The cloyingly heartfelt sound of new-age music swells in the background as the credits brashly announce the topic for the day’s show: “Help! My Daughter’s Been Kidnapped.” Sally Jessy Raphael’s nasal voice rises over the music as images of girls playing with their fathers flood the screen. “Today,” says the…
Is the black man worth loving?” The question hung over the crowd gathered in the pews of Jubilee United Methodist Church on a recent Friday night, a promise and a paradox. To each of the 125 African-American men and women, the answer was obvious. Yet here was Robert Ashley, well-known…
Gazing into the abyss There are at least two errors in the statements made by Ed Zabel in the Observer article about him [“Dealing with the Devil,” February 15]. The first concerns gargoyles, which were designed to be waterspouts, and nothing else. The second concerns Zabel’s bizarre theory that the…
The March night promised to be chilly. An unusually large crowd turned out for the Sulphur Springs City Council meeting, more than could fit within the warm confines of City Hall, so the meeting was moved to the much larger civic center. When the doors opened, citizens of the small…
Would a bleeding-heart liberal kick a guy while he’s down? Should a girl like me, in whom the milk of human kindness flows copiously for everyone, from protein-shy Hottentots to the glandular obese, actually aim a few swift boots at the prone form of Sen. Phil Gramm? Nah. But it’s…
Former Dallas Independent School District trustee Dan Peavy has filed suit against the Dallas Observer for reprinting a transcript of the profanity-peppered tape recording that led to his resignation. In its October 5, 1995 issue, the Observer printed a transcript of racist, sexist, and homophobic comments that Peavy admits he…
Just another politician Though it’s nothing new for a candidate to stump as “not another political insider,” Buzz had to stop and look twice at a campaign sign planted in the Midcities. Bob Stewart, a Republican running for the District 42 state House seat representing parts of Hurst, Euless, and…
Pee-pee? No, GOP I was somewhat appalled at your suggestion that Dallas Morning News editorial-page editor Rena Pederson should take a “G.O.P. urine test” simply because you were not in agreement with the News’ editorial assessment of President Bill Clinton’s State of the Union address [BeloWatch, “Marching in Lockstep,” February…
The good, gray Dallas Morning News has ended its search for a new managing editor by elevating a veteran of 16 years at the paper, and–though he and the News are loath to admit it–a stint chasing UFOs at the National Enquirer. The elevation of Deputy Managing Editor Stuart Wilk,…
Matthew, 12, recently traveled to downtown Dallas with members of Park Cities Baptist Church to deliver sandwiches to the homeless. While there, he spotted his mother, who didn’t see him. Eager to avoid her, he jumped back into the delivery van. A homeless man, seeing him run, walked over to…
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, apparently responding to recent Dallas Observer stories about its newsroom turmoil, is forcing the syndicator of nationally known columnist Molly Ivins to pull her column from the pages of the Observer. Observer Editor Peter Elkind characterizes the decision as a “blatant case of retaliation,” but says…
Back in 1986, Ed Zabel was always watching himself do things he said he wasn’t going to do. It happened too many times to count, this exercise, and the photographer marvels at it to this day. “I’d tell my wife, ‘hey, I’m going up to 7-Eleven to get a six-pack…
We usually think of the effects of downsizing on those who get laid off. The blizzard of pink slips hits not because the company is in trouble or even because its profits are down, but because downsizing is the corporate vogue. The company’s stock goes up, the shareholders are happy,…
Doug Hamilton, a 43-year-old Southwestern Bell manager, left work early on a wet, stormy October day in 1994 to attend a conference with his daughter’s kindergarten teacher. When the meeting ended, Hamilton began driving his wife and three young children home to Mesquite, but decided, two blocks from the house,…
Officials of financially beleaguered Kimberly-Clark have some big problems to solve. But last month they proved they could deftly handle a small but embarrassing squabble over a $156,000 jobs-creation grant with Palm Beach County, Florida, and come out smelling like a paper rose. Never mind that the diaper giant had…
Big D spirit We realize this was not the Freedom Train, but did anyone else notice that the Cowboys’ parade floats were–there’s no polite way to put this–segregated? Coincidence you say? Amid quickly muzzled accusations of racism involving Troy Aikman and former defensive coordinator John Blake, Buzz found it mighty…
Three years ago this Sunday, Lewis was secured in a special cell reserved for those about to receive the deadly cocktail of muscle relaxants and surgical anaesthesia that will kill them. Lewis, who was sentenced to death on June 2, 1987, by a Dallas jury for killing a young man…
Lies, lies, lies This is in response to Laura Miller’s article, “Politics makes strange enemies” [February 1]. One of the reasons so many people dislike politics is not only because of the negative campaigning, but also because of trash columns like that of Mrs. Laura Miller-Wolens. For those of you…
Belo family values The Dallas Morning News has waxed holier than thou yet again. It happened on Wednesday, February 7, when Dallas’ Only Daily became one of just five papers in the country–out of 210 nationwide that run it daily–to censor an installment of the “Non Sequitur” comic strip. The…
Last Christmas, while Americans feasted on turkey and roast beef, the French celebrated the season by devouring approximately 22 tons of snails. During the Christmas and New Year’s holidays alone, the Parisians eat 200 tons of snails; over the course of the year, they eat over 25,000 tons of snails…
Picture a gangly 10-year-old kid–his brown hair tousled, his face dusted with freckles, and looking more than a little like Beaver Cleaver–walking the azalea-lined streets of Highland Park, hawking his own newspaper. He writes the stories and sells the ads, mostly to Highland Park Village merchants thoroughly charmed by the…
Injured pride and prejudice Some things are even hard for Buzz to discuss, but not, thank God, for the judicial system. Consider a recent Texas Court of Appeals decision in a case of an aggravated sexual assault of a child. The defendant had hoped to overturn his 16-year sentence on…
