Today’s news that the star basketball player for Highland Park High School was arrested by University Park Police for driving while intoxicated raises a couple old questions from my past life as a community newspaper publisher, editor, and reporter:
1. When should a kid stop getting treated like a kid?
2. Is a high school athlete a public figure?
I know my responses to both those questions, mostly. And we know how both People Newspapers and the Dallas Morning News would answer those questions, since both outlets today reported the arrest of the 18-year-old player, David Allen. But there are many, most especially people in the Park Cities, who feel differently. I know this because I’ve been through a similar situation before.
I’m not just stealing aggregating this item from TM Daily Post because it’s about the possibility that this year’s top college hockey player – who may win the hockey version of the Heisman Trophy – is a kid named Austin Smith, who played for Jesuit College Prep.
I’m linking the post because Texas Monthly is sticking to its guns, blatantly using the word “Metroplex,” and rubbing it in Tim’s face.
But we get to legitimately claim Austin Smith, the 23-year-old senior at Colgate University. He learned the game in the Texas, playing all his youth hockey around the Metroplex (hi, Tim!), as well as two years for Dallas Jesuit High. To finish his development, Smith spent two years at a Connecticut prep school and one season in a Canadian junior league before entering Colgate, a small private school in Hamilton, New York (which also produced Texas Brahmas coach Dan Wildfong), in 2008.
By then, Smith was already good enough to be selected by his hometown team, the Dallas Stars, in the fifth round of the 2007 leads the country with 33 goals in 32 games–ten goals more than the next player behind him.
In case you hadn’t heard, it’s Fat Tuesday. Or as I like to refer to it, Nothing a Little P90X Won’t Fix Tuesday. Stuff yourself silly before before Lent starts tomorrow and you resign yourself to no alcohol and/or Facebook for 40 whole days. True masochists will give up both.
Most of the Mardi Gras events took place over the weekend, but there are still a few places you can celebrate this evening. Over on SideDish, Carol gave you a list of restaurants doing special things for the holiday. Fish City Grill has New Orleans barbecue, beads, crawfish, and shrimp at all their locations (but don’t forget, the Henderson restaurant closed Sunday). Bridge Bistro features gumbo and shrimp and crawfish enchiladas as menu staples. And finally, for those with a well-stocked home bar, Hayley has a list of drink recipes that of course includes a traditional Hurricane. Rathbun’s Blue Plate Kitchen has a $30 Cajun buffet (think jambalaya, gumbo, and fried catfish) that includes a complimentary Bacardi Hurricane, other drink specials, and live music. Folks in Plano can get a similar buffet at KB’s WoodFire Grill, but for $25 instead of $30.
But as I’m sure I’ve mentioned here before, I’m not a big fan of seafood. So I may skip the Creole-inspired cuisine tonight and catch up on something that I’ve woefully neglected: the Oscar-nominated short films. The Magnolia is screening both the live-action and animated selections, but as separate programs. You might have to make a choice. Personally, the short I’m most interested in is the The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore. Animated it is. At the risk of sounding un-Fat Tuesdayish, I’d try Union Bear right across the street in West Village for dinner. I’ve sampled the nanobrewery’s beer selection, but I’ve been meaning to go back for the food. You can get a good idea of what to expect from the photos in our nightlife gallery.
For more to do tonight, go here.
First he favored Rick Perry with his cash. Then he switched gears to back Newt Gingrich. These days businessman Harold Simmons is pumping multi-millions more into American Crossroads, the super PAC associated with Karl Rove. All of which is why Politico says the Dallas billionaire is on a “GOP spending spree.”
Cops Confirm Frisco Girl Was Kidnapped. The whole story isn’t out yet, but Frisco police have confirmed that an 18-year-old girl was kidnapped at gunpoint Friday and forced to drive to Muskogee, Oklahoma. Bethany Stroud managed to escape, and she’s home safe now.
D.A. Craig Watkins Is a Bully. That’s what criminal court Judge Julia Hayes says. After she ruled an assistant D.A. in contempt, Watkins subpoenaed Judge Hayes. “I feel like the district attorney’s office is bullying me. I feel like there are other women judges in this building who are also being bullied by the district attorney,” Hayes told Fox Channel 4.
Firefighters Leave Fire, And Man Dies. Dallas Fire-Rescue determined that someone had just burned dinner and left an apartment complex where a man eventually died (paywall). Neighbors eventually entered the apartment where the fire was, and they found 58-year-old Byron Forester dying on his bathroom floor.