On February 9, the Court of Appeals for the Second District affirmed Judge Ferchill’s ruling removing Frank and Chila Covington as guardians of their Down Syndrome daughter. The judge was good enough to notify me of the affirmation and send me his comments, from which I excerpt:
The Covingtons, in this context, are free to reject all psychoactive medications for themselves, but they cannot refuse to have their daughter, a court monitored ward under guardianship, even EVALUATED for the potential prescribing of such meds. Keep in mind that after on the evaluation. Follow up reports show that the meds have ameliorated the hearing of “voices”, the imaginary person/s, the anti-social behavioral issues and severe headaches. HER best interests have been served.
Your original article has caused me considerable angst. It is forever in Google. I am asked about it, just recently by a high school friend I hadn’t seen in 40 years. Please consider contacting public officials to give them an opportunity to present their side before you paint with such a wide brush. Based on the Covingtons or stories about them, and the allegations of a disgruntled attorney, Mr, Shelton, whom I and other judges had sanctioned, you said that I and some attorneys ran a “racket”. That is the word I object to the most.
The original posting is here. The “racket” reference is here (about a different case). I am delighted the young lady in question is doing better because of the judge’s intervention.
However, before he breaks his arm patting himself on the back, I should note for him that the appeals court’s written memorandum raises very important questions about how he acted in this case.
As discussed here last week, revenge must be visited upon Komen for the Cure founder Nancy Brinker for her heresies regarding Planned Parenthood. The latest salvo in the predictable smear campaign by the left/feminist machine and their media pals: this Daily Beast article that paints Brinker as a modern-day Marie Antoinette — spending frivolously, jetting around in first class, demanding that the underlings refer to her as “Ambassador Brinker,” not Nancy. (The article’s key named source, interestingly, is the same former Komen board member who called for Brinker’s head last week.) What’s next: a Committee of Public Safety to study Brinker’s sins in their entirety?
Since this weather is absolutely miserable, I suggest keeping the location-hopping to a minimum.
Indoor activity number one: Second Thought Theatre’s only Monday night performance of Pluck the Day, a redo of the first play the company ever did. It’s written by co-artistic director Steven Walters, and stars other co-artistic director Chris LaBove and a scene-stealer named Clay Yokum. As I mentioned in my review on FrontRow, Pluck play will not require you to think very much, but it will absolutely make you laugh. It’s in Bryant Hall, on the Kalita Humphreys campus. A word to the wise— if you drive all the way to Kalita, you’ve gone too far. Park almost immediately after you turn in from Blackburn Street, and trek up the hill on your left. Second Thought also has signs out, but you know, things get confusing in the dark. A burger and tots from Maple and Motor makes for perfect rainy day comfort food.
Indoor activity number two: the Dallas Museum of Art hosts the first of their Texas Bound readings, part of Arts and Letters Live. A whole host of actors I like (including Max Hartman, usually found performing at Kitchen Dog, and my pal Bryan Pitts currently on over at Stage West) will read short stories from the Texas-connected authors David Haynes, Jack Handey, Tim O’Brien, and Mary Ladd Gavell. In O’Brien and Handey’s case, the tales are lifted from Esquire and the New Yorker respectively, so you can familiarize yourself with what at least part of what you’ll hear this evening.
For more to do tonight, go here. For those making last minute Valentine’s Day plans (it’s tomorrow, in case you’re really out of it), you’ll want to go here.
Former Observer music editor Pete Freedman’s new gig, CentralTrack, launched over the weekend. Here’s the way he describes it: “CentralTrack.com [is] a new Dallas-focused publication that plans to aim its focus directly and unapologetically at the elusive 18-to-35-year-old demographic by writing about the things they’re most interested in — music, restaurants, bars, nightlife, fashion, sports, art and anything else connected to the most happening events in town on a given week — and through the online-only, social media- and mobile-ready means we all clearly prefer.” Today’s offerings: a reader-service piece on putting together a Valentine’s Day meal at 7-Eleven, a primer on Yu Darvish, a profile of tattoo artist Oliver Peck, and so forth.
I haven’t read any of it. Nor will I — until CentralTrack abandons its silly horizontal layout. On a phone, content lives in a horizontal space between two black navigation bars. You scroll to the right to read stories. The paragraphs are too wide to fit on the screen. It’s an excruciating user experience. On a desktop computer, things aren’t much better. The two black navigation bars are vertical and static. As you scroll left or right, content comes into view between the two black nav bars.
I’ll put the over-under on a week. That’s when Pete Freedman and the rest of the folks at CentralTrack will realize the error of their ways and convert to the vertical layout that the rest of the World Wide Web uses. Then I’ll start reading their stories.
Just happened to hear the beginning of This American Life on KERA on Saturday. And I was going to post this morning about how impressed I was that Kristy Kruger, a singer-songwriter who lives in Denton and went to high school at Dallas ISD’s Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, was willing to go on a national radio program and tell what would seem to be an embarrassing tale about what she did when she just couldn’t get over a boyfriend who’d broken up with her. From the episode’s transcript (Ira Glass is the host):
lra Glass
Including phone pranks. And so Kristy explained to me that as she would drive around the country from one music gig to the next, she tried to do something that she thought would talk to that part of his personality.
Kristy Kruger
I started writing his number on bathroom walls across the United States.
Mayor Reveals Southern Dallas Plan Today: Lots to sort through regarding Mayor Rawlings’ new Southern Dallas initiative, “GrowSouth,” which he will formally announce this afternoon at South Side on Lamar. The Dallas Morning News praises it in this editorial as “exactly the kind of enthusiastic and bold approach we’ve been seeking,” while News reporter Rudy Bush notes (paywall) South Dallas plans are a staple with mayors while actual progress remains elusive. Still, there are some tangibles in the plan, like $600K for tearing down dilapidated and abandoned houses. The mayor also wants to help promote new neighborhood associations, “adopt” four schools, and has identified nine “opportunity areas,” such as Jefferson Blvd., which he called “our complete street . . . Let’s just make this thing come to life.” In other words, the vocab sounds right, but the challenge, as always, will be getting investors and competing interests on the same page.
Fort Worth Girl Kidnapped By Mother Found: Daughter and mother, who was feared to be mentally ill and suicidal by relatives, were found near a National Park in New Mexico. Both were tired and hungry, but safe.
Credit Agency Fitch Fears American Airlines Layoffs Impact on DFW: In a message released last Thursday, the credit agency Fitch suggests the 13,000 jobs AA plans to eliminate may have a detrimental effect on the airline company’s home region, where it employs 25,000 people. But the agency did throw in a caveat: it “anticipates limited negative effects to individual cities given the breadth of the employment base.” So there’s that.
Derek Holland’s Harry Carry: Funny or Obnoxious? The Rangers’ pitcher brought his Harry Caray impression to WFAA, where, accompanied by Dale Hansen’s cackles, he delivered Mavs and Stars news. Funny or not? You decide.