Articles for September 29th, 2011
Be Careful — Bureaucrats Are Afoot
This official-looking sign is posted inside a fourth-floor men’s room at Dallas City Hall.
State Fair of Texas Guide: Sep. 30-Oct. 7
Photo Credit: Matthew Visinsky (c) 2009
The State Fair of Texas is upon us. And while it is by far one of the best excuses to chuck a diet to the wind, there’s plenty of other stuff going on. Each week we’ll present all the noteworthy things to see and do that don’t involve puking up fried bubble gum on the Tilt-a-Hurl Whirl. Jump for your day-by-day plan, and find a listing of recurring events at the bottom.
Former Prison Cook Offers To Make Last Meals For Free
On the topic of last meals — or lack thereof — there’s this former prison cook, who has volunteered to make all the last meals for death row inmates for free. Brian Price apparently prepared 220 final meals while serving time in Texas. Now he owns a restaurant in Houston County Lake. He says he was struck by the “cold-hearted” decision to not allow condemned inmates their final meal of choice.
“I am offering to prepare, and/or pay for, all of the last-meal requests from this day forward,” he told the Associated Press. “Taxpayers will be out nothing.”
The state politely declined his offer.
Things To Do In Dallas Tonight: Sep. 29
Over the weekend, I drove to San Antonio at the behest of a Brooklyn-dwelling friend to buy a grand total of four bottles of beer— two of each special release from a pretty cool place called the Freetail Brewing Company. We’re cracking open one of these tonight just for fun. It’s not Open That Bottle Night; it’s actually National Coffee Day. But why not? Celebrate Thursday. Apparently last night was the greatest night in the history of baseball, maybe ever, so celebrate that, too.
But before we open the special beer, there’s a happy hour I’ll happily drop by (that was terrible, I know.) The folks of DiningDallas, a social networking organization dedicated to raising funds for the A.L.S. Association, are hosting their monthly event at Malai Kitchen. It’s a restaurant our office seems to enjoy quite a bit, since we’ve been there for business lunch as well as dinner. Personally, I’m a fan of their cocktails, so if you were planning on a drink after work anyway, this is a good place and a good cause. For a five dollar donation, you get drink specials and complimentary hors d’oeuvres from Malai’s menu.
A.L.S., of course, is better known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, a fatally degenerative disease that affects the neurons of the brain. If you take only one of my suggestions today, please read “The Good Short Life,” an excellent opinion piece that ran in The New York Times a few months ago. Dudley Clendinen has Lou Gehrig’s, but the sentiment will resonate with anyone affected by the myriad other diseases that force the mind to betray the self— Parkinsons, Lewy Body Dementia, Alzheimer’s. It’s an awful way to go and an awful thing to watch, and right now, there’s not much medicine can do except prolong a profoundly undignified end.
Anyway, if you’d prefer to celebrate the dawning of the weekend with something a bit more substantial (food and drink wise, anyway), you’ll want to head to the Flying Saucer’s lake location. They’re hosting a Brewery Ommegang dinner that’ll feature five courses and five of the brewery’s beers: Hennipen, Witte, BPA, Rare Vos, Abbey, and Three Philosophers. Prescott Carter, Ommegang’s USA market manager, will chat about what makes this stuff so good.
For more to do tonight, go here. And don’t forget to take a quick trip over to FrontRow Giveawayland and enter to win a pair tickets to the Blondie show at the Granada.
Law Man Walking: Nature Treks With Bill Holston
This week, our man Bill tackles the wilds of Harry S. Moss Park.
No Country for Old Cattlemen
Really interesting (and very sad) story from my friend Brantley Hargrove over at the Dallas Observer today, about the toll this horrendous drought is taking on smaller ranchers across the state. With no meaningful rainfall in a year, the herds are thinning dramatically and an industry is partially cannibalizing itself.
“Sale barn owners are disturbed by the number of young, productive cows with years of calving ahead of them, all headed to meatpacking plants — an indication Texas cattle ranchers are cashing out.”
Pretty good (in that same sad way) slideshow of the reporting trip around Texas here.
Leading Off (9/29/11)
Rangers Start Playoffs Against Rays on Friday. The Rangers secured the No. 2 seed thanks to Mike Napoli’s homer, so: REMATCH. How did it come about, on a wild last night in the bigs? “Evan Longoria’s walk-off homer in the 12th [against the Yankees], just moments after Baltimore scored two in the bottom of the ninth to beat the Red Sox, means that Tampa will head to Texas for the first round.” I still am behind on my DirecTV bill, and also behind on calling them to switch service to my new place, so I followed on Twitter, via tweets such as “NAPOLI” and “Oh god. Oh Jesus God.” (Sawx fan).
Arrest Warrant Issued in Denton for NFL Quarterback Impersonator. Stephan Pittman was arrested in D.C. for impersonating Eagles backup QB Vince Young, so now Denton prosecutors have issued a warrant for his arrest, too. Pittman received deferred adjudication after a sexual assault in Denton in 2009; his D.C. arrest means it has been deferred until right about now. So Denton is officially, really, pretty much the only place where someone like Vince Young is wanted these days. NAILED IT.
“Pilots Report More Laser Attacks in North Texas.” Now there is a headline. I’d click-thru that even if I was 90 percent certain there was a virus on the other side, or a recording of an old Jean-Jacques Taylor-hosted edition of The Soul Patch. Come on. Laser attacks. As for the story, there’s been a lot this year, and especially a lot recently. And this: “In a written statement, American Airlines spokesman Tim Smith emailed ‘aiming a laser at any aircraft is an extraordinarily dumb thing to do.’” Smith hit “send” and muttered something under his breath, and checked LinkedIn again, for the 20th — but not last — time of the day. He then stared at the picture of his kids for a good long time, until his eyes got sort of glassy, then listened to the Arcade Fire for the rest of the day with his eyes closed. I mean, probably. I’m not his biographer.
DA’s Office Nabs 14 of 17 Members of “Sophisticated” Theft Ring. The retail theft operation centered on TJ Maxx, apparently. In this story, authorities called it “major and sophisticated.” Which are probably the first two words that come to my mind when someone says “TJ Maxx.”
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