Dallas News Blog

Robert Wilonsky

​The missus, wee one and I are presently sucking in the '70s downtown, where Effects, a riff-rockin' import from Nashville is warming up the chilly throng-lite for Jonathan Tyler and the Northern Lights with decent Plant and Page and Joe Walsh offerings original and otherwise. The Dallas Chop House, due to open in Comerica on December 9, is passing out gratis kebobs; the Dallas Fish Market is doling out corn and clam chowder. Kids have filled the playground; dogs, the cement run; the curious frat bro, the grassy knolls. (The main lawn remains soggy and off-limits.) Food and booze and Led Zep well done, and the tree's been lit. Where are you, anyway? No excuse. And I don't even like Jonathan Tyler and the Northern Lights. 

International Association of Fire Chiefs

Leanne Siri

​Let's end the week with a little journalistic quiz for all your Friends of Unfair Park out there. First, a little background.

In October, D magazine published a lengthy feature headlined "The Woman-hating Culture Inside the Dallas Fire Department," by Gretel C. Kovach. The story included copious details about how hard it is to be a female firefighter in the macho boys' world of the Dallas Fire-Rescue. The upshot: Male firefighters can be sexually harassing jerks, and DFR has a long history of looking the other way when the any female firefighters -- they make up less than 6 percent of the force -- complain about mistreatment.

That's easy enough to believe, men being men, and Kovach provides ample examples of the sort of male jerkiness that would get an employee in any other line of work canned tout de suite. But the chief victim of the story was Leanne Siri-Edwards, a former executive officer in charge of organizational development, who is suing the department alleging a long list of harassment and retaliation. The bulk of her complaints were against Fire Chief Eddie Burns, her direct superior, though she made allegations against 26 specific city employees. Her allegations include claims that Burns once kicked her in the shin to tell her to shut up, that he threw a notebook at her and unfairly demoted her. (Other complaints include being sent sexually explicit e-mails from a coworker, begin called a "bitch," and being on the receiving end of unwelcome hugs from a male coworker, among others.)

Got it? Stay with us here. We're about to get to the quiz. See, here's the prob:

The city contracted with a private firm, Employment Practices Solutions, to investigate Siri's complaints. Unfortunately for D, the city refused to release a copy of the company's investigation report to the magazine before deadline. Well, now the state has ordered the city to release the report, and we got a copy late this afternoon.

​The Dallas Police Department media relations office announced moments ago that yet another DPD officer has been terminated by Chief David Kunkle. Here's the missive that just dropped in our in-box:

Dallas Police Chief David Kunkle terminated Police Officer Robert G. Ramsey, #8803, today during a disciplinary hearing. On March 6, 2008, Officer Ramsey used inappropriate force on a citizen, failed to follow policies and procedures when he released the citizen, and then issued one additional citation to that citizen without the citizen's knowledge. It was also discovered during a thorough review of Officer Ramsey's day to day ticket writing practices that he wrote citations to a citizen for offenses that he did not witness, and gave conflicting statements to investigators. Officer Ramsey was assigned to the Southeast Patrol Division and had served on the Department for three years.

Not much had been written about Ramsey before this. Tanya Eiserer mentioned him in a blog item in August of '08, in an item about troubles with tickets being written by some officers. According to the DMN'er, Ramsey "added an additional violation for not using a turn signal to a person's ticket after giving it to the violator's friend."

Ramsey can now appeal his firing to City Manager Mary Suhm. And if he doesn't like what she has to say, he can always take his case to an administrative law judge, just as Al Schoelen's doing again next month. As you no doubt recall, Schoelen was also let go for his role in a fake-ticket scandal.

Far as George knows, this binder contains the only surviving recordings of The Early Birds. There may be others. But ... where?

​No Roky Erickson freak-outs this Friday; no KNUS odds, sods or seeds and stems for you, dear Friends. Instead, George Gimarc offers something even more lost from the Dallas radio lost-and-found. As in? Well, let's let the rock and roll alternative explain:

Once upon a time there was a program called The Early Birds on WFAA. It was the No. 1 most popular morning show on radio in the DFW area, and it made its debut on the air in March of 1930. Here are some excerpts from one of their Sunday morning broadcasts. It's from April 19, 1953.

I gotta tell you, for a show that ran as long as this did, there are only a very few audio recordings in existence. And a friend of mine recently found a binder with eight consecutive shows -- each the whole 45 minutes long -- across 3 sides of a one-of-a-kind acetate. So out of the 7,237 shows.... eight of them have been found. That's only a grain of sand on the beach, but it's still a gem in my archive.

By the way, Bob Shelton is the guy from the Shelton Brothers, who was also a regular down at the Sportatorium shows and on the WFAA Shindig show. He was about 42 at the time of this broadcast. I gotta find a way to makes some of this stuff more available to the public. Back to the '70s in the next Unfair-cast, unless something else turns up.

And now ... to the Time Machine!

Sam Merten

​Earlier this week, state Sen. Royce West sent to Dallas County Democratic Party precinct chairs a missive beneath the subject heading "From One Democrat to Another." It has become, during the last 48 hours, a subject of much conversation among those who received it. (Well, that's not entirely true. Some of the precinct chairs to whom I spoke this afternoon don't recall getting it or went ahead and deleted it upon receipt. Nothing personal, Royce, swear.)

It was sent by Daniel Clayton, who works in West's campaign office, and was typed beneath West's official "Senate of the State of Texas" letterhead. It reads, in full:

Fellow Democrat:

As we approach the 2010 election cycle, we should take pride in the resurgence of the Democratic Party as the dominate party in Dallas County. Citizens have put their faith, hope, and trust in democratic elected officials to provide the concerted leadership necessary to maintain our county government, judiciary, and criminal justice systems.

We know that the best is yet to come if we continue to work as a team! The team approach requires cooperation between elected officials.

I assert and hope you agree with me, that the best interest of the citizens in Dallas County and the Democratic Party are far more important than the self interests of any one elected official.

Know this, that no elected official is indispensable!  If you agree with this assertion, I ask that you email me an acknowledgement.

From one Democrat to Another,
State Senator Royce West

Sam Merten

​In case you missed it, Michael Lindenberger reported in Saturday's Dallas Morning News that the Texas Department of Transportation finally submitted its proposals to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers aimed at solving the soil issues currently stalling construction of the approaches to the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge. And if the corps doesn't green-light the remediation plans by December 1, TxDOT will likely sever its contract for the approaches. The potential delay is estimated to add $117 million to the cost of the project.

Tasty information indeed, but I was left wondering: What the heck are the proposed fixes? That same question was asked by a commenter online, and Lindenberger responded thusly:

@Spugs: Thanks for reading, but yes, I was told the details of the fixes, because I asked, and felt there was no way to briefly explain them in a way that would inform readers without taking space I didn't have, and besides the wisdom of the folks involved, at every level, suggested that what matters is if the corps likes the plans, not whether a reporter, a reader or even the engineers who have reviewed or submitted them, feel they are satisfactory. Predicting what level of comfort the corps will demand is an uncertain prospect at best. Beyond that, not sure how this story, which touts engineers' and cities' view that the fixes are manageable, helps support your thesis that I have a long-standing position on anything, much less that the parkway is destined to fail.

In search of the answer, I contacted TxDOT spokesperson Cynthia Northrop White, who I hoped would be willing to hand over a copy of the proposals. No such luck. She said they aren't releasing anything until the plans are accepted by the corps. It's "a sensitive issue with a lot of different players involved," she told me.

Courtesy Benny Benavides/NBCDFW.com

How Brian Curtis and Jane McGarry spent last night's evacuation following an electrical fire at KXAS-Channel 5

​KXAS-Channel 5 was supposed to go off the air at 11 this morning -- there's still much repair work to be done after last night's electrical fire that knocked the 10 p.m. newscast off the air. But staffers are still awaiting the outage, which is forthcoming ... any ... second ... now. No, not during The Martha Stewart Show!

​The Washington Post's The League blog wonders this morning, "Why are the Cowboys So Hated? How does 'America's Team' remain one of the most loathed franchises in sports?" To which the responses, including essays from Eagles and Giants bloggers, have been varied and nasty. (Something about Cowboys fans being "soulless" and wanting "nothing more than to spoil the home team's party," whatever that means.) At least WaPo sports writer Leonard Shapiro just comes off as jealous.

​Right now, the closest H-E-B gets to Dallas is Waxahachie -- if, of course, you don't count H-E-B-owned Central Market. But a few days ago, a Friend of Unfair Park sent word that H-E-B had quietly opened an office in his Northwest Dallas building -- maybe, he speculated, the San Antonio-based chain was eying an expansion into the DFW. Which, turns out, it is.

The San Antonio Business Journal reports this morning that it is indeed "surveying the area, looking for potential sites" around these parts, according to H-E-B public affairs director Dya Campos. Too soon to say what, where or when (except "in the near future"), but I've sent Campos an e-mail with a few more questions. I will update when she replies.

​The folks at the AT&T Performing Arts Center picked quite the inaugural concert for the Wyly Theatre: The Flatlanders, otherwise known as Joe Ely, Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Butch Hancock. No doubt they'll break in the joint Tuesday night with the first song on their first album, recorded in 1971 and only available on eight-track till 1990: "Dallas," from which our musical sibling takes its name. Tickets are still available, but as it happens Unfair Park's got two pair to give away this morning. Here's how you win 'em: essay question.

In the song, Gilmore sings that Dallas is both "a woman who will walk on you when you're down" and "a rich man who tends to believe in his own lies," which would make Dallas, yes, a hermaphrodite. But let's say you had to pick one. Which one? And why? Keep it short, if you like, and best two answers, to be judged by a panel of first-graders and myself, win a pair of tickets. You've got till the end of the business day, 5 sharp. Now go.

Update at 5:29 p.m.: The panel, which consisted of myself and staffers at the AT&T Performing Arts Center, have chosen the winner. And they are: Steve, randall in sachse and publicnewssense. "Too close to call," say the AT&TPAC peeps. Hence, three pair! Now, Friends, send the great Maria May your name, address and phone numbers. Instructions will follow.