LETTERS

A SECOND SALVO

ON HANDGUNS

I AM PRESENTLY a narcotics investigator with the Dallas Police Department and consider myself an advocate of handgun control. I commend Chris Tucker on his article, “The Handgun Epidemic” [March]. Street experience with handgun violence has made me realize the need for prudent action on this issue.

I was one of the officers dispatched on the robbery/shooting that involved the young girl pictured on the March cover, Tammy Davis. You can bet that Tammy’s family and friends understand the horror of handgun violence. I’m afraid, however, that a solution to the problem is far down the pike. Specifically, the NRA lobby stands as an obstacle to even the most moderate handgun legislation. They do a disservice by holding social responsibility in contempt. The NRA will be a staunch adversary to those of us desiring change, their zeal being fed by the false fear of a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms man and a Communist behind every bush.

David N. Barger

Mesquite



IN YOUR ARTICLE “The Handgun Epidemic,” Chris Tucker wrote that all NRA gun defense was rhetoric, yet the rhetoric we readers were treated to was Tucker’s own.

The truth is that as long as murderers, rapists, armed robbers and child molesters are coddled by our judicial system, crime will thrive. As long as lawyers and judges debate the wording of laws rather than the meaning and intent of those laws, justice cannot be served, because criminals will not be dealt with. Regardless of what tools are used-clubs, guns, automobiles or knives- crime will grow as long as the criminal continues to be rewarded and protected from society by society. My proposal is to make crime illegal, rather than making more impotent laws that aid society’s nemesis.

Marilyn Gonsiorek

Grand Prairie



YOUR MARCH article, “The Handgun Epidemic,” was well-written and very thought-provoking. Once I read it, I passed it on to friends and family, finding out for myself in the process how volatile an issue it is. It was easy to see that even a journalist takes a substantial risk when approaching such a complex and emotional issue.

The article made me aware of and interested in an issue where, as your writer noted, there is in general a great dearth of knowledge. His sensible and reasonable approach will no doubt influence other readers. It’s heartening to know that through such articles as yours, the public may eventually vote to control handgun availability.

Janet Hess

Houston



WHEN I REQUESTED a trial copy of D Magazine, I was expecting a light, entertaining magazine about Dallas. However, I was very disappointed when I received your March issue and found nothing but liberal views aimed at handgun control.

I find it strange that you feel a need to preach politics in a magazine that claims to be about Dallas business, nightlife, etc. Besides that, the fact is that you have totally missed the boat. I won’t preach to you, but stop and ask yourself if having drugs illegal has stopped drug abuse.

Were it not for this group of articles about gun control, I would have been glad to purchase a subscription to your magazine. However, I do not feel that I can support your organization when it displays these views.

B. Gamer Roberts Jr.

Fort Worth



HIGH HORSE

HISTORY

WHILE PLEASED TO see the success of High Horse Sportswear in the news [“Inside Dallas,” March], I consider it my duty as a Dallasite to clarify the parody’s pedigree. “Get Off Your High Horse” was born in 1979 at-where else?-Highland Park High School, where there is worn a uniform of sorts, available at Harold’s and the Polo Shop in the Village.

The early hand-sewn copies, known as “Not-So-Polo” shirts, drew considerable attention, including that of a Cardinal Puffs patron who saw my shirt one night. He told two friends from Texas A&M, Richard and Dan Lemmons, who were then sojourning in Southern California with their scrub-shirt business. Dan and Richard latched onto the idea and paid an artist the 30 sirloins to draw it up for production.

The Lemmons brothers, however, quickly became victims of corporate intrigue, trusting a friend to draft and file incorporating papers and trademark and copyright applications. Draft and file he did, with no mention of the Lemmons pair. Empty-handed and already down 30 steaks and one friend, Dan and Richard came home to Texas.

In Big D, their luck changed. Through a series of coincidences involving classmates of mine from the Highland Park class of ’80 (I am told that one was Lance Mcllhenny), they learned that the rights did not belong to their ex-friend and partner, but instead had been acquired long before. I heard from them in January 1982, a license was signed a few months later, and business has been growing ever since.

This exposes our Dallas roots. Besides, having been out here in school for three and a half years, I can affirm that California does not inspire parody-it surpasses it.

Philip Chalk

Stanford, California



RELATIVELY

SPEAKING

COMING FROM A long line of old-time Dallasites, I read with interest your magazine article “Civil Wrongs” by Tom Peeler [March]. In the article, he mentioned my uncle, attorney Wilson T. Pace, but with the middle initial given as “A.” The “T.” stood for Trezevant.

Uncle “Wilkie” was in the Spanish-American War and fought at the battle of San Juan Hill. In his later years, he gave up practicing law, except for a few cases. It was at this time that he began publishing his books: Texas Under Six Flags and a lawyer’s handbook called Rich, Rare & Racy-excerpts from happenings in the Texas Bar.

Jeanette Haynes Madden

Phoenix