THE THUMB AWARDS

Thumbs Up: To Mrs. B. J. Aiple of Oak Cliff, who spotted a Dallas school bus (filled with students) weaving along Camp Wisdom Road; she pulled her car in front of the bus and forced it to a stop on the side of the road. The bus driver was charged with DWI. Mrs. Aiple deserves hearty congratulations. Would you have done it?

Thumbs Down:

To the University Park Police for having 57 cars towed away that were near Moody Coliseum and SMU on opening night of the World Championship of Tennis Finals. Yes, they were parked in no-parking zones. Yes, laws are laws. And yes, it was still a lousy thing to do.

Thumbs Up: To WFAA-TV Channel 8 news for finishing among the top ten stations in the country in terms of “Share of time devoted to local news and public affairs.” Channel 8 actually had the fifth best statistics in the entire survey (conducted by the National Citizens Committee for Broadcasting as reported in the Columbia Journalism Review), devoting 14.4 percent of its air time to these concerns. Channel 4 and Channel 5 were not mentioned in the report, but at least they didn’t finish in the list of the bottom ten.

Thumbs Down: To the Times Herald for letting this headline slip into their May 19 edition: “Two women rape victims in same neighborhood.”

Thumbs Up: To State Rep. David Cain of District 33-K of Dallas who showed some wit and style in a recent news release to constituents (a political custom marked by dry, tedious self-administered pats on the back – ever read a release from Jim Collins?). Cain, describing activities in the recent session of the legislature, wrote; “Earlier this month, the Legislature voted to make chili the official ’State Dish,’ and in what I consider to be an extremely appropriate and important follow-up measure, we this week voted to prohibit pay toilets in Texas.”