He’s a wood shop machinist at the Ellis Unit in Huntsville, his oversized hands and muscular arms as brawny as the day in 1982 when he first entered a Texas prison, as powerful as the day he last choked a woman to death. By some accounts, Coral Eugene Watts has…
The idea of a memorial to American Airlines flight crews who died in the September 11 terrorist attacks seemed simple enough. And as Dean Thompson saw it, “Who wouldn’t be for it?” In the waning months of 2001, Thompson and his wife, American Airlines flight attendant Valerie Thompson, began pushing…
It’s June in Dallas–a horrible combination. The weather is hot and sticky. The bars are crowded. Bastard children with no one to school them run wild in the streets. And, of course, the Texas Rangers are performing their annual rendition of Dead Men Walking. Makes you wish you were somewhere…
Miracle Grow They come, sometimes as many as a half-dozen a day. Tucked in the endless stream of spam offering Russian women, low-cost mortgages, porn and mini remote-controlled toy cars arrive the pitches for “all natural” penis-enlargement pills. Feeling inadequate? Too embarrassed to take a shower at the gym? Just…
A three-judge panel of the 5th District Court of Appeals has granted the Dallas Observer summary judgment in a libel suit brought by restaurateur Dale Wamstad. That means we won, though it’s too soon to tell whether Wamstad will appeal. This is good news for Buzz, since we edited the…
Movin’ On Up Bubble-icious: Only George Jefferson could have done us so proud! Before I was transferred (somewhat unwillingly) to this simmering urban sprawl, a.k.a. “the metroplex,” a decade ago, all I knew about Dallas was: 1) The city had been the site of the unfortunate sudden demise of a…
“Look at that. This could be the 1870s,” says Dr. Zech Dameron III as he pulls his pickup behind the herd. Substitute a pair of horse ears for the Dodge’s hood ornament and harden up the seats considerably, and we are a couple of cowhands moving up some long-ago trail–the…
If you’ve been busy traveling the world and not filing expense reports the past month, perhaps you’ve not heard of the “Jayson Blair saga” that roiled The New York Times. A quick recap: A young reporter, Blair, made up facts, plagiarized and lied about traveling to various locations to cover…
I didn’t do it. I swear. I wish I had, but this time someone else orchestrated the whole wonderful scheme. And bless them for it. Bill Parcells, new head coach of your Dallas Cowboys, is sitting at a table surrounded by a media horde. He’s rubbing his forehead in one…
Missed Shot Presumption of guilt: Carlton Stowers’ story “Shot in the Dark,” June 5, is a ridiculous non-story. It’s a sympathetic story of a criminal. No matter if it is small-town Texas or Dallas, a crime is a crime, and punishment is needed. If Hicks had been a resident of…
Whistling Dixie Recently, Natalie Maines, lead singer of the Dixie Chicks, appeared on the Academy of Country Music Awards with a homemade T-shirt that read “F.U.T.K.” (See digitally altered example at right.) Given that the singer has engaged in a very public battle with mindless country star/Republican party organ Toby…
Ten or so bicyclists gather around an outdoor table in downtown Dallas with bicycles of many varieties leaning against chairs or a nearby post. It’s late on a Friday afternoon, and they are sweaty and tired from another day’s work. But, they are not as sweaty and tired as they…
The elderly women high-kicking like Rockettes in skimpy, sequined outfits and fishnet hose likely were enough to open the eyes of any Saturday-morning cable wanderers who recently happened to stumble across Dallas public access channel 13 B. Senior Moments, Dallas’ own Oprah for older people, is quite a departure from…
Each year, the Press Club of Dallas passes out scads of bronze statues of a semi-naked woman–called the Katie Awards–for excellence in local journalism and public relations. Buzz, while not a member of the club (see Groucho Marx’s comment re: clubs, membership in), would like to suggest a special prize…
One week later, no one can forget the Great Mavs Collapse of Game 6. It’ll probably be that way forever. It’s going to become one of those “where were you when” scenarios, so I’ll share. I was playing poker with my buddies–why go to the game when you can watch…
Back in Klanland Weak signal up north: How funny! I work in Wise County for the sheriff’s department, and Jim Schutze had me laughing until I cried with his references to Wise County, Harleys, tornadoes and burned-down meth labs (“Radio Free Gomer,” May 29). Klanland was humorous but not altogether…
Soler Power Graffiti is everywhere. Most people despise it, especially the costs racked up in building and city structure damages. Our take: We’re not saying it’s a good thing, we’re not condoning vandalism, we just want 600 words to fill this space. So we talked to Soler, a local tagger…
It began with a seemingly harmless joke, the kind good ol’ boys in the rural North Texas community of Whitewright traditionally enjoy. Down at the Quick Check, an early-morning coffee stop, someone placed a donation jar on the counter, attaching a handwritten sign that urged contributions to a fund that…
This much we know is true: (PRIZM!) Youth OUTreach is a local organization for gay, lesbian and transgendered young people. On May 2, members of the group decided to get together in the food court in Town East Mall in Mesquite. They sat at tables. They ordered food. They talked…
Blue Crush You hypocrites: I knew better, I really did. But when I saw Todd and Toby on the cover (“Back and Blue,” by Shannon Sutlief, May 22), I couldn’t resist. So I picked up and read your story on the Deep Blue Something brothers; then I read it again…
News that disgraced former New York Times reporter Jayson Blair routinely lied and plagiarized stories has prompted a wave of soul searching among responsible journalists across the nation. We at the Dallas Observer, while technically neither responsible nor journalists, aren’t immune, and we’ve been busily scanning our archives to see…
“Then there was the guy who loved his wife so much, he almost told her.” –Anonymous It seems a bit bizarre and a lot ironic that the Army, part of the mightiest military machine in history, is offering its troops a touchy-feely weekend workshop in romance. Yet eight soldiers and…
