Unfair Park

The Remarkable Life of "Tex" Biard, North Dallas High Grad and WWII Codebreaker

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 10:45:51 -0600

Forrest "Tex" Biard

There is one rather remarkable item in this morning's Metro section: Among the paid-for obituaries is a notice that retired U.S. Navy Captain Forrest R. Biard died Tuesday at the age of 96. A Bonham native and North Dallas High School grad in 1930 (he is, in fact, a recipient of its Distinguished Alumni Award), Biard left the U.S. Naval Academy in 1934, graduating 11th in his class, and landed at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo -- where, according to his family, he studied "Japanese language, history, and culture from September 1939 to September 1941," at which point, says the obit, "then-Lt. Cdr. Biard secured p.assage out of Japan for ten expert Navy linguists weeks before the attack on Pearl Harbor." He then sent to Station HYPO, the unit charged with breaking Japanese code. Biard, known as "Tex," was working in the basement of the Old Administration Building at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

In a 2002 speech about his experiences as a codebreaker, Biard, then 90 and living in Highland Park, spoke at great length about why his unit "detected absolutely no warning of the impending attack on Pearl Harbor"; he also discussed his role in breaking the code that led to the Allies discovery of a pending attack on Midway.in June 1942. Which is but one highlight among many, including his tenure working for Gen. Douglas MacArthur's intelligence center in Brisbane (mentioned in the book Silent Victory: The U.S. Submarine War Against Japan) and his post-war decision to pursue his master's degree in physics at Ohio State, which landed him the job as operations officer for the first hydrogen bomb test in 1952. According to the obit, visitation takes place from 4 to 6 p.m. today at Sparkman/Hillcrest Funeral Home and Cemetery; he will then be buried, at later day, at the Arlington National Cemetery.

On the City of Dallas's Tax Revenue, White Rock's "Red Water" and Other Memos of Note

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 09:33:05 -0600

Flickr user: Kent Wang

Every Friday night, Frank J. Librio, managing director of the Public Information Office at Dallas City Hall, sends to the media a collection of memos distributed late in the week to Mayor Tom Leppert and the Dallas City Council. (And, most of the time, they never seem to land in the Unfair Park in-box, which, perhaps, has the good sense to file them as spam.) Seems a waste not to share them -- especially since Dallas city government does do a rather good job of providing a peek at the sausage-making process. And so, after the jump, this week's batch, a surprisingly interesting read filled with dispiriting stats (according to City Manager Mary Suhm, Dallas's FY 2008-2009 sales tax revenue was ultimately $29 million less than the amount originally budgeted), notification of a Dallas Floodway Project public meeting starring the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and evidence that the council's interested in hearing from Dallas police about how they count murders and car burglaries.

Also: First Assistant City Manager Ryan Evans responds to a story this week about rust in East Dallas's water: "In an effort to abate the 'Red Water' issue," Evans writes, "the City of Dallas has launched an aggressive program to replace aging cast iron pipelines in the White Rock area with new non-corroding, poly-vinyl chloride (PVC) pipelines. ... To date, we have replaced over 12 miles of old cast iron water mains in the White Rock area at a cost of over $30 million as part of the water department's capital budget." And, at the end of the document dump, one man's crusade against code violations in southern Dallas. So jump for something far more interesting than this morning's Metro section.

A Longer Look at Tonight's 20/20 About the Battle for Mary Ellen's Swiss Ave. Manse

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:19:08 -0600

ABC News has posted a longer sneak preview of tonight's 20/20 segment about the battle over 4949 Swiss Avenue; the video's here, while the story's here. (Mark McCay and Justin Burgess, to whom Mary Ellen Bendtsen signed over the house shortly before her death in 2005, declined to speak to ABC.) And, in case you were unaware, the house is currently on the market: for $849,000.

State Fair of Texas Files Application to Build Giant Greenhouse, Growing Area at Fair Park

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:06:33 -0600

Something like this Rough Brothers-designed greenhouse is what the State Fair of Texas has in mind.

Earlier this afternoon, I noticed on the Landmark Committee's Fair Park Task Force meeting agenda for Wednesday a most intriguing note: Someone has applied for a Certificate of Appropriateness to build a "7,600 square foot Greenhouse and 6,000 square foot growing area" in the Midway at Fair Park. And by someone, I mean Errol McKoy, president of the State Fair of Texas.

Took a little bit of digging to find out that much: First I called Willis Winters, assistant director of the Park and Recreation Department, who said he'd only just seen the notice shortly before I called. "We don't know who the applicant is," he said. "We're trying to find out now, because it surprised us." He recommended I call Bob Hilbun, senior vice president of maintenance at the State Fair. He wasn't in, but no matter: A State Fair staffer told Unfair Park that the application had been submitted to the city by Ned Durbin, director of construction and maintenance.

I reached Durbin on his cell as he was walking the fairgrounds.

"I would love for you to be able to talk to Errol," he said "It's his baby. He's been the energy and brains behind our landscaping upgrade. We're in the preliminary stages. I have to talk to Landmark about it, and we'll see what they say, but we don't even have estimates in from the vendor. Because we're on a tight schedule, I wanted to get the ball rolling."

McKoy did call a little while ago -- during the four minutes I was away from my computer all day. I've tried several times to get him back on the phone, with no luck. However, that doesn't mean we don't have details. Because we do. You'll have to jump for 'em, but do mind the miles' worth of glass panels.

OK, So Dallas Is Changing the Way it Deals with Prostitutes. But What About the Johns?

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:14:58 -0600

Dallas County

Two prositutes picked up Wednesday night, as part of Dallas's Prostitute Diversion Initiative off Interstate 20 near Lancaster

While the focus of this week's National Prostitute Diversion Conference was Dallas's collaborative approach to treating prostitutes as victims and diverting them to programs that include drug treatment, counseling and job training, many of the attendees repeatedly asked what was being done to enforce laws against men who pay for sex.

"I just have to ask because it's the elephant in the room: What is being done in the demand area?," a female police officer from Massachusetts asked during the Q&A session of one panel, expressing concern that while women with a third prostitution offense in Texas face a felony that remains on their record and makes it difficult to find employment for years to come, the men who buy their services may go without punishment. "We're going to examine this model. We're importing this [approach] to the rest of the country by having you here talking to us today, and so I'd like to know how you're dealing with the johns."

Sgt. Louis Felini, the Dallas police officer responsible for creating the city's Prostitute Diversion Initiative, was quick to answer. "Right now we're targeting mostly the female population, but that's going to change sometime in the next year," he said. New ways to enforce the law -- which prohibits prostitution for both the seller and buyer -- against johns are under discussion, he added, including the possibility of yanking truckers' licenses if they're caught soliciting.

"What we're going through is a philosophy change in law enforcement," he said. "We have to prove this program can sustain itself and that these women really want help, and I think we've been able to accomplish that, so we're moving in the right direction." He stressed that since most prostitutes were sexually and physically abused as children and didn't enter the "profession" by choice, johns play into the cycle of abuse by paying for the end result.

Don't Worry, SMU Mustangs: They Ain't Puttin' Peruna Out to Pasture After All

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:05:42 -0600

Courtesy Southern Methodist University

The mustangs made their bow during halftime of SMU-Navy on October 17.

A couple of weeks back, during halftime of the SMU-Navy game at Ford Stadium, the university debuted two new mustangs donated by the National Wild Horse Foundation, on behalf of Madeleine and T. Boone Pickens. Which had more than a few folks wondering: What in the wide, wide world of sports did the university intended to do with 'em? Replace Peruna, the shetland pony that's roamed the sidelines since 1932? Heresy!

Which prompted much handwringing amongst university officials, among them SMU football head coach June Jones, who, according to one source, really wanted those Mustangs used "in some fashion" during games. And so, late into Wednesday, members of the SMU Student Senate, school staffers, members of the football team (including team captain Chase Kennemer) and Peruna's handler met to discuss, well, how to handle the horses.

The matter's been settled, per the official release from SMU that ran down the field a little while ago: When SMU plays Rice tomorrow at 2 p.m. during homecoming...

... the new horses will lead the team from the Mustangs statue at the north end of Mustang Plaza, passing through Doak Walker Plaza, and proceeding to Gerald J. Ford Stadium before each of SMU's three remaining home games.

Peruna, the Mustangs' official mascot, will then fulfill his generations-long tradition of leading the team from the locker room and onto the field. He also will continue to run across the field after SMU scores and will always be positioned at the end of the field to which the SMU offense is headed.

While Peruna handles his normal responsibilities, the mustangs will remain at Ford Stadium near the field's southwest corner.

Bevo is amused.

Before UNT Vote, a Debate Over Allowing Same-Sex Couples on Homecoming Court

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:54:15 -0600

University of North Texas junior Stephen Michael Benavides

He sounded a little groggy when he spoke to Unfair Park this morning. But University of North Texas junior Stephen Michael Benavides had a long night: The chair of ACLU's student chapter spent Thursday night appealing to the UNT Supreme Court to adopt language of a failed bill and allow same-sex couples to run for homecoming court.

The Student Senate had failed to pass an earlier bill that would have allowed same-sex couples to run. Later, the Student Government Association drafted legislation for a student referendum on whether "same-sex and/or gender-neutral couples should be able to run for homecoming court," as it says on the school's Student Government Association Web site, where voting begins November 16.

The SGA president, Dakota Carter, helped draft the legislation. "I decided that the people who are voting for those who can win homecoming should be the ones making the rules for who can run," she tells Unfair Park.

Benavides, though, doesn't think such a decision should fall to the student body and will appeal to SGA in the coming week to change its plans. "You should never impose majority opinion in place of minority rights," Benavides says.

"If you can't get the right or the equality to run as a same-sex couple for homecoming court at a university, and university campuses are liberal compared to the rest of the nation, then we've got a big problem here," said Benavides. "If you can't do it on a university, how are you going to do it on a national stage?"

Valley View Center Loses One More Tenant, as Borders Closes the Book on Waldenbooks

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:05:04 -0600

A Friend of Unfair Park sends word: Borders Group is removing from its shelf 200 Waldenbooks locations across the U.S. -- including, as you can tell from the headline, the longstanding Valley View Center location, which opened in October 1999. Employees there only found out about the closure, scheduled for January, yesterday. Per the list of closings, the Borders Express in Collin Creek Mall will also vanish after the holidays, as will the Waldenbooks in Ridgmar Mall in Fort Worth.

The closings are what Borders Group CEO Ron Marshall calls "right-sizing," as in: "Through this right-sizing, we will reduce the number of stores with operating losses, reduce our overall rent expense and lease-adjusted leverage and generate cash flow through sales and working capital reductions." The release does say the list is subject to change, but Borders has been closing Waldenbooks by the dozens in recent years. This leaves 130 Waldenbooks and Borders Express locations after January, none in the DFW.

Bonnie Schmick, spokesperson for Borders, says "we're going to make every effort to place employees in open positions within other Waldenbooks and Borders Express, as well the Borders superstores. And those we are not able to place will receive severance."

Icky Twerp For Sale!

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:20:17 -0600

Friend of Unfair Park Peterk sends word: "Yes, folks, now you can buy Icky Twerp items." And just in time for the holidays. The shop's right here, though be warned, it's not much: two T-shirts, a Slam Bang Theater best-of DVD and two video cassettes (!). Says Paul Camfield, son of Icky, the product's left over from the September celebration in Fort Worth. Camfield wants to do more, but needs the partner ... "and the time," he says, "because I'd love to celebrate the show with fans."

But the bigger question is: When will Richard Allan Kent's doc about the late, great Bill Camfield, Icky Twerp: The Electronic Babysitter, get a proper release, at least on DVD?

"We're talking about it right now," Camfield says. "Thirty, 40 were made to sell at the fest, and Richard says he's gonna turn 'em loose, and I'll sell 'em. But we want ot make those are available too. That's his property, so we're trying to make sure he gets compensated fairly. But it's a great, great, great doc, and the fans would enjou it immensely. It'll happen. Maybe an on-demand thing on the Web. But it's going to happen soon. No doubt about that."

Don't Bogart This Rare (Roach) Clip From Jose Feliciano, Performed Long Ago in a KNUS Haze

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:56:33 -0600

So, yes, this is a weekly feature now -- your Friday acid flashback, courtesy the copious collection of one George Gimarc, with whom we're awfully proud to partner. A brief recap so far: KNUS news tuned up with sitar, followed by A Very Roky Halloween. Now, it gets even better as George continues to dig through miles' worth of KNUS odds and sods picked up at a garage sale two weeks ago. I will let the rock and roll alternative explain:

Long before the KERA did acoustic sessions, or KDGE, or even my sessions at KZEW in the '80s, or the Live At January Sounds sessions at KZEW in the mid-1970s, KNUS was doing in-studio performances around 1970-1971. So far I've uncovered astounding sessions by Freddy King (acoustic!), Brewer & Shipley, Ann Benson, Three Faces West (early Ray Wylie Hubbard) and even some songs from Jose Feliciano. There was a time he was considered pretty hip, and here's one of those songs that he never put onto his many RCA albums, but was pretty kindly disposed to sing. Fraternity of Man did this on the Easy Rider soundtrack.

Smoke 'em if you got 'em. And if you want a roadie, you let me know. I'll roll another one, just like the other one, for any good Friend of Unfair Park.

Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert Will Elevate Your Thinking, But He'll Do So Rather Quickly

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 09:43:43 -0600

A Friend of Unfair Park forwarded along the link to this shindig scheduled for next week at the Fair Park Music Hall: Elevate Dallas, a "leadership event" that, from the looks of this promotional video, is piggybacking on the Sojourners-sponsored Justice Revival also on the calendar next week at Dallas Market Hall. At the Justice Revival, Mayor Tom Leppert will join the likes of Jim Wallis, Rev. Zan Holmes and others in calling for "at least 25 congregations [to] establish solid, lasting partnerships with their neighborhood schools," and the creation of "700 additional units of permanent supportive housing by 2014," per the city of Dallas's homeless-assistance wish list.

Elevate Dallas, on the other hand, looks more like a get-motivated event; its speakers include "leadership gurus" and self-made millionaires. So yesterday I sent Chris Heinbaugh a note asking how the mayor got involved and what, exactly, he's expecting to talk about. To which the mayor's chief of staff just responded: "They asked him to participate. We told them he could do a quick welcome. He is not one of the keynote speakers." Which means, Sam, you're off the hook.

Grocery Wars: Fight to Expand Simon David Moves Into City Council Chambers on Monday

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 08:49:39 -0600

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We first told you about Randall's plans to expand Simon David on Inwood Road back in August, shortly before the grocer took its case to the City Plan Commission. Randall's says the 25,225 square foot store, which has been perched on the property since 1984, is just too small -- needs to be, oh, 42,203 square feet now. And, well, that'll mean realigning Robin Road between Wateka Drive and University Boulevard and demolishing a few houses to make room. To which 12 City Plan Commissioners said, No way, much to the delight of longtime residents of the neighborhood absolutely opposed to its further encroachment on the area.

Outgoing plan commissioner Neil Emmons says the CPC denied the motion because it was willing to make other compromises to allow for the Simon David expansion, such as reducing the width of sidewalks behind the property and allowing Randall's to eliminate three rows of parking. But so far, Randall's refuses to budge.

"No way or no how will they discuss it," he says. "But the site's worthless to them without a grocery store. The neighborhood people are still reeling from what was demolished to make room for the original store in 1961, and they came out solidly against it. The only ones for it were folks in neighborhoods that aren't adjacent, like Greenway Parks. It was not a tough call for the plan commission. Cases like this shouldn't get off the ground. It forces the citizens to fight each other and duke it out."

Which is precisely what's on the schedule for Monday: The city council's meeting addendum has just been posted, and added to the agenda is a public hearing concerning Randall's application to super-size Simon David.

Update: The item has been pushed off next week's agenda. The council will now hear from the public the second week in December.

Your Dallas Mavericks Will Hold Off On Selecting New Voice of the AAC For a Month

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:05:17 -0600

A Mavs season-ticket-holding Friend of Unfair Park wonders: "Weren't the Dallas Mavericks supposed to announce The New Voice of the American Airlines Center yesterday?" We appreciate the reminder -- because, yes, November 4 was indeed supposed to be The Big Day, after Michael Taylor sat down at the mic for his final audition on October 27 and Sean Heath took his last shot against the Jazz Tuesday night. Alas, you'll have to hold your breath a little while longer: Matt Miller at the Mavs tells Unfair Park this evening, via e-mail, "We decided to give each finalist an additional five games to audition. We'll have a final decision in mid-December. This week we decided to push it back to allow us more time to evaluate each finalist." No pressure or anything.

Downwinders at Risk Hails SMU Engineering Prof's Appointment as EPA Administrator

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:24:46 -0600

Al Armendariz

Al Armendariz, a research associate professor in SMU's Department of Environmental and Civil Engineering, was on National Public Radio earlier this week discussing health issues suffered by folks living near the Barnett Shale; said Armendariz of airborne toxins discovered by researchers, "the oil and gas production industry around Fort Worth is a major contributor to both local and global air pollution problems." Around the same time, the engineering professor was posting to his personal Web site a note addressing rumors that he was about to be tapped as the Environmental Protection Agency's new regional administrator over Texas: "I am honored to have the endorsement of several area Democrats for a federal appointment within EPA. If selected, it would be a privilege to serve the country in this capacity."

He has been selected, of course, and Downwinders at Risk are tickled by the appointment, according to a statement received by Unfair Park:

"Dr. Armendariz is exactly the kind of person you'd want to have this job, but seemingly never gets it. Because of what's at stake and the fact that Texas is the belly of the polluter beast, this may be one of the most important, far-reaching appointments the Obama Administration makes. Downwinders at Risk is proud to have been the group that first utilized Dr. Armendariz's expertise in 2005 for our cause of cleaning up the Midlothian cement kilns. That work led directly to his becoming the premier 'citizen's scientist' in Texas on air pollution, and paved the way for his much larger influence on the state scene. Congratulations to both Dr. Armendariz and the EPA."

On the Set With Billy Zane, a Cool Dude and, Now, "a Citizen of Dallas and So Happy To Be"

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:39:13 -0600

Patrick Michels

Timothy Busfield, ex of thirtysomething and The West Wing, is in town to direct the fourth episode of The Deep End starring, of course, Billy Zane. He also did the second show.

Tales of Billy Zane sightings are not hard to come by in recent weeks, from kids' hospital charity fundraisers to the AT&T Performing Arts Center gala opening to the AC/DC show a few days ago. If nothing else, he can be found at least twice a week at Premiere Video on Mockingbird Lane, chatting up proprietors Sam Wade and Heather Hankamer.

"It's my office," Zane says, sitting in his other office -- the set of The Deep End on a sound stage at The Studios at Las Colinas. "Those guys are awesome. I'm trying to envision a film channel Sam should host and just walk people through and pick from that amazing collection. They're really true curators."

Zane has been here for several weeks and will remain here till at least year's end; no word yet on whether ABC will order from Fox, the show's producer, more than six episodes of the legal dramedy, a midseason replacement due to bow in the spring. We'll have more about the making of the show later: Patrick Michels and I spent the afternoon on the set, itself a surreal site -- a sturdy yet wholly make-believe law office whose windows reveal a phony Los Angeles skyline drenched in smoggy sunshine. Till then, then, Zane spends quite a bit of our interview chatting up Dallas, his home-away-from for who knows how long -- perhaps only till December, maybe a whole season or several depending upon network execs' capricious whims.

Jump for his love letter to our home town.