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.

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

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.

Sam Merten

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

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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.

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"It's one more brick in the wall," he told The News. "One more reason for voters in Dallas County to oppose Watkins."

This prompted an e-mail, which can be read after the jump, from Watkins' campaign sent at 10:22 last night to supporters featuring photos of both Craig and Tanya. In the missive, Craig writes: "I personally take issue with Mr. Neerman" for, among other things, mounting "an attack against my wife and family."

Tanya hasn't responded to a message left on her cell phone, and Jamille Bradfield, Craig's spokesperson, says he is out of town and unavailable until Monday. Neerman, however, tells Unfair Park that he's surprised Watkins singled him out because he viewed his comment as "fairly innocuous," especially when compared to the statements in the same story from Craig McDonald and Lynn Pride Richardson, who both called it "a conflict of interest."

"It raises the appearance of impropriety when a family member is a political consultant for candidates in Dallas County, and the voters have a right to question that," Neerman says. "If he has such tunnel vision that he doesn't see that voters would raise questions about this, then I can't help him."

I went to Stonebriar Centre (one last time?) Wednesday afternoon to catch up on some work and answer all sorts of e-mails. (Being on tour is mostly about answering e-mails and voice mails.) I ate at the California Pizza Kitchen and got a Chinese chair massage (my last?). In the food court, while I bought my Route 44 diet cherry limeade at the Sonic, I saw Santa Claus sitting there by himself, eating a Charlie's sub. This is the "new" Santa, who replaced the Santa everyone loved. There are a lot of reasons not to like this new Santa (customers say he's grumpy, has a weird hairdo, etc.) but I think his biggest mistake is sitting in the MIDDLE OF THE FUCKING FOOD COURT eating lunch like he works at a cell-phone kiosk or something. Dude, respect the fourth wall, y' know? Of course, it's exactly the sort of thing I would have put in Tinsel. I thought about joining him, but guess what -- I don't care anymore.

That's a strange feeling.

Kimberly Thorpe

If you haven't been to the Spaghetti Warehouse in a while, it looks exactly as it did the last time you were there.

"I'm here for the anniversary party," we said at the door last night.

"You're looking at it," said a waitress. Behind her, a few families ate peacefully, while waitresses moved calmly between the tables refilling glasses of soda from a pitcher.

Upstairs, Glass Apple, a Beatles cover band, played to a small audience of diners; most had no idea it was the restaurant's anniversary. But rest assured: The restaurant has maintained its campy flavor -- though now it's almost like Disney World's Haunted House, as though the dark corners and old casino-style carpeting possess an anachronistic, stylistic flair.

The general manager, 49-year-old Kevin Walker, a lifelong local, was on hand, moving from table to table. He's been working for Spaghetti Warehouse for 10 years, but at the West End location for two.

"The biggest thing that hurt us was when the West End Marketplace closed down," Walker said during a break as he shared a booth with Unfair Park. "People thought the West End closed too. But obviously we're all alive and well down here."

No, not that one. The one featured in this video the Dallas Police Department just posted, in which a Big C convenience store at 2240 Irving Boulevard is robbed at gunpoint by two men, one of whom is a 21-year-old named Anthony Romo. (His accomplice is, thus far, unidentified by DPD.)

According to Kevin Janse, DPD spokesman, the men are believed to have been involved in "up to nine armed robberies," including ones at the La Azteca Meat Market (3046 Forest Lane) in September and the Supermercado Monterrey (5306 Davis Street) on Halloween, where a store clerk was shot by the accomplice. Janse tells Unfair Park the Big C robbery, which occurred Friday, is the most recent involving the two men.