Live Blog From Kunkle Retirement Party

Gloria Campos is the emcee. She introduced David Kunkle and wife Sarah. Then she called him the “best of the best.”

Mary Suhm is doing a top 10 list of reasons she’s thankful for him. It’s a mix of serious and funny. No 8: because she will no longer have to explain to people why the top cop in Dallas rides a lime green Vespa. No 4: “With any luck he will be the only Dallas police chief to fall in love with a City Hall reporter, get married, and wind up on the cover of D Magazine.”

2:27 — Mayor Leppert talks about how much Kunkle cares for the city and the cops he led. He remembers seeing Kunkle at the hospital in the middle of the night, after something had gone wrong (more or less his words). If I’m not mistaken, Leppert actually choked up a bit. Very heartfelt.

2:30 — Now Laura Miller takes the podium. She says she remembers when she was on the Council and she first met him. She recalls he was wearing horrible Buster Brown shoes, he had a cowlick, and she had to ask Ted Benavides why the heck he hired Kunkle. Later, she says, she had to thank Benavides. Then she talks about the book “Good to Great,” and how Kunkle exemplifies the lessons of that book (in fact, he and his department were featured Ina “Good to Great” documentary). She says Kunkle was the best chief she’s seen in Dallas, from her time as a reporter to her time on the Council.

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