Domestic Violence 101

Got a nagging, disobedient wife? Try verbally warning her. If that doesn't improve her behavior, then discipline her with a period of sexual inactivity. Still no luck? Then according to Islamic law, a judicious beating should be administered. This according to Mohamed Kamal Mustafa, author of the book "Women in Islam". Mr. Mustafa goes on to explain the proper way to beat your wife. Yes, apparently there is a right and a wrong way to do it. According to The Washington Times, he advises, "The blows should be concentrated on the hands and feet using a rod that is thin and light so that it does not leave scars or bruises on the body." When he's not giving out advice on how to have a happier homelife, Mr. Mustafa is Imam of a mosque in the southern resort city of Fuengirola, Spain.

Unfortunately for Mr. Mustafa, the Spanish government doesn't share his views on how to achieve domestic bliss. in fact, those bigoted Spanairds conside such talk a crime. Mr. Mustafa was sentenced to 15 months in jail and fined roughly $2,600 last year after a court found him guilty of inciting violence against women. The judge let him out after 22 days in jail on the condition that he spend six months studying the sections of the Spanish constitution that guarantee all people (even women) basic human rights.

Orwellian 'Orleans

Q: When is looting not looting?

A: When the looter is a New Orleans Police Officer.

That's the only conclusion I can come to after reading the latest from The Associated Press. The news agency reported that the New Orleans Police Department has begun an investigation into whether police officers participated in the giant looting spree that overtook the city after Hurricane Katrina.

News reports after the storm said that cops were present and participating in some of the heaviest looting, especially at the Wal-Mart in the Lower Garden District. Witnesses, which included a reporter from the New Orleans Times-Picayune said police were taking items from shelves.

The AP quotes police spokesman Marlon Defillo as saying, "Out of 1,750 officers, we're looking into the possibility that maybe 12 officers were involved in misconduct." If true, the 'Nawlins police obviously defines misconduct very narrowly.

The police department spokesman, in a bit of doublespeak worth of the best bureaucrat, also rejected the use of the term "looting," but said authorities were looking into, "the possibility of appropriation of non-essential items during the height of Katrina, from businesses."

Mind Your Manners

When 17 year old Christina Brazier, was found guilty of drug possession in June, State District Judge Lauri Blake gave her probation. One condition of her probation is that the girl not have sex. Other conditions of her freedom are that she not get any new tattoos or piercings, not use tobacco or wear clothing "associated with the drug culture," according to the Dallas Morning News. Such unusual rulings indicate how Judge Lauri Blake is shaking up the "good old boy" legal system in Sherman. The city of about 36,000 people sits about 65 miles north of Dallas and retains the neighborly feel most people associate with a small Texas town.

Judge Blake's strict, no nonsense, by the book, style extends to the lawyers that appear in her courtroom as well. The judge has a dress code for those that come before her bench. Sleeveless shirts are out. Same with cleavage. Strict decorum is expected. No handshake deals. "It used to be like a circus, lawyers milling around," Fannin County District Attorney Richard Glaser told the News. "She makes them sit and come up one at a time." The judge is also not afraid to let attorney's know when she finds theirs manners lacking. "She told me to stand up straight and don't touch the bench," lawyer James A. Fry told the News. "It was like talking to a child." One attorney, David Stagner whose behavior the judge found especially lacking was taken into custody. The judge ordered her bailiff to transport the lawyer to a courthouse holding cell in handcuffs, telling him, "I am not playing games, Mr. Stagner. Now when you decide you have good manners, you may come back." As of yet, Judge Blake has not instituted corporal punishment in her courtroom, but having seen how some attorneys behave, perhaps she should consider it.

Shoulda Been A Cowboy

An insistence on studying a controversial book has cost an elite, private, Austin school $3,000,000.00. Trustees of St. Andrew's Episcopal School officially released Cary McNair, one of the school's biggest donors, and his family from their pledge after McNair objected to the use of "Brokeback Mountain" as reading material in a 12th-grade English class. The book tells the story of two male ranch hands who fall in love and have a homosexual relationship over many years. The story contains details of gay sex acts.

McNair said he is simply asking that St. Andrew's abide by its own rules, and that reading and discussing stories involving homosexual sex runs counter to the school's mission statement, in which it promises to provide "a Christian environment" and "to develop moral behavior." In an Aug. 17 letter to St. Andrew's trustee Paul Bury. a portion of which was quoted in the Austin American-Statesman, McNair asked, "Why would SAS (St. Andrew's School) promote classroom discussion on pornographic material concerning deviant behavior?" "An apparent agenda at the Upper School is developing that is detrimental to SAS's future." McNair, who has three children at the school told The Statesman that he also was troubled by improper content in school plays and bias against Christian extracurricular groups at the school.

In early May, the McNairs and other parents met with St. Andrew's Head of School Lucy Nazro to protest the school's choice to not recognize the National Day of Prayer but to participate in the National Day of Silence -- a national effort to highlight the actual silencing of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people because of harassment, bias and abuse. On Aug. 1, Kate McNair informed the school that the family no longer wanted its name on the school building and that the school should pursue donations from alternate sources.

Home Sweet Home

Don't look for refugees from Hurricane Katrina to be heading back to the gulf coast anytime soon. They're all renting apartments here in the Lone Star State. The Dallas Business Journal reports that the North Texas apartment market saw 18,000 units snapped up since Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast. The data is from ALN Systems.

Average occupancy rates have climbed from 88.8% to 92% in less than a month. That means more units were leased in just the month of September, than are leased during many entire years. According to ALN, about 64,000 apartment units have been rented out across the state. Most refugees appear to prefer Houston, which has rented out 42,000 units. The apartment market in Big D saw roughly 12,000 units rented out while Fort Worth rented out about 6,000 units during September. The current 92% occupancy rate is as high as its been in the metroplex since 2001. So if you have a hard time finding an apartment, blame Katrina.

Squandering A Surplus

Great news from the state's bean-counter-in-chief. According to State Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn, rising oil prices, strong auto sales and increased retail trade this summer helped the state government take in $1,200,000,000.00 more in taxes than the state's budget called for. So what does someone that is paid to pinch the state's pennies think should be done with the extra money? Save it for a rainy day? No. The bean-counter-in-chief thinks state legislators should drive down to Austin and spend it. That's right. According to The Dallas Morning News, Ms. Strayhorn has urged Gov. Rick Perry to call a special legislative session so lawmakers can spend the money on Hurricane Katrina relief efforts. Gov. Perry's people say the move is unnecessary because the federal government will reimburse Texas for our out of pocket expenses.

It should be noted that Ms. Strayhorn is running against the governor in the next election. It should also be noted that as of yet, the people of Texas have not elected her governor. Until they do, she should stick to keeping the state's checkbook balanced, which is the job she was elected to do. She should also consider that the "surplus" is not her money or the legislator's money. It is the people of Texas' money. If we paid in more taxes than was needed to balance the budget, it seems that a little refund is in order.

Sinking Tax Dollars

You have to applaud Dallas' Lazarus Property Corp.'s audacity. The real estate development company appears to have snookered the City of Arlington into investing millions of tax dollars in swampland. It appears that tomorrow, the city council will vote to create a tax increment reinvestment zone around the company's land in north Arlington. The 2,000 acre tract lies north of the Trinity River between Farm Road 157 and Texas 360, near the city landfill. Most of the land is in the flood plain and is unusable in its current state.

"It's been a long time and very, very slow and tedious," Mayor Robert Cluck told the Star-Telegram. "I think a developer would lose money without the zone." Huh, well, gee, doesn't that tell you something? If the project was economically viable, Lazarus would not need corporate welfare to convince it to do it. So here are city leaders publicly admitting to investing tax dollars in a project that makes no economic sense.

Stop The Suffering

EveryManCounts Inc. of Arlington is hosting a two-day men's seminar beginning Friday at the Fort Worth Convention Center aimed at men displaced by Hurricane Katrina. The conference is designed to tell men how they can become more influential leaders in their communities, families and organizations. Conference speakers include former Texas Ranger Jim Sundberg; Norm Miller, chairman of Interstate Batteries; and Robert Hughes, the winningest basketball coach in U.S. history.

Men that attend will receive free tickets to the Oct. 2 Texas Rangers game. A Texas Rangers game? Come on, haven't these guys suffered enough?

So Long Rita

Texas and Louisiana began clearing up the mess left by Hurricane Rita Sunday as crews worked to restore electricity to more than 1 million customers in four states. Residents also said a prayer of thanks that it wasn't worse. Fueled by the warm waters in the gulf, Rita had at one point grown to immense size, a Category V, hurricane and set her sights on Houston. The threat of the immense storm set of an unprecedented evacuation of the nation's 4th largest city.

In her fury, Rita downed trees, caused fires across the hurricane zone and flooded coastal towns with a 15-foot storm surge. While the havoc was serious, residents of The Lone Star State remained unbowed. "There's none of that just-down-to-the-foundation devastation that we saw out of Mississippi" after Katrina, Texas Gov. Rick Perry told the Associated Press. So far, only one death had been reported, where a tornado in Mississippi overturned a mobile home.

Fire And Rain

Hurricane Rita crashed into the low-lying coastal area along the Texas-Louisiana border early Saturday morning, her 120 mph winds causing widespread destruction, disrupting power and threatening even more damage from heavy rains.

Rita's final path took her east of Houston and Galveston, instead unleashing her might on small towns in southeast Texas and southwest Louisiana, which suffered severe damage. "It's unbelievable," Reuters quoted Lake Charles Police Chief Tommy Davis as saying, "There's going to be a lot of destruction out there."

While directing most of her fury east, Rita's high winds whipped up huge fires in Galveston's historic Strand District even while rain poured down. The few buildings that survived the catostrophic hurricane of 1900 are located in The Strand. A one hundred-year-old building in the area was almost totally destroyed and two others were severely damaged . "It was like a war zone, shooting fire across the street," the Associated Press quoted Fire Chief Michael Varela as saying. The Galveston Fire Department had moved most of the fire fighting equipment into the shelter of the convention center to keep it from being damaged by the hurricane.

While the gulf coast began to survey the damage, northeast Texas braced for more flooding as Rita moved up the Texas-Louisiana border. It is feared she may decide to rest in east Texas, dropping as much as 20 inches of rain on the area.

Gimme Shelter

Though weakened to a Category III, Hurricane Rita continued to churn in the Gulf of Mexico, wetting her appetite by pounding the Texas and Louisiana coast with heavy rain and strong wind. The effects of Rita could already be felt more than a hundred miles inland in Louisiana where the winds were blowing the rain horizontally. Rita is expected to devour the town of Port Arthur for breakfast on Saturday morning. Texas officials predict catastrophic damage from to the coastal city of Port Arthur. Rita's storm surge is expected to top out at a height of 18- to 22-foot covering the entire city with water. Hurricane force winds are expected to last approximately 16 hours.

In the DFW metroplex, Rita's effects are already being felt. In south Dallas County, 24 senior citizens fleeing the hurricane died if a fiery bus explosion. Many of the shelters in Dallas and Tarrant counties were already filled or reported that they were filling up quickly.

Rita Readies For Weekend Date With Texas

Like a debutante primping for her big day, Hurricane Rita has shed some heft during the last few hours. According to the National Weather Service, Rita reached her peak during the last few hours and has since been downgraded to a Category IV hurricane. Her sister hurricane, Katrina, was also a IV when she devastated New Orleans and the eastern gulf coast. Rita is expected for an early Saturday breakfast, somewhere along the Texas coast between Houston and the Louisiana border.

Mindful of the devastation of Katrina, hundreds of thousands of gulf coast residents began inundating northernTexas cities, seeking refuge from the storm. With major conventions being held this weekend in both Dallas and Fort Worth, and many rooms already filled with guests that fled Katrina, almost all of the metroplex's 82,000 rooms are already filled. Many evacuees face either staying in public shelters or driving further north into Oklahoma for hotel rooms.

Five!

Hurricane Rita was just recently given a promotion to a Category V hurricane. Recent reconnaissance put her winds at over 165 m.p.h. Rita appears headed for a weekend date with the Texas coast and a trip inland to the metroplex.

Update: Rita appears to have Galveston and Houston in her sights. This situation appears to be the worst case scenario for the Houston-Galveston area.

Backing Away From The Public Trough

Corporate welfare whore D.R. Horton rescinded its request that the City of Fort Worth grant them up to $86,000,000.00 in sales tax breaks on Tuesday. As I previously posed, the scheme called for the city to kickback 1% of Horton's sales tax bill. As hard as it is to believe, some members of the Fort Worth City Council finally found a corporate give-away program that they didn't like. Some leaders questioned the scheme, since it didn't call for any new construction, or new employees in Cowtown. Among the critics were Mayor Pro Tem Chuck Silcox who the Star-Telegram quoted as saying, "It's a matter of principle that a company that made nearly $1 billion in profit last year didn't want to pay taxes, they didn't want to pay their fair share."

Cowtown Council-lady Wendy Davis, whose district just happens to include Hortons's swank, downtown headquarters, said the city lost free money that could have helped buy new police cars, fund a crime lab or build new police storefronts. Davis was referring the crime tax, which Horton would have paid on its sales. The crime tax is the extra sales tax we Cowtowners have to pay because the city council refuses to fulfill its duty to adequately fund the police department. One would think those kind of crime fighting tools would be a top priority for city leaders without the supposed "free money". But this is the same bunch that spent $50,000.00 on a park for dogs, so one can never be sure.

Hot Hot Hot

I hope the people of Galveston and Houston will forgive us for hoping Hurricane Rita might stop by and bring some cooling rainfall to this area, but it's hot outside. The forecast for Wednesday and Thursday calls for highs around 100 yet again before cooling off to 95 on Friday.

Love Your Neighbor?

It's tough being a teenager these days. Thankfully we have pin-headed school administrators like the ones at the Crowley I.S.D. looking out for the childlin'. According to the Houston Chronicle, Janice Colston was seen hanging out on the public sidewalk in front of Crowley High School recently. Her activity raised the suspicions of an assistant principal who promptly told the 65 year old woman she would have to move from the front of the school to the end of street. What was Ms. Colston doing that attracted the ire of the school administration and the infringement of her right to free speech? Passing out religious literature. If there is one thing every educrat knows, it's that our childlin' must be protected from the harmful effects of religion.

Of course, this the is the same school district that moved the football game between its two high schools to one o'clock on a Saturday afternoon rather than the traditional Friday evening to try avoid the violence that has plagued recent games. Sounds to me like a few lessons in loving your neighbor might do some good.

I Said No And I Meant It

34 year old Eric Henstenberg claimed he killed 61 year old Lorna Vermeulen after she made unwanted sexual advances towards him, and she came after him with a knife, he testified Monday. According to the Star-Telegram, Henstenberg, said that he and the woman had spent a night deep in drinking and depression before her death. Henstenberg said he slept in a downstairs guest bedroom and woke up about 5 o'clock in the morning. Ms. Vermeulen was calling him from her upstairs bedroom. So he went upstairs and got into bed with her for some reason, whereupon she began the unwanted sexual advances. When he rebuffed her, he claims she pulled a knife on him. So he stabbed her in the back, strangled her to death and set her house on fire.

Aside from the mental picture of a 61 year old woman coming on to a 34 year old man, what's so terrible about her making sexual advances you may ask? Well, Mr. Henstenberg is gay. I'm not exactly sure how a 34 year old man can stab a 61 year old woman in the back, then strangle her, and claim it was self-defense. But then, I've never claimed to be a lawyer.

Grapevine-Colleyville Says No To Abstinence

Kids in middle school should wait until they are older to have sex. Apparently that is a controversial concept in the Grapevine-Colleyville I.S.D. School officials canceled a program encouraging abstinence among teen-agers that was supposed to have put on by Life Choices Presents. The program, which had already been approved by the Texas Education Agency, tries to teach kids to break cycles of destructive living and that choices have consequences. During the multimedia program, students also learn about tolerance, diversity and making good choices. So far so good, so what's the problem? The problem is that the presentation also encourages teens to wait to have sex. Apparently abstinence is now considered "religious" by our public schools. As we all know, our public schools must be purged of any mention of religion. That's the only proper way to educate the childlin' these days.

According to the Dallas Morning News, some parents are not buying the anti-religious excuse. The News quotes one parent, as asking, "What would you like to teach to your children? I don't know a parent out there who would say I would really like my children to be sexually active by middle school." I'd like to hear the members of the school board answer that one.

Fired Up Over Drilling

Tucked in among the ads for escorts and massage parlors in the current issue of Fort Worth Weekly is a whiney article about natural gas wells. The article mentions protestors on the east side that I've discussed before, failing to note that the protestors brought this on themselves with their previous NIMBY attitude.

In typical FW Weekly style, the article includes a heavy dose of all the evils that might, could, can, and are possible, with gas wells. But I read the article twice and could not find any hard facts that gas wells are especially hazardous. Hmmmm..... Perhaps the facts didn't fit in with the Weekly's sky is falling theme?

We are also asked to feel sorry for a dual-income yuppy couple in northwest Tarrant County that have been victimized (and after all, isn't everyone featured in a story by the FW Weekly a victim?) by an evil gas well drilling company. These people just crack me up. They move out to the country to get away from city taxes and city regulations then complain because there is no regulation. I always say the wonderful thing about living out in the country is that you can do whatever you want on your land. The bad thing is that so can your neighbor.

I Guess It Does Grow On Trees

As the Texas Legislature struggles to fund our public schools there appears to be no shortage of money at the Grapevine-Colleyville Independent School District. Saturday, voters went to the polls and passed a $108,000,000.00 bond package for the Northeast Tarrant County school district. Among the items approved:

• $13,700,000.00 for a new elementary school.
• $3,100,000.00 to renovate another elementary school and build a library.
• $10,000,000.00 for technology upgrades throughout the district.
• $2,100,000.00 for synthetic field turf at the district's three football stadiums.
  

Lest you think that's a typo, let me assure you it's not. That's right, while every politician that can find the limelight bemoans the pitiful funding of public schools. The school board trustees that are supposed looking out for, the childlin' are spending two million dollars on astroturf. The Star-Telegram quotes Sue Harry, a member of the district's bond steering committee as saying, "We broke it down to the bare bones, it had no frills. And it was for safety, for education and to save the district money." Presumably the spokeslady said this with a straight face, though it's hard to imagine how.

Cleaning Up

Great for residents of Fort Worth! Apparently the city has solved all the problems facing a large fast-grown urban municipality. That's the only conclusion I can reach after reading in the Star-Telegram that Cowtown is going to start issuing tickets to residents whose trash bins are visible from the street. That's right, forget about crime, blight, pollution, smog, substandard buildings, the city is worried someone may have to face the ugly sight of your trash or recylcling bin. "We don't want to hand out tickets, but unfortunately it does come down to that sometimes," the S-T quotes a representative from the city's Code Compliance Department as saying. Anyone that has ever called Code Compliance would have to agree with that. The department is one of the most lackadaisical at city hall. The tickets carry fines of up to $307.00. The S-T goes on to quote another city spokesman as describing the horrific sight of trash bins in people's yards, as, "a big problem.". Really? Honestly, on your list of problems facing Cowtown, where does the location of your neighbor's trash bins rank? Here's a thought. The city issued us the ugly trash bins and demands that we use them. Why doesn't the city issue us prettier trash bins?

Fermenting Fakery In Tarrant County

Well it's that time of year again. Time to sip some wine, attend snobby wine tasting events, or perhaps just kick back and enjoy gourmet food and live music at the pavilion. Where is all this going on you ask? The French countryside? Northern California? Nope, all this and more fun than you can shake a dead 'possum at is going on this weekend in Grapevine, Texas. It's time for the 19th annual Grapefest. Puhlease.

The City of Grapevine got its name from the mustang grapes that grew wild in the area. That's right, Grapevine has absolutely nothing to do with wine-making. It is not a part of its history, wine-making played no role in the development of the area. The whole wine-making "industry" in Grapevine is the product an overly imaginative convention and visitors bureau. Every city needs a gimmick. Cowtown has cows. Big D has crime. So Grapevine decided their gimmick would be grapes. So they started a festival, worked up a new logo, splashed some grape-colored ink on signs around town and what do you know? Visitors just may mistake the suburban town for a little slice of Napa Valley, right here in north Texas. Not.

I don't mean to imply that promoting the city as a vintners paradise hasn't failed to garner some publicity for the town. A few years ago Grapefest was even featured in a front page article in The Wall Street Journal. Of course, the focus of the story was that the organizers of the festival had stuffed the ballot box to make sure their local wines won all the awards. Any publicity is good publicity I suppose.

Feeding Time Again At City Hall

Add DR Horton to the growing list of corporations feeding at the trough of tax dollars that has become Fort Worth City Hall. The Star-Telegram is reporting that the country's largest homebuilder wants sales tax refunds worth up to $86,000,000.00 from the city. So what do the taxpayers of Fort Worth get in return for their generosity? New jobs? A fancy new high-rise in downtown? Nothing, nada, zilch. That's right, the citizens of Cowtown, who would continue to pay the full sales tax rate, would get absolutely nothing. Under terms of the deal, the city would kickback 1% of the sales tax paid by Horton on their purchases. Basically, its just a bookkeeping trick. Horton would record all their purchases as having gone through their Cowtown headquarters.

Being the good corporate citizens that they are, Horton agreed to pay the full amount of the crime tax and the bus tax. For those that don't know, the crime tax is the extra sales tax we pay because the city council won't fulfill its primary obligation of providing a fully funded police department. The bus tax is the tax we pay so poor people can ride the buses cheaper. Here's a suggestion for the city council. Fort Worth already has one of the highest sales tax rates in the state. If companies are balking at the high taxes, perhaps that is a message to tighten our belts and reduce the sales tax rate for all citizens, not just mega-size corporate welfare recipients like D.R. Horton.

The city council delayed a vote on the tax break scheme to allow for citizen input. Cowtowners might want give them some.

Unbearable Neighbors

Recipe for hard feelings: Take one small neighborhood. Add a bunch of obnoxious college students (any brand will do, all college students are obnoxious). Add some crotchety old farts that have lived there since Sam Houson was governor. Mix in a generous helping of loud music and loud cars. The result is a lot of hard feelings down in Waco. Residents along Gurley Avenue are not too happy about their new neighbors. Several duplexes have been built along the old street, attracting students from the nearby Baylor University.

According to the Waco Tribune-Herald, students of the former baptist university have been getting on the nerves of their senior citizen neighbors big time. The neighbors complain that the students make too much noise, cause traffic problems and strew garbage everywhere. According to the Trib, one of the loudest complainers is Bill Braden. Mr. Bill says all the noise and congestion forced his momma to have to leave her place on Third Street where she had lived since the late 1920s. He moved her into a nursing home last fall. I did some figuring. If she moved into the home as an adult and has been there since the late 20's, that means Bill's Momma is in her early 90's. Bill, I'd say it was about time, regardless of whether she was a fan of the kid's rap music or not.

Residents have complained to the city, which is making plans to ban parking along some of the streets in an effort to reduce the number of party animals at the duplexes. As far as the university efforts to help? Well, Baylor Department of Public Safety Chief Jim Doak said the neighborhood should count their blessings. Chief Doak says that each meeting he goes to with other police chiefs in the Big 12 Conference, leave him grateful to be at the nominally Christian institution. He told the Trib, most schools have much worse problems, and noted that the University of Colorado has its own SWAT team.

Just Phone It In

While the Army and National Guard begin the grisly cleanup in New Orleans, the city's fire and police officers are headed for week-long vacations, many of them in Las Vegas. New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin, who has spent the last week demanding more federal assistance, originally asked the Federal Emergency Management Agency to pay for vacations for his employees. When the agency said it could not use federal tax money dedicated for flood relief for such trips, the mayor said that the city would pick up the tab. No word yet on whether the hundreds of New Orleans police officers that abandoned their jobs are eligible. City officials said they expected the military, with much greater resources, to expand rescue work, begin cleaning up the city and take the first steps toward reconstruction. Colonel Terry Ebbert, the senior city official that is supposed to be running the recovery and rescue operation, intends to take a break as well, but probably for less than five days. But don't worry, he told The New York Times that he would continue to direct the recovery by telephone.

Seniors Need Not Apply

"Respect your elders" Momma always told me. Apparently, the residents of $outhlake didn't have a momma like mine. Residents of the oh-so-upscale suburb, which chased their Wal-Mart out of town with nitpicky rules over vending machines, are up in arms over a new zoning case which threatens their quality of life. So what is it the zoning case that has citizens up in arms? A lead smelter? Steel mill? Topless Bar? No. Residents are opposed to plans by Sunrise Senior Living to construct an assisted-living center in the city. That's right, the people of $outhlake don't think grandma is upwardly mobile enough to live in their city. It's not that they are opposed to old people, they just don't want them living in their town. In classic NIMBY fashion, the Star-Telegram quotes Dave McCowan, president of the Fox Borough Home Owners Association, as saying, "I have no problem whatsoever with an assisted-living center, but it doesn't belong on this lot." So senior citizens can rest easy. The people of $outhlake don't mind you being around. Just don't get to close.

southlake texas

Has Hell Frozen Over?

This just in from Norman Oklahoma. Forget about global warming, it appears that hell has frozen over.

That's the only conclusion I can come to with word that TCU has defeated The University of Oklahoma Sooners, 17-10. How the horny toads from one of the snobbiest party schools in the country managed to beat the semi-pro team from Norman is beyond me, but congratulations to them.

Tough Questions For Dallas Plan Commission Member

Sheesh, a guy tries to be a good citizen, help out his fellow man by serving the public and people want to make a federal case out of a few misunderstandings. Such is the case of public servant and Dallas Plan Commission member D'Angelo Lee. You may recall, a couple of weeks ago, Dallas Mayor Laura Miller attempted to remove Lee from his position on the Plan Commission. Among the reasons cited by Madam Mayor were that Lee was being paid as a consultant on zoning cases he was voting on; that he didn't bother to report that someone (he still refuses to say who) gave him a luxury vehicle as a "gift"; and he hadn't bothered to pay nearly twenty grand in back taxes. The Big D City Council refused to remove Lee from the commission on the grounds that it is racist to suggest that commission members shouldn't vote on projects that developers are paying them to, "consult" on.

Now comes word from the Dallas Morning News that Lee owes the city nearly $1,600.00 for traffic tickets going back five years. Not only that, but apparently Lee is unsure when he was born. According to The News, he has given at least three different birthdates on sworn affidavits. So The News sent a reporter out to ask Lee exactly when he was born. Lee declined to comment. Madam Mayor was quoted in The News as stating, "I can't imagine, at this point, anybody on the City Council voting to keep in his position." Madam Mayor has far more faith in the Big D City Council than we do. We await the protests from the Dallas black community that it is racist to ask someone what their correct birthdate is.

We Are Too Upscale!

The City of Colleyville took a giant step forward in their never-ending effort to show that they are just as up-scale and swank as Southlake. The city has had an inferiority complex for years as they've watched upscale shops and restaurants pass them by in favor of the obnoxiously well-heeled town of Southlake. When city leaders in Southlake built their sanitized version of a Texas town, C'ville one-upped them by constructing a faux French village, calling it Colleyville Town Center. If you want to visit the little slice of France in north Texas, just head up State Highway 26 and turn left at the Goodwill store.

Now comes word that a developer has snookered C'ville into helping foot the bill for a movie theater complete with an Imax screen. The cost to taxpayers? Why only $1,620,000.00. So I did some figuring. With an estimated population of 21,000, the tab for the fancy movie theater comes to $77.00 for every man, woman and child in the city. That would sure buy a lot of popcorn, or fix a lot of potholes.

The tax payers of C'ville might want to ask themselves if they really think it is the business of city government to get into the entertainment business. Theater receipts have been in decline or stagnant for years now. Which perhaps explains why the developer is seeking government welfare for his project. If it was economically feasible, he would build it himself. But then perhaps he figures, why risk more of his own money when the suckers on the C'ville City Council will let him play with theirs.