DALLAS MAN FIGHTS CRIME WITH HIS WALLET

In the current print version of FB, Wick wrote about Jack Hammack, a Dallas businessman who got fed up with high crime in Dallas and decided to do something about it. In that same issue, we also annotated the AR-15, the rifle that the DPD wants to put in the hands of its officers. As Sgt. Paul Stanford told us, “What we’ve been facing the last few years is patrol officers shooting from 20 to 30 yards with a shotgun, while the criminals have been shooting from 100 to 150 yards with assault rifles.” An AR-15 costs $1,000. The DPD needs 850 of them.

Well, yesterday a $5,000 check showed up in the mail, with the accompanying note to Wick (he’s too lazy to type it in):

In your publisher’s note, you give Mr. Jack Hammack and Mr. Charlie Terrell credit deserved for their civic-minded efforts to help Chief David Kunkle replace old and obtain new equipment for our undermanned and under-equipped police department. They are to be thanked immensely for their efforts to help the DPD accomplish its mission … . Where are the other civic-minded “business leaders” who helped our city rise out of the status quo of the 1960s?

In the Pulse section of the same issue of D, you describe a shortage of 850 AR-15 assault rifles with which to properly arm our police officers to improve their safety. At a minimum, these fine men and women who oversee the public safety should not be outgunned by the criminal element. Enclosed is a check to be used by Chief Kunkle to arm five more officers with AR-15s. My suggestion is that you challenge my professional colleagues in Dallas to contribute to these efforts. You could start with your mailing list of “The Best in Dallas” physicians and attorneys.

The writer asked that we not use his name. “This is not about me. It’s about public safety,” he said. But I think I can tell you without compromising his anonymity that he’s a professor at UT Southwestern.

The $5,000 has been (or will soon be) delivered to the DPD. So let’s go, folks. We only need $845,000 more. Boone Pickens, are you reading this?