deep Ellum is still under construction, but some up-scale renters will do just about anything to get inside. One tenant in particular could not wait to call the Yards…
Plugged We were surprised the other day to see that The Dallas Morning News, which has otherwise tenaciously clung to the ’70s ideals of newspapering (minus unions), has broken new journalistic ground. Buzz was browsing through a slick promotional book for the law firm of Lynn Stodghill Melsheimer & Tillotson…
Mixed Reviews After reading Ann Zimmerman’s article about P-FLAG President Pat Stone, I didn’t know whether to laugh, cry, or be angry about the whole episode of Stone “discovering” her lesbianism at the age of 51, and after a 35-year marriage [“Late bloomer,” January 30]. It is downright comical that…
Brian Rieck was looking forward to hitting a few golf balls during an unseasonably warm weekend last month. But his plans were waylaid in the early afternoon of January 21 when someone walked into his garage–the door of which had been accidentally left open–and stole his golf clubs. The burglar…
There are infinite uncertainties in the life of Gregory Morris. But he knows this one thing for sure–that selfishness circumscribes his creativity. “In order for me to choose a song, it really has to mean something to me. It has to be relevant to my life in some form or…
The morning of February 19 will bring more than business as usual at 400 South Record Street. In the cavernous lobby of the A.H. Belo Corporation’s downtown Dallas office building, freshly brewed coffee and orange juice will flow for a crowd of very happy, mostly rich people. A group of…
Herrman, Herrman & Guido In the past, Buzz has wondered at a recent advertising trend that cleverly equates lawyers with stupid, vicious animals and destructive machines–you know, sharks, attack dogs, Sherman tanks. (We should point out that these violent and inane ads aren’t diatribes against lawyers–they’re promotional messages paid for…
Convoluted legal questions surrounding who is allowed to know–or talk about–what is contained on the notorious Peavy Tapes could open the door to criminal investigations of former school trustee Dan Peavy and long-time DISD critic Richard Finlan. A federal prosecutor has told a judge that Peavy and Finlan may be…
After Dallas police concluded last month that Cowboys Erik Williams and Michael Irvin had been falsely accused of rape, Williams’ attorney asked investigators to give back some of the personal items police seized during their investigation. In response, police boxed up and returned some sex toys, a video camera, and…
Bouquets, and one brickbat I would like to wish Laura Miller the best as she embarks on her year-long sabbatical to spend some time with her family [“Mommie dearest,” January 23]. She will be missed. I will be looking forward to the return of her razor-edged investigative reporting. Enjoy, Ms…
Last summer, Pat Stone phoned her daughter, T.J., and told her she had something very important to talk about. Pat and her husband, Dan, were planning to visit T.J. in Virginia, and Pat wanted to make sure her daughter could carve out some time for them to be alone–no easy…
Back when the Dallas Cowboys were winning Super Bowls–instead of leading the league in the number of players suspended for drug infractions–corporate heavyweights like Nike and Pepsi were eager to court America’s Team. But this year it’s a little different. Sunday’s Super Bowl passed with no Cowboys, and the team’s…
Dan Peavy, the former Dallas Independent School District board member who was acquitted last November on bribery charges, has begun taking steps to prepare himself–and his wallet–to battle another potential criminal charge. As the Dallas Observer first reported last week, U.S. Attorney Paul Coggins has asked federal judge Jorge Solis,…
Dana “Isis” Brantley believes in the orderly design of things. You can see it in the intricate braid creations she designs in the hair of African-American women from across Dallas. So it is no accident that, for more than a year, Brantley has been fighting with state regulators to preserve…
