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Tonight’s Limbs for Life gala has had a new item added to its program. LfL executive director/co-founder Craig Gavras (pictured) will address his years of lying about his being a law enforcement office officer and losing his leg at the hands of a mob.

UPDATE: SweetCharity is reporting that the Limbs for Life foundation issued a statement regarding Craig’s deception yesterday. Evidently they knew the Morning News‘ Tanya Eiserer was hot on the trail.

As Tim mentioned earlier, Dallas was the place for protesters today, and the Planned Parenthood of North Texas luncheon at the Hilton Anatole was no exception (Dallas Dirt’s Candy Evans and I made it through the back entrance and avoided abortion protesters). Once inside, guests were treated to a charming introduction by Elaine Agather of JPMorgan Chase; the Kay Bailey Hutchison supporter seemed a bit surprised to be there herself–she quipped that last year someone asked her to write a check, and this year she was the emcee. Conservative politics aside, Agather said she recognized the need for Planned Parenthood when she realized that more than 50 percent of her company’s employees were women, many of whom needed access to basic health services. Keynote speaker Anna Quindlen gave a heartwarming speech with one sour note that offended a few of the well-heeled ladies: She asked attendees to take a look at the lovely suits they were wearing, consider how much the ensembles cost, and donate at least that much to the nonprofit.

Count Mayor Tom Leppert among the “victims” of Dallas’ recent record snowstorm. In a talk today to the Dallas Friday Group, the mayor recalled how he was driving his wife, Laura, to dinner that weekend when they encountered a downed tree in the street. Leppert veered sharply to avoid the tree and wound up off the road, mired in the muck and slush. At that, he said, “I did what any guy would do: I started gunning it.” Didn’t work. Then he threw the vehicle in reverse, but that didn’t do it, either.

Just then, Leppert said, a “giant tree” fell on top of the car–“and Laura thinks we’re under attack.” A policeman pulled up next, looked in the window and said, “Oh shoot, it’s the mayor.” (Only he didn’t say “shoot.”) Then a couple of guys in a big truck stopped and tried to pull the car free, to no avail, Leppert said. So they produced a chainsaw to hack at the trees–only to watch the saw’s chain fly off. Finally, though, the samaritans brought out handsaws and proceeded to rescue the mayor and his wife and “the world went on,” Leppert concluded. He added that the experience “was probably easier on us than it was on the poor policeman.”

Great question you pose there in leading off, Jason, with that nice link to Steve Brown’s story on how we maybe shouldn’t jump for joy that D/FW foreclosures have fallen to their lowest levels in three years. (There’s a four million dollar foreclosure not too far from moi!) There are programs out there trying to keep folks in their homes, like the Mortgage Banker’s Association’s new forbearance program I wrote about yesterday. First American CoreLogic reported yesterday that one out of every four Americans is underwater in their mortgage. Well, I was at a Metrotex Association of Realtors event last night and learned, thank you Jesus,  we are not as bad as the national stats: about 12 to 15% of D/FW homeowners may be underwater, but our days on the market are far shorter than the national average. Then there’s all this confusing data coming in — our values are up, our sales are down. There’s a few other things to consider as well, so stay tuned to DallasDirt –– I’m trying to make sense out of all of it and, of course, get you some decent House Porn.

1. Run for City Council? Apparently there are some perks to the gig. But those can get you into trouble. Don Hill will find out today just how much.

2. Is it a good or bad time to enter the real estate game? The experts says that the latest foreclosure numbers are artifically low.

3. Teach? Shape young minds? Mold the leaders of tomorrow? And try not to get discouraged by a rise in crime and violence in the schools?

4. Maybe Vandelay Industries is still looking for a great latex salesman.

Next Tuesday night promises some of the most, uh, interesting entertainment imaginable around here. No, I’m not talking about the election and all the after-parties. I’m talking about one Pastor Melissa Scott, who is scheduled to appear that evening (and Wednesday night) at the Family Cathedral of Praise in Mesquite. According to the big ads in The Dallas Morning News, this will be Pastor Melissa’s “only Texas appearance” this year.

You may have run across the willowy brunette who claims to speak 20 languages on religious TV. She’s the widow of the late Dr. Gene Scott, a super-wealthy “shock jock” televangelist from L.A. who used to sit in front of a chalkboard and transfix audiences with bat-crazy rants about the Bible, UFOs, and his ex-wife. But, here’s the kicker: Pastor Melissa, according to news accounts, was once a porn star known as Barbie Bridges. She adamantly denies that, though, and doesn’t like to talk about the subject. So, since she’s sometimes surrounded by a dozen bodyguards, I wouldn’t recommend bringing “Barbie” up, if you attend the free services next week.

Scooped them right out of bankruptcy, has already sold the penthouse. I’ve dubbed him Saint Stoneleigh on DallasDirt.

In the latest issue of Mother Jones, Adam Weinstein writes about the TABC raid on the now-famous gay club in Fort Worth called the Rainbow Lounge. Says Weinstein:

They say everything’s bigger in Texas, and that includes absurdity in law enforcement. Most states and towns have public intoxication laws that allow peace officers to pick up the drunk and disorderly. But in the Lone Star State, the nation’s broadest PI law lets cops go virtually anywhere and arrest anyone for drunkenness — even if they’re quietly nursing a beer in a bar.

Aside from the “everything’s bigger in Texas” trope, it’s a piece worth reading. Careful readers will also recognize one of Weinstein’s sources: DPD Officer Nick Novello, who was a source for Trey Garrison when he wrote about a story for us in 2007 about a ring of cops who broke the rules to inflate their arrest totals. (Novello was also a defendant when those cops sued D Magazine for libel.)

Update: From a MoJo blog post from Weinstein, I got the impression that he didn’t enjoy his time in Dallas (he worked at DS News, which, oddly enough took over our old space on Oak Lawn when we moved downtown in October). I asked Weinstein if my impression was accurate that he didn’t cotton to Dallas. “You can say that’s true,” Weinstein said. “Dallas didn’t meet my expectations. Which were low to begin with, since the last city I’d lived in before that was Baghdad. (Long story. Check out www.adamweinsteinwriter.com for that.)”

1. There will be a community meeting tonight to discuss turning the old Ramada Plaza Hotel on Akard Street and Interstate 30 into a homeless shelter. If the plan comes together, there will be 200 rooms made available to the homeless. All the developer has to do is get the community on board. Piece of cake.

2. This is an unfortunate case of she said, they said. Habitat for Humanity built Mattie a home. One stipulation for the home was that Mattie not move in as a single person. She said that’s fine, because her grandkids lived with her. But she said they only lived with her for a year, and she says they come back often. Even if that can be proven, it looks like it might not be enough.
How did this issue come to light? It appears that when the title was drawn up for the lot Mattie lives on, someone accidentally also included the neighboring lot (which it looks like Mattie’s not paying for). So Habitat needs that title to build another home. They’re offering to buy it for $10.
Here’s the way I look at it: if you didn’t really own the lot and you never spent money on the lot, but now you’re being offered $10 for it, take the deal! That’s a win. Of course, the whole being pushed out of your home because you didn’t meet the requirements thing is a loss. So best case scenario? Mattie breaks even. Kind of.

3. Awhile ago, Tim said he was disappointed that the Cowboys weren’t breaking the law the way they used to. Then Jason told you about Michael Irvin getting accused of allegedly raping a woman in Hollywood, which was the second Tim-worthy, law-breaking incident by a Cowboy (ex-Cowboy, whatever). So Jason deemed that a trend and said that Tim Rogers cursed America’s Team. Well, it looks like the curse is off as no charges are going to be filed against Irvin. Apparently, the lady made the whole thing up. Find someone else to blame if next year’s season doesn’t go well. Here’s one suggestion.

The Texas Tribune‘s Emily Ramshaw has an interesting piece today asking why Kay Bailey Hutchison has steered clear of attacking Rick Perry for the state’s multiple “social-service” debacles. We’re talking about powerful messes involving children such as that sex-abuse scandal at the state’s youth prisons, a fighting ring at a state institution for the disabled and, worst of all, fatal screwups at Texas Child Protective Services.

It’s a great question. Early last year, top Hutchison advisers predicted that Perry’s lousy appointments–and more importantly the incompetence and worse they led to at agencies like these–would be a key feature of her campaign. Didn’t happen; call it a major missed opportunity. Guess Kay’s decision to lay off also supports the assertion that she has ignored the good advice of those around her and is living now with the consequences.

Since Tim raised the subject again in “Leading Off” this morning, I decided to take one more opportunity to write that sensational headline.

I contacted GOP state house candidate Wayne Richard after my original post and asked him a few questions about the video. He explained that it was posted on his company’s YouTube account by “an individual with authorized access” but without his knowledge. This person added the company’s logo to the video, but Richard says “it was never meant to be available for public viewing.”  I asked him to explain why a video was posted on YouTube if it weren’t meant for public viewing, but he did not respond to that e-mailed question.

A few days later, he issued a press release to address some of the allegations and announce that he’s reposted the website for his company FUBIOV! (Forget U Buddy I’m On Vacation) to demonstrate that it was merely meant as a place for people to share vacation photos and videos. Not a place for voyeurs to swap videos of women in bikinis. “I may decide to keep the site live as a result of the free publicity it is receiving,” Richard stated.