PUBLISHER’S PAGE

■ Does anybody out there take Wes Wise seriously? If you’re one of those whose inclination is to answer in the affirmative, thereby proving that you’ve had your head buried in sand for three years, read Editor Jim Atkinson’s comments to learn why you shouldn’t.

As we go to press, Wise is involved in yet another personal controversy, this time over an article in The Dallas Times Herald concerning the possibility of his undergoing bankruptcy proceedings. (Now pause for a moment: we’re talking about bankruptcy. And the mayor of Dallas.)

The article was written by Bryan Martin, a competent and fair reporter, based on facts that this magazine from its independent research can confirm are true. The article quoted Wise as saying, “The possibility of bankruptcy is a last resort.” Wise claims he told the reporter specifically, “I have no intention of filing bankruptcy.”

Given the choice, we’ll believe Martin. Bankruptcy is always a last resort, especially when it promises to destroy one’s political career. Under those circumstances, we could understand that the mayor has no intention of filing for it. He may be forced to, but he presently has no intention to do so. It amounts to the same thing, but that’s beside the point.

Any past mayor, or any responsible political leader, in a circumstance where he believed an inaccuracy had occurred, would have (1) called the editor to complain, or (2) issued a statement for publication, or (3) both. Not Wise. He sent a telegram to Otis Chandler, publisher of the Los Angeles Times, parent of the Herald. That’ll show ’em. Mr. Chandler, of course, promptly had his secretary turn the matter over to Mr. James Chambers, publisher of the Herald, who promptly had his secretary turn the matter over to Mr. Tom Johnson, editor of the Herald. Mr. Johnson told us that he conferred with the reporter and confirmed the story. End of the latest embarrassing episode in the continually embarrassing career of Wes Wise.

Only the week before, Wise had disputed an editorial in The Dallas Morning News which made a passing comment about the inevitability of a city tax hike. Once again, Wise sidestepped options (1), (2) and (3). Instead, he wrote a letter to the editor, presumably because the News has no parent company in Los Angeles. The News dutifully printed the letter, giving it good space and a nice photo of Wise, and few Dallasites stopped to ask, “Why in the hell is the mayor of Dallas writing a letter to the editor?” As if he were an indignant housewife complaining about the garbage pickup.

The newspapers can take a large share of the blame for the mayor’s conduct. As we stated in our first issue in listing Wise as an overrated power, “about all he has going for him is a good press and an ’independent’ image.” By treating him with kid gloves, the newspapers have given him good cause to think he can overreact at the slightest whiff of criticism.

This city desperately needs a mayor. It is the responsibility of our local newspapers to let the citizenry know that we don’t presently have one. Take off the gloves, fellows. The citizens of Dallas need to know just how bad the present situation is before we can expect them to move to correct it.



■ This office has been besieged in recent weeks by complaints concerning the tawdry bars, porno movie houses, and model studios that are making their presence known in and about downtown (no massage parlors, which are outlawed by city ordinance, although “model studio” serves as a useable euphemism for the same thing, which has little to do with massages). To these complaints, we add our own.

One answer to the problem is the legalization, and thereby the licensing, of prostitution. We recognize that this answer is presently unacceptable to the majority of voters.

This kind of activity is a part of city life, albeit one of the seedier parts. The question is, how do we prevent it from adding to the steady deterioration of downtown? We must find an answer to that question before our entire downtown becomes another Broadway district, damaged beyond repair.

We suggest that the police, and their superiors at City Hall, allow the evolvement of a red light district, where these activities can take place without disturbing downtown residents and visitors and without encroaching on the newer downtown developments. Once city officials have selected the area best suited for this type of activity, they may aid in its creation through the simple expedient of cracking down hard outside the area and not cracking down as hard within the area.

If that doesn’t work, we can turn to more creative applications of the law. Toledo, Ohio, found itself confronted with a similar problem in 1911. Mayor Brand Whitlock was opposed to any legislation of morality by city fathers, but he also was vividly aware that the continuing spread of vice would be the ruin of his city. He decided that a red light district was the most convenient solution. He selected the most likely location, and thereafter any “client” approaching a house of ill repute outside the red light district was met at the front door by a city policeman, who politely asked the person’s name and wrote it down in a little black book. The policeman made no attempt to interfere, and Mayor Whitlock personally collected the little black books at close of each evening’s activities. Soon Toledo had a defined and contained, thriving red light district, and the city was saved from further trouble.

We doubt that the courts would allow this particular method of enforcement today, but it serves as an example of how a city may regulate its affairs through creative thinking. Of course, it requires a creative thinker.

I might add that, once again, the newspapers are not much help. We counted nine classified ads for questionable enterprises in last night’s Herald and twelve in this morning’s News. Perhaps it’s because we are newcomers to the field of publishing in Dallas, but we cannot understand why the publishers of our two local newspapers continue to allow this kind of advertising, which is directly opposed to the editorial positions of their respective publications and directly counter to the best interests of this city.



■ On a lighter note, we’d like to join the community in congratulating acting manager Diana Clark and the entire company of the Dallas Civic Opera. In spite of several tragic setbacks, the DCO has again presented Dallas with an enjoyable and artistically superior series of productions this season. The DCO has become a mainstay in the cultural life of this city, and we wish it continued success. With the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, it is one of the bright spots in our cultural landscape.