NANCY SMITH’S GAG RULE

Readers of Nancy Smith’s gossip column in the Morning News know that it is a Who’s Who of the richest, most powerful, and most glamorous people in Dallas.

But there is one individual-certainly rich and powerful-who never has been mentioned by Smith. That’s because his power base is the Morning News. He is Robert Decherd, executive vice president of the A.H. Belo Corp, who runs the editorial department of the News from his fourth-floor office.

Decherd has decreed that his name, and the names of his wife and son, never ap-pear in Ms. Smith’s column in any form or fashion. That rule does not apply, however, to his more flashy cousins, the Dealeys, who are included in Smith’s column frequently.

Readers will remember the puzzling lead item in one Smith column that chronicled the appearance at a party of young Christopher Dealey, son of Mandy Dealey and Joe Dealey, Jr. The item described young Master Dealey right down to the sailor suit he was wearing. Readers never will be treated to the same information about the Decherd offspring, however.

Decherd has said the decree is based on the desire not to have the newspaper’s owners dominate the columns. Staff members question that logic. After all, the Dealey family members appearing in Smith’s column all own Belo stock.