1. It’s time for opening statements in Dallas Mayor Pro Tem Don Hill’s corruption trial this morning. It took prosecutors 166 pages to outline the charges of extortion and bribery in the 2007 indictment. For the sake of the jury, I hope that “brevity” was one of the major New Year’s Resolutions in the DA’s office this year.
2. Once upon a time, Ladonna Jones of Highland Village wrote a letter to the Dallas Morning News about how unfair the ticket sales were for the Jackson’s Victory Tour. As a result, she received tickets, an invitation backstage, and a kiss from Michael Jackson. It was a different era–when asked what she remembers most about meeting the King of Pop, Jones doesn’t mention any number of things that automatically come to mind (mainly the nose for me). Instead, she says, “His hands were so big…that’s what stuck out.”
3.  Some angry folks weathered the heat yesterday to protest the “excessive force” used during arrests of some patrons of a Fort Worth gay bar outside of the Tarrant County Courthouse. Apparently, seven people were booked for being intoxicated and trying to “grope” officers during a routine TABC inspection. There are reports that things got out of hand, and one guy may have even been hospitalized after the incident. I don’t have a law degree, but I grew up in Beaumont (which pretty much makes me a plaintiff /defense lawyer by birth). My first question here: Isn’t it possible that the bar patrons thought that these were the hot cop strippers Michael Bluth hired to scare George Michael straight (so to speak)? (Apologies if you’re not an Arrested Development fan.)
