Two unusual phone calls supplement the mailbag offerings this month. After our April cover on street gangs appeared, a woman with a very loud, very twangy accent called to say that she was Lisa. “Lisa who?” was our dumb question. Lisa whose name is tattooed on the wrist of the model on your cover, was her answer Well, that failed to compute, since the young man on the April cover was no model, but the former leader of one of these selfsame Dallas street gangs. Naw, naw he ain’t, “Lisa” loudly demurred. She veiled that the real leader of the gang, a man named Fernando, was in prison, and was he ever gonna be steamed when he saw this cover. A quick check with our art director, who conducted the cover shoot, revealed that the real Lisa was there that day. He described her as petite, young, Hispanic, and devoid of any loud, twangy East Texas accent. We’re still waiting to hear from Fernando.
The other call came in re Rosalyn Story’s profile of Sheron Patterson, the first African-American minister at the huge First United Methodist Church. The caller had two nits to pick: first, she objected to Story’s description of the congregation as “middle-class.” Let the record show that, according to this caller, the flock is solidly “upper-middle-class,” and don’t you forget it. Then, like a voice from Oliver Stone’s Talk Radio, which depicted Dallas as a glassy Oz haunted by Forties rednecks, she got to her real point: was the author black? Yes, the author was and is black. “I thought so,” she said. Ah, brave new world, that has such creatures in it.
Highway From Hell
We hope you can imagine our shock and dismay concerning “Highway From Hell” |April|. which listed Douglas Avenue, south of Walnut Hill, as your number one recommended alternative route to the construction on Central Expressway.
Last summer a city traffic survey concluded that the volume of cars and their average speed already greatly exceeds the design specifications of our street. Your traffic recommendation will only add to an existing serious problem.
The Preston Hollow Homeowners’ Association is currently working with City Councilman Jerry Bartos to recommend measures that the city of Dallas can undertake to reduce the current dangerous traffic conditions along Douglas Avenue. Instead of adding to this problem, we would have preferred for D Magazine to take a stand on behalf of local homeowners who are working to improve neighborhood safety.
MARY MCENTIRE
SHARON CARTY
DALLAS
I enjoyed your humorous article on Central Expressway. Thank you for your kind, but undeserved, comments about my role in this project. I want to stress that a team effort (involving public officials, community leaders, and technical staffs) made the project happen.
The idea of tucking the transit lines underneath the service roads was suggested by three individuals-Louis J. Blaize, Joe Novoa, and Steve Winslow. I merely helped move the solution along. DART and the Highway Department officials deserve the ultimate credit when they agreed to “bury the hatchet” and work together on the new approach that broke the impasse on North Central.
WALTER J. HUMANN, CHAIRMAN
NORTH CENTRAL TASK FORCE
Ninja’s No Hero
To see Ninja’s picture gracing the cover of your magazine was indeed a shock [“Dying to Belong,” April]. Upon reading the article, the shock turned into anger, then disappointment.
A respected magazine such as yours does not need to revert to supermarket tabloid tactics such as has been done here. The majority of this article does nothing but glorify gangs, their power, and their definite presence in Dallas. The anger arose from knowing that every gang in Dallas will now want to follow behind Ninja’s footsteps. Every insecure teenage gang member will want instant notoriety by getting his picture on the front of a newspaper or magazine, or by making the 10 o’clock news.
The article should have focused on the hurt, pain, and suicidal tendencies that Ninja has more than he likes to admit. It should have focused on the pain that Danny’s mother feels every time she sees a crazy-haired teenager in the street. It should have focused on the innocent families of these teenagers whose parents sit and worry and wait and pray that their uncontrollable son or daughter will come home safe and alive at least one more time.
The most serious disappointment in this article was knowing that Ninja himself would not be able to read the article. Perhaps he could get a gang-member friend to read it to him.
VELIA VELEZ FERRARA
Dallas
Bad Rap for D
The rap lyric quoted in your article “Dying to Belong” is from the rap group NWA’s song “Straight Outta Compton”; it is not by Ice-T, to whom the article incorrectly attributed the lyric.
Paul Kollock
DALLAS
What About Me?
I find it utterly amazing that Jeff Posey could write an article about the current competition for the videotex market in Dallas [“Modem Operandi,” April] without once mentioning the local service that’s been serving Dallas for the past eight years- StarText.
The reason for this oversight is perplexing. It can’t be the number of subscribers. Star-Text has 4,200. It can’t be a lack of services. StarText offers many of the same features: the encyclopedia, Eaasy Sabre, home banking (since 1985), as well as a rich blend of local and world news unmatched by any service. Unlike the two Posey mentions, you don’t need any special hardware or software to use StarText. Virtually anything works.
It’s true you can’t play games like CEO or Poker on StarText, and you won’t find uncen-sored chat services either. But we do take pride that more than 200 schools in the Dallas/Fort Worth area have incorporated StarText as part of their learning programs. That’s the kind of endorsement we like to have.
Maybe it’s just not chic to promote the local guy, or acknowledge that it’s possible to offer people a quality service at an affordable price without spending a quarter of a billion dollars.
GERRY J. BARKER
STARTEXT MARKETING DIRECTOR
FORT WORTH
True Readers; Rejoice
Anne Warren’s column on books [“Staying In,” April] justifies the entire April issue. It is good to read an authority expressing my sentiments exactly.
Books and films are two different art forms (if art forms at all), but only the true reader distinguishes the difference.
OLIVIA MURRAY NICHOLS
DALLAS
Out of Bounds?
In keeping with our society’s standard of blaming the victim, D Magazine has published an article portraying Jill Bounds [“The Aura of Murder,” March] as a violent, unstable, and manipulative woman. If Jill was the only person in her relationships who reacted with violence, how does one explain why she is the one who is now dead or that her brutal murder occurred while she slept?
Glenna Whitley chose to portray Jill as an ugly quack. The reality is that Jill was an oasis of beauty and nurturing in many people’s lives. She facilitated a great deal of healing, and many of us are still grieving the loss of her.
This article does nothing but make a tawdry showcase of an abuse victim’s life and a victim’s abusive death. Whitley seems to have spent many hours investigating her story. Would that time not have been better spent trying to find Jill’s murderer?
RHONDA GOLDSTEIN
CARROLLTON
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