RE: JOE BARTON, KILLING

An all-knowing FrontBurnervian writes:

Barton is fighting not only constituents but also state senators. About a year and a half ago he and Sen. Chris Harris (R-Arlington) got into an argument over the cement plants. The argument became so heated that staff members had to break it up. No confirmation if any punches were landed. My money would be on Sen. Harris, though. He’s a tough son-of-a-b***h.

WRIGHT HERE, WRIGHT NOW

Congressmen Sam Johnson, R-Plano, and Jeb Hensarling, R-Dallas, proposed the “Right to Fly Act” that would repeal the Wright Amendment and make it a lot easier to book flights on Southwest Airlines online, among other things. Guess what. D/FW officials are against it.

LOCALS GET HITCHED, REAL CLASSY-STYLE

Stan Smith and Julianne Devereaux of Melissa, Texas, got married in Vegas, specifically on the main stage of a strip club in Vegas. Nice.

[Thanks to a newspaper-reading FrontBurnervian for the link.]

RE: THE MERCANTILE

An idea-having FrontBurnervian has an idea for The Mercantile. I’ll include the e-mail he sent me (and about two dozen other people at City Hall, WFAA, Rosewood Hotels, and elsewhere) after the jump. But if you want the short version: convert the Merc into a campus for a Culinary Arts Institute. Hmm. It might work.
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JOE BARTON: KILLING US ANYWAY HE CAN

Those who’ve read our story titled “No Place Like Home,” about the cement plants in Midlothian, know that Joe Barton doesn’t care much for clean air. Now comes a crushing NYT story about Barton’s protecting chemical plants:

Two of the country’s most dangerous chemical facilities, which threaten more than one million people, are in Dallas, just outside Mr. Barton’s district. There is also toxic waste being transported through his district on rail lines and highways. Mr. Barton’s committee chairmanship is likely to give him an enormous say in whether chemical plant security legislation passes this year.

That decision pits the interests of his energy industry supporters against the well-being of his constituents who live or work inside the kill zone. Unfortunately, so far Mr. Barton has tilted in favor of industry.

RE: UEFA CUP

Oops.

UEFA Cup final was last week. CSKA Moscow beat Sporting Lisbon 3-1. You must be talking about the Champions League final between Liverpool and AC Milan. All of these European cups runneth over.

Apologies to you and your Tivo.

RE: UEFA CUP

A cable-watching FrontBurnervian says the game will be rebroadcast tonight on ESPN Classic at 9 pm. Sorry if I ruined the ending.

A JUDGE GIVES A GIFT

HP resident Rocky Anderson received a probated sentence from the jury for killing 10-year-old Braden Hopkins while driving under the influence. He and his parents may have thought that was a blessing. But the real blessing came from Judge Vickers Cunningham, who, using the discretion allowed in such cases, imposed a 180-day jail term–to be served over Christmas and over Braden’s birthday week for the next 10 years. In addition, Rocky must send a letter to Braden’s parents on each of her birthdays. Rocky may not realize it yet, although I bet he has a glimmer, but no person on earth could have done him a bigger favor than the judge just did.

WHERE I WAS YESTERDAY AFTERNOON

Okay. I’ll be honest. I didn’t know about the UEFA Championship game yesterday afternoon until my friend e-mailed me yesterday morning. He was rounding up a few soccer fans to watch the match between AC Milan and Liverpool at the Londoner in Addison. (Do not be confused: the match was not played at the Londoner. We only watched it there. It actually took place outside of Istanbul.) The game started at 1:45. I had work to do and an appointment to reschedule, but I made it out north for the second half (and then some). I’m so glad I did. Go here for the official stories. Read after the jump for my own version. (Note: my version has a picture.)
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THE NEWS ACTUALLY REPORTS ON PARKLAND

I’m late by a day, but I have to point out Sherry Jacobson’s story in yesterday’s News that–for the first time in her many years on the Parkland beat–trumpeted bad news about Parkland’s management, headed by the saintly (in her eyes) Dr. Ron Anderson. This is not the first bad news about Parkland’s woeful mismanagement, but it is the first bad news to receive headline, subhead, and first paragraph treatment instead of being buried in the 17th paragraph of the jump. Did Jacobson undergo remedial reportorial training, or has the fog of unadulterated hero-worship started to lift? Doesn’t matter. What matters is that the newspaper is starting to act like a newspaper.

A MESSAGE FROM BETH ANN BLACKWOOD

This fight ain’t over. In fact, if the City Council continues as it has (hiring a city manager, for example, before the new council members have a chance to take their seats), I wonder if this couldn’t lead to a new version of the old Citizens Charter Association, that is, an in-city, non-partisan political force that puts up a slate of reform candidates against the worst–and most vulnerable–Council members in the next city elections. (Hmmm. That’s not a bad idea. Maybe I’ll make a few phone calls…) Here’s Beth Ann’s email:
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RE: SIDETRACKED BY DART

Huelon Andrew Harrison [left] is the chairman of DART. He’s also a vice president at Chase (post merger with Bank One). So, Mr. Harrison, my question is this: when is the board going to demand the resignation of your hapless and apparently incompetent police chief, Juan Rodriguez? Feel free to respond by email or phone. But don’t bother until you have a date.

BAD NEWS FOR BILL CEVERHA (AND TOM DELAY)

The first judicial ruling in the TRMPAC case is out, and it’s good news for Democrats.

RE: SIDETRACKED ON DART

One gets the impression that the folks over at Channel 11 are sitting on a mountain of DART documents, just digging through them, turning up more bad news. Comes now the follow-up to the “rampaging juveniles” story. This one’s about the “kickstand scandal.” I wish I could have on-duty sex.

RE: THEY LIED?

A similarly curious FrontBurnervian noticed the keepitopen site was gone and sent an e-mail to the site’s organizers encouraging them to use it as a discussion forum to hammer out a better proposal than Blackwood did. Here’s the response he got:

Thanks for your message.

The goal of the Coalition for Open Government was to defeat Blackwood. A diverse groups of folks came together to accomplish that one thing. Goal accomplished.

It will be up to you and other citizens of Dallas to work with the elected leaders and business community to craft alternatives just as it was up to this coalition of citizens, elected officials and members of the business community to defeat a bad idea.

Thousands look forward to seeing what you are willing to do to help make that happen.

THEY LIED? WHA??

A suspicious FrontBurnervian has a memory:

Has anyone else noticed that the Coalition for Open Government — the group that claimed that it would head up a massive effort for a better strong mayor proposition if only the voters of Dallas would defeat the Blackwood proposal — has promptly closed up shop? Their website (keepitopen.org) doesn’t even exist anymore.

It almost makes one think–if one were cynical–that the Coalition for Open Govenment and its proponents were all lying through their teeth.

Maybe they’re waiting to surprise us with their proposal as a birthday present. Mine’s not until August. They have some time.

ROY WILLIAMS TO COLLAR MY WIFE

Dallas Cowboy–and now outlaw tackler–Roy Williams was sweet on my wife last night. D helped throw a charity function at Bachendorf’s for Williams’ Safety Net Foundation, which helps single mothers. Outside of the party, there was to be a Maybach parked. Arrangements were made on Monday. On Tuesday, Williams unwittingly bought said Maybach. (A Bentley was parked in front instead.) My wife tells me that Roy let her see the backseat of the Maybach and there she noticed a bottle of Cristal champagne. “He was really nice,” she says. Later, at the end of the party, Williams gave her the bottle of Cristal. “It has your name on it,” he says. Yeah, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it had his number on it, too.

RE: EXPLODING TRUCK

One FrontBurnervian passes along WFAA’s footage (perhaps you’ll have better luck than I in getting it to work). Another shares this harrowing tale:

I came upon the above mentioned truck shortly after its accident and subsequent fire on I-45. School is out in Plano, so my son was riding with me to see a client near Ennis. I had seen the smoke for about 20 minutes or so going south until we came upon it. I could see the smoke occasionally puff vertically into a 40 MPH east wind, a really bad sign when fire is involved, so I was resigned to a lengthy delay or detour. But, the traffic on I-45 was NOT stopped southbound (slow, of course) or northbound. There didn’t seem to be much concern at the time, since there were policemen strolling around taking pictures of the fire, and my son even pointed out that there were people jogging along the highway while we passed. It took him a few minutes to grasp the fact that the “joggers” were running away from the explosions. Thankfully, the authorities had closed the highways when we returned after about an hour. Duh.

You know who’s on top of this story? Tony Hartzel is on top of it. Natch.

RE: WHO COUNTS

A consulting FrontBurnervian says those car counters might not work for TxDOT after all:

Consultants like my firm also hire people to count vehicles at intersections, often as part of the traffic impact analysis that is required for the city approval of new developments. Usually it can be done in one AM and one PM peak period, about 3 hours for each, but can be stretched to several days to get a better idea what the traffic is like. We just keep a list of folks who can do this work, with one guy who acts as a foreman and arranges their shifts. Most of them are retired, it’s an easy if unexciting job. Pays better than minimum too.

Hmm. I know of at least one brother-in-law who’s looking for work. And I’m pretty sure he can count.