Dallas businessman William Oates–“Sonny,” as he is known to friends and associates–says he is gravely concerned about all the old paperwork crumbling and decaying in county courthouses across Texas. Binders full of old deeds, land records, tax liens, and other documents faithfully recording the important business transactions of Texas citizens…
Three Dallas Observer staff writers have been honored by the Texas State Teachers Association for excellence in education reporting, and a fourth writer has been named as a finalist for one of the most prestigious national awards given to young reporters. Rose Farley, 28, who joined the Observer staff last…
On Wednesday, April 16, shortly after the Dallas City Council begins its weekly meeting, Mayor Ron Kirk will smile for the cameras and accept a Tree City, USA award honoring Dallas’ efforts on behalf of tree preservation. Sponsored by the National Arbor Day Foundation, the award consists of a plaque,…
News over-revs What’s better than the World Series, the United Nations, and Club Med rolled into one? A race day at Texas Motor Speedway, of course. Buzz learned that by taking a trip through the rose-colored looking glass of The Dallas Morning News. The first races at the track north…
One for Larry Holly Mullen is right that in the past Larry North has trusted people to the point of naivete [“Feeling the burn,” April 3]. He is also one of the most honest and genuinely nice people I have ever known. I met Larry seven years ago when our…
For 50 years, he had counted on silence–and fear, and the distance that separated people who possessed pieces of the truth. The Rev. Harvey Wesley Cutting had built his life around deceptions. But he was adept at pretending, and put on the constructs of his imagination like a cowl. To…
Until last summer, thousands of current and former employees of the City of Dallas had no reason to suspect that their retirement nest eggs might be in jeopardy. Since city employees don’t participate in Social Security, they were spared the widespread discomfort afflicting workers who contribute to the federal system…
After receiving a court order for child support in 1990, Lena Williams was counting on the money her ex-boyfriend, Johnnie Neal, had been told to pay. Though it was only $210 a month, the money would have been helpful, especially three years ago when her son Jason needed surgery to…
Bopp ’til you drop Recently a reader called Buzz to task for speaking negatively of trailer-park folks. It seems that a comment linking radio shrink Dr. Laura Schlessinger to “sycophantic fans in trailer parks” rubbed Bill Parrish the wrong way. “OK, I don’t know what sycophantic means, but I know…
Go Fish The parents in Dallas are blaming the Dallas Independent School District for gang participation and the dropout rate, but they don’t support discipline [“Sultan of swat,” March 13]. What do they want for nothing? Robbie Lee Via Internet No Fish I applaud the child’s father for reporting Russell…
Larry North, self-made poster boy for the Dallas health and fitness scene, sits in the sixth-floor conference room of an Oak Lawn law office. Tiny beads of perspiration form on his upper lip. With finely manicured nails he mercilessly picks at a white ballpoint pen until its top is splintered…
Culbreath talks trash Betty Culbreath is renowned for her profane tirades. Dallas Observer staff writer Rose Farley captured these verbatim excerpts of some choice Culbreath rants: Culbreath on the reorganization of the department: “I’m not going to keep on talking about this when this is February and this reorganization took…
Betty Culbreath sits intently on the edge of her chair, her elbows planted on her desk and drawn tightly to her coiled frame. Tension emanates from her, like beams from the virescent lamps used to zap germs in the tuberculosis clinic several floors below her office in the county Health…
On a cold winter night, Poor David’s Pub has undergone a transformation. Usually a listener’s bar, this Friday it’s the kind of place where people go to socialize, and the music is incidental–loud and shot through with the ebullience of alcohol. The woman alone on stage pays it no mind,…
Naughty newboy Is there a good, cheap criminal mouthpiece in the house? Brian Loncar needs you to keep him out of the tank. No, not that tank. This time we mean the jug, the hoosegow, the pokey, or whatever you call the slammer. It seems that the exuberant plaintiffs’ lawyer–who…
Longtime political gadfly Rick Finlan has plunged head first into the saga of the Peavy Tapes, and a collision with the U.S. Attorney’s office could very likely ensue. In a recent letter to the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, Finlan asserts that U.S. Attorney Paul Coggins…
More fowl play I wanted Lisa McAnally to know that she is not alone with her problem [“All fowled up,” March 6]. I live in a nice apartment complex off of Haskell, east of Interstate 75, and the houses in our neighborhood have roosters running around wild everywhere. The houses…
Dallas Observer staff writer Miriam Rozen has won a Unity Award in investigative reporting for her February 15, 1996, cover story, “Project X.” The Unity Awards In Media, sponsored by Lincoln University of Missouri, honor outstanding coverage of minority problems, issues, and concerns. Rozen’s story told how a former Southwestern…
The town that killed Dr. L The final shoe in Dr. Laura’s March madness has dropped. You’ll remember, of course, that the Jewish Welfare Federation of Dallas invited the nationally syndicated radio shrink, who is, as she incessantly reminds listeners, a zealous born-again Jew, to speak at a fundraiser. A…
There was a time when T. Boone Pickens, the Texas oilman-turned-corporate-raider, graced the cover of Time, struck terror into America’s most powerful boardrooms, and cut deals the way he, and only he, wanted them. These days, Pickens has had to give up half his dog. Pickens, to be more precise,…
Let’s play ball I am very, very proud of Courtney Barnett [“Losing by decision,” February 20]. She reminds me of myself. Over 25 years ago, I was 1 of 2 girls on the boys’ track team. However, our coach saw an opportunity. He started a girls’ track team. Within two…
It is Sunday evening, and the church of the free market is in session. Joe Howard and Chevis King Jr. preach the word from their electronic pulpit–a biweekly radio show on KRLD-AM. This evening’s sermon deals with what King calls “the exportation of socialism in Dallas.” “We are two black…
