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Fort Worth Star-Telegram is reporting that former Arlington Mayor Tom Vandergriff, 84,  has died. During his 26 years as mayor, he was the driving force for bringing the Texas Rangers, the GM plant and Six Flags to Arlington.

Our condolences to the Vandergriff family and the people of Arlington.

1. Jillian Smith knew in the sixth grade that she wanted to be a cop. She accomplished that goal. Then, less than a year on the force, the Arlington police officer was killed in the line of duty. The Morning News brings us a touching profile of what sounded like a special person.

2. I don’t quite get all the hubbub over the city’s efforts to eradicate graffiti in advance of the Super Bowl. Blogs carried the story yesterday; the paper has it this morning. First, is there really that much graffiti around Dallas? Second, are Super Bowl visitors really going to have a lousy time if they see it? Third, by crowing about the “sodablaster” and how awesome it is at eradicating graffiti, aren’t city officials essentially issuing a public challenge to taggers, who will redouble their efforts to spread Super Bowl-related graffiti around the city? And, finally, I was disappointed to learn that the sodablaster doesn’t shoot RC Cola.

3. A body was found early this morning in the Design District. The man’s throat had been slashed. That’s the kind of sight, seems to me, that would leave a Super Bowl visitor with a bad impression of Dallas.

Who knew that George W. Bush, Candice Crawford, DJ Red Eye, and the world’s biggest chicken fried steak could be part of the same year-end list?

1. Collin County Assistant DA Greg Davis has been indicted for tampering with a governmental record. I thought you should know that.

2. About half of Frito-Lay’s snacks will soon be all-natural. Just FYI.

3. Good Morning America picked up that story about the pastor who most certainly didn’t break into her parishioner’s house on Christmas Eve, in case you were wondering.

1. I want everyone to say a prayer for Dirk’s knee. He left the game last night after injuring it, and though X-rays showed nothing, he’s having an MRI this morning. So something like: “Dear sweet John Wooden Basketball Jesus, please let the MRI turn up nothing in Dirk’s enormous German knee.” And so on.

2. Speaking of divine intervention, Sandy McGriff is going to need some. She’s the pastor who has been accused of burglarizing a parishioner’s house on Christmas Eve. She says she’s innocent, though. See, the thing was, McGriff saw the guys who actually did the crime. She was just trying to help. She went into the victim’s house through the broken window and carried off those fur coats and purses and the laptop for safekeeping. I’m not even sure John Wooden Basketball Jesus can convince cops to believe McGriff.

3. You should read this interesting story in the Morning News written by a freelancer out of Mexico City. It’s about drug cartels using kids to do their dirty work. Such as beheading people. Hard to make a joke about that.

1. The Guinness Book of World Records now recognizes Richard Lewis as the world’s “most avid golfer.” Before 2010 is over, he plans to play his 611th round of the year. Clearly, the terrorists have lost.

2. Barbaric cockfighting. Great album title.

3. If you missed it, the New York Times yesterday ran a story about four men who will play bigger roles in deciding what the Fed does. One of those men is our own Richard Fisher, head of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.

1. At first, I thought that there was actually a commission that just looked at joint surgeries. But no, the Joint Commission just looks at hospital accreditation, period. It’s just coincidence that they are now investigating a botched knee surgery at Parkland.

2. Someone is stealing the mobile computer units from Dallas police vehicles awaiting repairs at a secure facility – and have been doing so since July.  Maybe this is a silly question – but why wouldn’t you remove those before the car was taken for repairs?

3.Seriously, people. They are shoes. They don’t cure cancer, they don’t improve your jump shot, and Michael Jordan didn’t actually wear them. So simmah down. It’s almost Christmas, which is not the holiday for douchebaggery.

4. It is apparently a good time to be an artist who paints horned frogs.

5. Happy Christmas Eve. If you haven’t done your shopping yet, here’s some tough love: Get out of your pajamas, get in your car, and suck it up and do some shopping.

Your beloved D Magazine editors are taking some time off. Don’t expect much in this space over the next week or so. Here’s hoping you and yours get some downtime, too.

Merry Christmas.

1. It’s well-known that journalists aren’t in the business for the money. Most of us are in the profession because we hope one day we can make a difference. And in the case of Karla Aguilar, a difference was made. After a profile of Karla ran on the news, a family decided they wanted to shower her with gifts. But for Karla, it’s more about the relationship.

2. I love this video that shows a group of kids with hearing disabilities signing with Santa.

3. Rose Mares fell on some hard times. Overhearing her son say that they were poor broke her heart. However, she never expected to get a free car, a year’s worth of oil changes, a year’s worth of insurance, and a load of gifts when she went to Frisco Family Services Wednesday morning.

It’s at noon, we’ll be talking about January’s “20 for 2011” cover story, and Alan Melson, the station’s director of interactive, will be subbing for host Krys Boyd. We will also, if time allows, give a preview of our new radio show, Whisper Quiet with Zac & Pete. (Kidding. The show is actually called MONSTER Energy Presents the Power Hour with Your Hour of Power Au Pairs Metal Pete & Zaxplosion!!!!)

1. Alan Peppard brings us a cool story today about Dallas and the Super Bowl. He writes: “Forty-four years ago, the seed of the big game was planted in secret in a parking lot at Love Field and incubated in a series of spy vs. spy meetings in Highland Park and North Dallas. As the sons of Texas’ two most famous oilmen tried to settle their differences, the modern NFL emerged and a national celebration was born.” Recommended reading. I wish they’d make that guy write more than just his column. He’s good at it.

2. Then there’s Charlie Perez, a thief who likes to break into cars. Cops call him a “one-man crime wave.” Yes, he’s a heroin addict. But he’s a lovable heroin addict. Like, one time, right after he got out of jail, Perez stopped by the police station to taunt the cops who had arrested him. Zac finally finished the cover story for our February issue yesterday. With that off his plate, I’m pretty sure he has time today to work on the pilot episode of the TV show based on Perez’s life. It’s called Smash and Grab.

3. Catfight! American Airlines and Orbitz are all kinds of pissed at each. Now American has pulled its tickets off the online booking service. Snap!