ANSWER PAGE

Q. While I was growing up in Dallas, a real treat was going to Kip’s Big Boy and ordering a double-decker burger. I’m curious about which Big Boy was the first to open here. Also, who writes the Big Boy comics that are given away at the restaurants? J.G., Dallas.

A. The Big Boy opened his first shop in Dallas at Lemmon and Inwood in September 1958, but Califor-nians were savoring the hall-mark hamburgers back in 1936. Bob Wian, the daddy of Big Boy, is attributed with introducing the first double-decker burger to the country at his counter-service eateries in Glendale, California. The limited menu was expanded to full service, and Big Boy was franchised. Today, some 1167 locations in the United States, Canada and Japan dish up Big Boy hamburgers. Big Boy comic books are produced by Webs, a graphic design company in Rolling Hills, California.

Q. I just moved to Dallas from Philadelphia and am wondering why this city doesn’t have a 911 telephone number to dial in an emergency. Other major cities provide this service. Why doesn’t Dallas? E.B., Dallas.

A. Apparently no one with any clout thinks we need a 911 system; even if someone did, city funding would be hard to come by. The money to install the expensive computer system necessary to implement a 911 emergency number was not around in 1977, when City Hall converted to a centrex telephone plan. City officials chose a less costly alternative: the Automatic Call Distributor, which routes requests for ambulance, fire and police assistance through one number, 744-4444.

Q. Channels 4,5 and 8 are obviously engaged in a ratings war, but the news team billboard blitz is getting ridiculous. Everywhere I drive I see Clarice Tinsley’s face or the whole Channel 8 team leering down. Can you tell me which TV station spends the most money on promoting its news team and trashing our environment? V.L., Dallas.

A. If we could, we would, but the Big Three (KDFW, KXAS and WFAA) are keeping tight lips about how much money is blown. Promotion managers at each of the Dallas network affiliates say the market is too competitive for them to release that kind of information. However, Channel 8 boasts that it spends the most, a claim that Channel 5 supports. Channel 4 is keeping mum on the subject. If you’re hellbent on finding out, you could figure it out yourself, but it’ll take a little calculating. According to Foster & Kleiser, a leasing company in Arlington, a permanent billboard location in prime spots along Central Expressway, LBJ and Stem-mons freeways runs from $2,000 to $2,500 a month, based on a yearly contract. A rotating billboard (one that is moved every 60 days) runs $1,350 a month, based on a yearly contract. Multiply those figures by the number of Daves, Chips and Iolas scattered across the city and you’ll know whose mugs are marketed the most.

Q. I am a divorced work-ing mother who is having a hard time paying the child-care bills for my two preschoolers. When is Dallas going to get on the ball and institute corporate child care downtown? T.M., Dallas.

A. Don’t expect any im-mediate aid. While plans for downtown corporate child care are being discussed, nothing is definite. Janie Payne of the Dallas Department of Human Services began a one-woman study on the possibilities for child care in the inner city last January and believes a down-town consortium is possible, provided that enough corporations can be persuaded. A workshop conference on the subject is tentatively scheduled this month in the City Council chambers.

Q. Although I’ve lived here all my life and can’t remember it, my hallucinating boyfriend insists that there used to be a lake in Ex-all Park where he and his brother caught crayfish. He wants to know what happened to it. M.R., Dallas.

A. Sorry, but your boy- friend is all wet. A lake has never been one of Exall Park’s attractions, but a creek ran through the park more than 20 years ago. It was incorporated into an underground storm sewer in about 1961 during park renovations.