THUMB AWARD HELP FOR A GOOD JOE

Thumbs Up to the friends of Joe Miller who organized a fundraising benefit and golf tournament to help pay the ailing bar owner’s hospital bills and set up a trust fund for his two daughters. Miller’s name hangs over an earthy, dark bar near Lemmon and McKinney, where since 1977 he has gained a reputation for pouring stiff drinks, rattling off bad jokes and insulting the regulars. Miller. 52, has been in and out of the hospital in recent months as a cancer patient. “We’ve raised about $54,000 to date,” says Dallas restaurant owner Roy Varrow, one of the benefit’s organizers. “We did it to help a friend. What more can you say? He’s a wonderful guy.”