Buzz

Lord bought ’em a Mercedes Benz You probably didn’t hear about the recent civil disturbance in the Park Cities. In a Dallas blueblood equivalent of a soccer riot, the Parkies got positively inflamed about projection problems with First Wives’ Club at the Highland Park Village Theater. After the first couple…

Firing back

One month after he was sacked as the president and chief executive officer of Performance Nutrition Inc., Gary Lewellyn has filed a $30-million lawsuit in state court against employees and investors of the company he founded. In the suit, Lewellyn contends that the group is responsible for fraudulently ousting him…

Letters

Second opinion I was quite shocked to find my favorite newspaper sinking to the pits of journalistic sensationalism with your article on Dr. John Hargett [“Under the knife,” September 26]. Rose Farley dug so deep into the past that I’m surprised she failed to mention every single parking ticket Dr…

The haunting

Michael Pezzulli wasn’t terribly surprised when NBC called him two months ago looking for Walker Railey. After all, the Dallas civil trial lawyer has had his share of high-profile clients. There was, for example, the time he represented Lee Harvey Oswald’s widow in her quest to exhume her husband’s body…

Under the Knife

The doctor was in. He was seated at a table beside the bar, and he’d been there for five hours, drinking with several of his McKinney buddies. It looked like any other Saturday night inside Chris’ Blue Tees sports bar in downtown McKinney. On April 27, 1996, the Indiana Pacers…

The price of privilege

The well-heeled Highland Park schools rarely elicit sympathy from the Dallas area’s commoner districts. Who could summon pity for a school district where the average home value hovers around $400,000, and where only eight African-Americans are currently enrolled in its schools? Indeed, for a quick measure of the Highland Park…

Smuggler’s blues

Henry Billingsley, the son-in-law of Dallas real-estate developer Trammell Crow, has been sentenced to six months in a halfway house and three years’ probation for his illegal dealings with a Libyan finance minister. Billingsley had pleaded guilty in July to charges of smuggling Mohammed Bukhari across the Mexican border into…

Letters

No static at all When I first moved to Dallas, I also thought WRR should be sold by the City of Dallas [“Static quo,” September 19]; however, over the past 13 years I have come to enjoy and appreciate the value of WRR to the City of Dallas. WRR is…

Static Quo

Fifty yards from the Fair Park Midway, and mere spitting distance from the landmark Texas Star Ferris wheel, sits a squat, putty-colored building. Modest signs first lead visitors down a narrow alley to the building’s locked back door. It takes more poking around corners and tiptoeing through shrubbery to find…

The Ego and the Ecstasy

The sculptor’s fortress rises above a South Dallas neighborhood that has long since gone decrepit. His home is an island, surrounded by a sea of busy streets. It is walled off on three sides by an 8-foot, black metal fence, jagged at the top, and on its fourth side by…

Making book

Alasan Mansaray sees opportunity everywhere, be it in shopping malls or at gas stations. Wherever he sees people, Mansaray approaches. “Hello,” he says, his manner friendly. “My name is Alasan, and I’m very happy today.” When the person asks why, he tells them. “I’ve just published my book,” he says…

Buzz

KFC: Korrupted Football Coaches? In these dark days of cynicism and profiteering, we always figured that if there was one thing that couldn’t be bought–a moral constant, if you will–it was former Dallas Cowboys coach-deity Tom Landry. (Oh sure, he’s been in a couple of ads, but those were for…

Letters

Cracking the door Thank you for publishing Ann Zimmerman’s piece [“Mesquite grilled,” September 5]. For the first time in many moons, I see an actual case of [Mesquite’s] finest and Dallas’ wonderful [District Attorney’s] Office at work. You see, so many times what would be a shocking story like yours…

Combat zoning

It was clearly Nicole Lott’s first time at Dallas City Hall. This was obvious from the look in her eyes–that unmistakable deer-in-the-headlights look–that I detected when I walked up to her, reporter notebook flipped to an empty page, pen at the ready. “Excuse me, but could I get your name?”…

Perotnoia

Editor’s note: When Ross Perot first announced his candidacy for president in 1992, his eccentric populism generated a tidal wave of popular support. But many outside of Texas did not know just how eccentric the Dallas billionaire could be. The country got its first clear look at Perot’s combative, sometimes…

Buzz

Make that 1,000 lap dances Those North Texas Toyota Dealers sure know how to protect their image. When Michael Irvin stepped out of line with drugs and topless-dancer hootchie-kootchie, wham–the dealers dumped him as their shill and, worse, took his Landcruiser away. They shrewdly replaced the Cowboys’ fallen star with…

Too hot

Gary Lewellyn, the founder, chairman, and chief executive of Dallas-based Performance Nutrition Inc., was ousted last week by the company’s shareholders, and the company now is reviewing financial records from a portion of Lewellyn’s tenure. “The actions were taken following the publication of an article indicating that Mr. Lewellyn had…

Lawn time coming

Chris Bryant went to see the Beach Boys perform at the Starplex Amphitheatre several years ago, but the California-happy music did not make up for his rude experience. A paraplegic who lost the use of his legs in a motorcycle accident when he was 21, Bryant had purchased a general…

Letters

Leslie was better Thanks for the article about Sam Phillips [“Born again,” September 5]. I met her in Sherman in 1983 when she opened for Petra. Even then, she had a passion I’d never seen before. (Bono comes closest.) The song I remember most was “Bring Me Through.” I became…

Artful dodger

Ray Nasher was not wearing silk pajamas. This much I can tell you. But beyond that, people aren’t saying a whole lot about the unusual meeting held one afternoon last winter at Ray Nasher’s home on lushly wooded Miron Drive in North Dallas. The meeting was held at 3 p.m…

The Hip-Hop Hustle

Dale Lane was seething. Just the other day, a friend had called the 27-year-old Dallas rapper–better known by his stage name, Goldfinger–long-distance from Florida. “Man, did you see your new album?” the friend asked. “Man, it’s all over the place down here.” At first, Lane had no idea what his…

The Stink Bomber

On this particular Monday afternoon, Phil Thomas is clean-shaven and neatly dressed. At least by his standards.His short-sleeved shirt appears to have been recently pressed; its blue-and-white squares widen slightly as they descend over his belly toward a pair of oil-spotted polyester pants. An intractable row of long black hairs…