Thursday, March 28, 2024 Mar 28, 2024
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MAY UP FRONT

By D Magazine |

BROWN OUT: When Fort Worth police chief A. J. Brown resigned (official exit was April 16 to become city manager of Hurst), everyone knew that Brown, a reformist and an outsider, was generally disliked by the men on the force. But just how much they disliked him is a bit surprising. Shortly before Brown announced his resignation, he arrived at work one morning to find a large pile of chicken manure on the carpet in front of his office door, put there by some of his men as a comment on his administration. Said one of the cops, “We’ve decided to have a big party for the chief, but we’ve decided to have it after he’s gone.”



MACK AND THE KNIFE:

The cutthroat local radio biz continues to keep its blades sharp. Even Bill Mack, whose late-night, clear-channel Bill Mack Show on WBAP has an enormous following all over the Midwest, is not immune. Mack has reportedly lost control of the content of his show to management. He doesn’t like it a bit and told them so; they told him to go home for a week and think it over. WBAP is owned by Capital Cities Communications, whose ax is notoriously heavy. So Wild Bill went home, thought about it, and surprise, Mack is back.



Sorry, boss: Recently, when Robert Decherd was promoted in the Belo Corporation (owner of the Dallas News and WFAA-Channel 8, among others), Channel 8 News carried the story on the air. De- cherd, consid- ered by many the brightest rising star at Belo and heir apparent to the reins of control, was given less than honorary treatment by his own underlings. First lola Johnson mispronounced his name; then when his name appeared on the screen, it was misspelled.



No TWO FLAKKS ARE ALIKK: The 1979 version of the Texas Rangers has been dubbed the All-Flake Team, led by new screwballs Jim Kern, Sparky Lyle, and Oscar Gamble, by the increasingly odd Richie Zisk (ask him about his invisible friend Alex), and, of course, by the irrepressible Captain Flake himself, Dock Ellis. The crew didn’t disappoint flake followers in Pompano Beach, who were particularly moved by one of Dock’s performances: When he surveyed the stands one day and spotted Minnesota Twins owner Calvin Griffith, who created a flap in the off-season with his racist remarks, Ellis launched into a loud and abusive string of unprint-ables delivered as only Dock can do it. Surely the most disturbing to Griffith was when Dock grinned maniacally and threatened to ask Brad Corbett to trade him to Minnesota.



BAND ON THE RUN:For six years, Bowley and Wilson, a local comic-rock band – the guys who recorded “(Superbowl) Goin’ to Miami” – have been doing their thing at the Up Your Alley Club on Yale Blvd; they’ve got a group of dedicated followers and a trouble-free performance record. But one night a few weeks ago, in the middle of a show, the place was raided; John Bowley was hauled off stage and the show was busted. The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission had suddenly decided the show was too raunchy and slapped a censorship order on the band and a $3150 fine on club owner Jim Wallace. The charges? “Vulgar and abusive language, display of a lewd neon sign, letting an intoxicated person on the premises, and the presence of empty distilled spirits containers without the I.D. stamps mutilated.” It’s not clear why the sudden “random” raid was aimed at the club (rumor has it there was an important Daddy who was unhappy that his daughter frequented the place); the explanation from the ABC sheds little light. When asked why the band’s songs were considered more offensive than, say, the sleaze shows on Industrial which are also in the ABC’s domain, assistant administrator Joe ’ Darnall replied, “Language and graphics, like the sign, are an easier, more traditional pattern to pinpoint; they’re more tangible than the other, like i body gyrations.” Oh.

Yes, we have no BURRITOS: When Las Chicharones restaurant got the call from Braniff asking them if they’d like to cater a Mexican dinner for Air Force One and Jimmy Carter, the folks who own Chicharones were delighted. Carter’s advance man made preliminary arrangements for 80 dinners to be delivered to the President’s plane at Love Field. Suddenly the Chicharones story was on national newscasts. The Secret Service worried about poisoning. Jody Powell, Carter’s press secretary, was on the phone, angry about this favoritism shown toward one Mexican restaurant. It seems there was concern about a major Democratic contributor who happened to own some other Mexican restaurants in Dallas – presumably the Martinez family, owners of the El Fenix chain. Chicharones’ ownership, it seems, leans heavily Republican. There was talk that Democratic party chairman Bob Strauss might intervene. Finally, 85 Chicharones dinners were taken to Love Field; 80 of them went to the press plane, only five to Air Force One. Nobody knows for sure whether Jimmy Carter ate one.

Unreal estate: Ah, Highland Park living: treelined streets, first-rate schools, peace and protection. Yeah, you say, but they have to pay for it. Well, not really. A little-known feature of Highland Park life is the incredibly low property tax. How? It’s a simple trick of small-town style, a little matter of the town tax records. Property tax is dependent upon what the city says a house is worth, according to its 10-year-old appraisals. In March, for example, a house on St. John’s Drive was up for sale at $115,000; on the town tax books, it was valued at $14,105. A large home on Beverly was selling for $45,000. the city’s appraised value was $59,060. A house on Euclid selling for $475,000 showed a tax book value of $76,629. The good life strikes again.



Paper chase: On Saturday, March 3, an employee of the First National Bank of Euless made a little mistake; he put 150 customer deposit checks in the bank’s paper shredder. Net shred: $160,000. The customers were, of course, irate. The employee was, of course, fired. The bank put its clerical employees to work round the clock piecing the checks back together with Scotch tape. The only bank official to comment on the incident was, appropriately, the bank’s president, W. G. Ragley. Ragley was justifiably unnerved by the incident (“This is the first time anything like this ever happened to me”) but not too rattled to conjure up this official explanation: “Lightning hit a power pole near the bank, causing a computer in the bank to malfunction, causing the checks to be shredded in a paper shredder.”

Prime rape: Austin observers are already calling this the Session of the Lobby, and a quick glance at the usury legislation that has already passed the House explains why. Not only have the bankers managed to get the limit on home mortgages raised from 10 to 12 percent; they have managed to reduce the penalties the state may impose for usurious loans. Current statutes require an S&L that overcharges a home mortgage customer to pay the customer a penalty twice the amount of the total mortgage: That means if you have a $50,000 mortgage, the bank has to cough up $100,000 – even if it only overcharges you $10. The proposed penalties, which capitol observers give a good chance of passing the Senate soon, would only require the lending institution to pay a penalty twice the amount overcharged the customer. Using the same example, the S&L would only be liable for $20.

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