Leading Off (1/22/09)

Posted on January 22nd, 2009 7:42am by Zac Crain
Filed under Local News

1. Crowd/traffic control around the Bushes’ new crib is going to cost the city $1 million. If they post two officers in a car in the neighborhood 24/7 for one year. Which they may or may not do. At any rate, city manager Mary Suhm says she won’t ask for reimbursement no matter how much it costs. Which is probably good, since the Secret Service says she can’t. Or she can. Not sure. Also, the DPD also doesn’t plan to provide motorcades for the former president. Except on the occasions when they do. In other words: ????

2. Hey, SMU Mustangs basketball made a rare appearance on SportsCenter last night! On the Top 10 Plays segment, even. Unfortunately, it was because Marshall’s Markel Humphrey hit a 75-foot bank shot for the win, 53-50. (UPDATE: Video here.)

3. And finally, I could tell you about the $519 million makeover of Love Field. But I don’t care — or at least, not as much as I will in 2014. Instead, since Elizabeth Mitchell is from here, anyone else want to talk about the season premiere of Lost? Get all caught up here and here. (And even nerdier here and here. UPDATE: Or here, courtesy of some local folks.)

19 comments

  1. Thanks Zac. Just spit oatmeal all over my desk. I love a good Petey reference early in the morning.

    [Edited by ZC: This won't make sense any more, since they made me take the image down. Sorry.]

    @ 7:50 am on January 22, 2009

  2. “I don’t believe that it’ll be a massive expense,” she said. Dallas “is going to take care of the president like we would take care of any of our citizens.”

    Like we would take care of ANY of our citizens?

    Then the former Prez will be hosed like the rest of us and we’ll have no idea where the money went!

    Drum roll, rim shot.

    @ 8:24 am on January 22, 2009

  3. Wait, $1M a year to post two officers in one car 24/7? That works out to $57.07, or the salary + benefits of each officer working out to almost $110,000 a year. For sitting in a car.

    @ 9:32 am on January 22, 2009

  4. I don’t see how that adds up to 1M, with 2 officers assigned 24/7… and most likely he’s going to be at his ranch most of the time.

    With 8 hr shifts a day that would be 6 total officers on the ex-presidents detail. Not sure what their salary is but if its 70k a year that is only 420k every year.

    While my neighborhood has to pay above and beyond our normal taxes to get extended patrols to actually get someone to patrol the neighborhood.

    @ 9:37 am on January 22, 2009

  5. Sounds like those cops would be making Overtime wages (for sitting in a car).

    @ 9:46 am on January 22, 2009

  6. As a concerned Dallasite, I’ll protect him for half that.

    @ 9:53 am on January 22, 2009

  7. Heee heee heee! Pay up conservatives…..pay up!

    @ 9:56 am on January 22, 2009

  8. @JR

    Your math is correct up until you only calculate salary into the overall cost. You also have to include benefits, general overhead, etc. into the costs which often doubles the overall cost (relative to the salary). Given that, $1 million is at least in the neighborhood.

    @ 10:08 am on January 22, 2009

  9. Also, I would add that use of most two patrol cars, and maintenance of those vehicles is added into the cost.

    @ 10:10 am on January 22, 2009

  10. Lostcasts, the best Lost podcast, is done by guys from Dallas.

    @ 10:19 am on January 22, 2009

  11. There you go. Thanks, Mike — updating the post.

    @ 10:20 am on January 22, 2009

  12. That’s honky Mary. You’re obviously all puckered up. Let the secret service do their job. G-Dub gets protection for life.

    Besides, what can the DPD offer that he doesn’t already have?

    How about sharks with laser beams?

    @ 10:28 am on January 22, 2009

  13. Actually, no, he doesn’t get protection for life: http://news.aol.com/political-machine/2009/01/05/bush-after-life-includes-less-secret-service-protection/

    @ 10:31 am on January 22, 2009

  14. No Dallas connection, but lostpedia is my personal favorite. It’s ridiculously thorough…

    @ 10:34 am on January 22, 2009

  15. Agreed, bc. So what did you think of last night, Mike, bc, and anyone else who saw it?

    @ 10:38 am on January 22, 2009

  16. Over at Dallas Dirt, I am asking about the Mayflower Estates private paid police patrol, which I believe they have. Off-duty officers are paid about $25 to $30 per hour and the homeowners pay for it.

    @ 10:53 am on January 22, 2009

  17. Last night’s episodes were a nice start to the season. No real action yet, but they’ve set a tone of urgency, put Ms Hawking in yet another mysterious role, and had Sayid kill a bunch of people. I’m really looking forward to them attempting to get back to the island instead of having the on and off-island stories going at the same time. And the characters to watch this year will definitely be Desmond, Farrady, and, of course, Locke and Ben.

    @ 11:02 am on January 22, 2009

  18. And if Dallas doesn’t take me up on my offer, I’m available for a six episode arc on Lost.

    @ 11:13 am on January 22, 2009

  19. Chuck Norris does not need to be on Lost, because Chuck Norris always knows where he is.

    @ 11:18 am on January 22, 2009