LETTERS

Best and Worst



I just read your January issue at my neighborhood newsstand and noticed that I was voted “Worst Disc Jockey” in your Best and Worst section.

What an insult! I called my lawyer a few minutes ago, after deciding to sue you, and suddenly remembered that he was voted “Worst Lawyer” in one of your gruesome back issues.

I must admit that it is an honor to be placed in the same category as Verne Lundquist and Hugh Parmer (my mayor). However, did you have to add Cactus Pryor? That’s getting pretty sticky!

My wife is enclosing a check for a subscription to your publication. She agrees with you! Besides, she never listens to my show. She says it’s too “mucky” for her.

Bill Mack

Fort Worth

P.S. I hope the check bounces! (If it does, don’t call my lawyer.)



I had to laugh in agreement with your selection of Hillcrest State Bank as worst small bank in Dallas. For four years, I had both savings and checking accounts at Hillcrest, but after being mistaken for the “plant lady” and even refused aid in customer service because they did not have a copy of my records downstairs, I found help elsewhere.

The only thing 1 found pleasurable about banking at Hillcrest was getting to weigh myself on the way out the back door.

Jan E. Welter

Dallas



Category: Magazine Consumer Information.

Best: D Magazine of January 1979, for its article, “Remember the Ptomaine!” wherein was reported the fact that 20 local restaurants were repeat violators of the Dallas Health Code, having failed to meet the standards again in 1978 after having been cited in 1977; that, among the violators was Campisi’s, at which inspectors in five visits “found 87 health-code violations,” including rodents on two occasions, and on one investigation gave Campisi’s “a grade of 47 out of a possible 100, the lowest of any of the 20 restaurants . . . .”

Worst: D Magazine of January 1979, for recommending Campisi’s in its “Dining Out” column, wherein are listed “the best in Dallas and Fort Worth dining.” By being so listed, says D, “It is implicit that we recommend all of them highly.”

Doesn’t D read D?

Benjamin L. Grant

Dallas



Ben Read



Your article on Ben Read’s mysterious demise (“Entertaining Bryan,” February) was an intriguing and well-written example of investigative journalism. Jim Atkinson managed to maintain professional objectivity while exhibiting genuine compassion for the man. I hope he will continue providing your readers with thought-provoking articles such as this and his previous piece on Willard Jackson.

Dan Witt

Dallas



Planning Problems



I would dispute your statement that the Department of Urban Planning is currently in “disarray” (“Off the Record,” January). Admittedly, the department does not have a full-time director; however, a nationally recognized executive search firm has been employed since September, to pursue candidates nationwide. Meanwhile, decisions about inner-city neighborhoods are not made haphazardly, but rather in conformance with City Council adopted component plans, such as the Housing Plan and Thoroughfare Plan, or in accordance with sound planning principles.

Regarding your comments about Mr. Lu: He was not responsible for decision-making regarding the development of inner-city neighborhoods. That is the responsibility of Mr. Ray Stanland, Program Manager of Environmental and Neighborhood Planning, and ultimately of the City Manager’s Office and City Council.

In regard to the widening of McKinney Avenue, we must emphasize that the request to review the 1957 Thoroughfare Plan originated from the Vineyard Neighborhood Association in a letter to Joe Willoughby, Chairman of the Thoroughfare Committee of the City Plan Commission, in October 1978. It is in their behalf that we are reviewing the plan, to be certain that widening to six lanes is absolutely needed. All options will be reviewed in order to plan a thoroughfare system that accommodates current and future uses of this area, in addition to city-wide traffic movement.

Gerald W. Henigsman

Assistant City Manager,

City of Dallas



More Power

D Magazine is a bestseller with DP&L families after your gracious “Thumbs Up” recognition of the men and women who worked so many long, cold hours to get Dallas’ lights back on after the New Year’s ice storm (February). We’d like, in turn, to give a “thumbs up” to the hundreds of thousands of Dallas people whose patience and understanding showed up in countless courtesies – from “thank you” phone calls, to back alley coffee sharing, and even a giant chocolate cake delivered to one DP&L service center.

J.S. Farrington

President,

Dallas Power & Light Company



Beware of Dog

Thanks for the “Thumbs Up” award for the Better Business Bureau’s work in the E. M. Kahn case (January). If you still think the BBB is “sometimes a toothless watchdog,” keep watching.

Ronald P. Berry

President,

Better Business Bureau of Metropolitan

Dallas, Inc.



Household Words



I have just finished reading “Household Words” by Jo Brans (February), and I was most disappointed. I am referring specifically to her comments regarding the cookbook Under The Mushroom by Marilyn Romweber. She mentioned that canned soups and Velveeta cheese were used in some of the recipes; these happen to be very flavorful shortcuts for working women. Ms. Brans neglected to mention that Under The Mushroom also includes many of the gourmet recipes used in Ms. Romweber’s restaurant, The Little Mushroom.

I have been responsible for publishing a successful cookbook – and have a copy of Under The Mushroom, which I feel qualifies me to suggest that Ms. Brans does not cook enough to recognize the differences between a good cookbook and a bad one.

Julie Kidd

Carrollton



Grounds for Argument



Thank you for including our store in “The Daily Grind” by Leonard Reed (February). However, we are located in Northgate Plaza on the outskirts of Las Colinas, not in the Irving Mall as the article stated.

Janet Boynton

Manager, Kitchen works

Dallas



Your article “The Daily Grind” (February) missed two very good and less expensive sources of coffee beans in the city of Dallas. Al’s Food Store at 8209 Park Lane, just off Greenville, carries a nice selection of 8 to 10 barrels at all times and most 7-Eleven stores still sell the A&P 8 O’Clock coffee beans.

Martin Noto

Dallas



Good Medicine



D Magazine has been selected first place winner of the Texas Medical Association’s Anson Jones Award for excellence in communicating health information to the public. The selection was based on five articles that appeared in 1978: “The Fad of the Land,” by Diana Cherlow (May); “The Rewards and Perils of Plastic Surgery,” by A. J. Love (July); and “The Race to Save the High-Risk Baby,” by Joe Holley, “The Most Dangerous Game,” by David Bauer, and “Taking a Chance on Life,” by Wade Leftwich (all September).



Omissions

The ski clothes featured on the cover of the February issue were furnished by St. Bernard Sports, NorthPark East. The lip-shaped sofa “Marilyn,” featured on page 59, was designed by Stendig International, and is available through Sam Schenck/Southwest, P. O. Box 5485, Richardson, 75080.