LET’R RIP

“Fifty People” Plus. . .



I’ve enjoyed D Magazine from the very first one, but you sure did tee me off with “50 People Who Made Dallas” (November) when you didn’t include Henry Wade and Sheriff Bill Decker.

Who helped you get this together? Some you did include flat turned my stomach. I’m surprised, because D always told it like it was.

BOB STEWART

MESQUITE



Without even thinking, what about Miss Ela Hockaday (founder of the Hockaday School), and Mr. E.R. Brown-an elegant “oilman,” founder of Magnolia Petroleum, (Mobil Oil) and the one who put “the Flying Red Horse” on the Dallas skyline. Also there’s Bob Cullum, Doak Walker and I could go on, and probably will.

It was a good star.

LOUISE EISEMAN

DALLAS



Your article failed to note the big three groups behind the scenes. These built the infrastructure that allowed the individuals and entrepreneurs to create the wealth.

Railroads-In the 1870s, these groupswere steered to cross the Trinity at Dallas instead of 50 miles south.

Water-Men of vision (my great-grandfather D.F. Sullivan was water commissioner) built White Rock and other watersystems.

3) Money-Goldman-Sachs floated thebonds to create the airport and unite Dallasand Fort Worth. The airport then createsmore wealth.

While men do things, the things-rail, water and air travel-allow so many more men and women today to do so much more, England wants to rise from its decline, but the Victorian infrastructure is so much in decay it will hold the nation back. Thanks to these institutions listed above, Dallas and Fort Worth can rise again.

LARRY SULLIVAN

STAMFORD, ENGLAND



I applaud “50 People Who Made Dallas’1 and even agree with most of your choices. The selection of Sarah Horton Cockrell was an interesting one, but the text contained an error, “Mrs. Cockrell built Dallas’ first hotel, the St. Nicholas, in 1859.” In John Williams Rogers’ book. The Lusty Texans of Dallas, he states that John B. Bryan, brother of John Neely Bryan, opened Dallas’ first hotel in 1846, which was little more than shelter in his log cabin. In 1852, Tom Crutchfield built the Crutchfield House on the northwest corner of the square which was the major hotel in Dallas for many years. Alexander Cockrell had actually started the new hotel before he was killed in 1858, and his widow, Sarah, an astute businesswoman, took over and made Nicholas H. Darnell, famous Indian fighter and former lieutenant governor of Texas (1846), manager and named the new hotel the St. Nicholas in his honor. Three stories tall, it was the finest hotel in North Texas. An elaborate ball, the social event of the season, was held to celebrate its opening in 1859. But the Great Dallas Fire on July 8, 1860, destroyed the new St. Nicholas, the Crutchfield House and most of then downtown Dalla.

LLOYD M. REEDY

DALLAS<BR>

The Real Horror



I got the impression that the statement “What happened is bad enough. What could have happened is horrifying” in Bob Boyd’s article “The DWI and I” (November) was in reference to the possibility of being found guilty on a DWI charge and having to put up with all of the hassles that go with it. When in fact the real horrifying thought is what could have happened because a car is headed the wrong way down a one-way street after the driver consumed 11 beers.

MARTHA J. BRITZ

DALLAS



JFK: A Mountain of Evidence



Chris Tucker’s Farting Shot for November (“Kennedy and Dallas: Dealing With the Saddest Day”) was generally well written, but I was appalled at his comments about conspiracy theories.

Those of us that realize the Warren Commission report is a pile of shit (“’the conspiracy people,” as he condescendingly calls us) are simply more informed than he is. No open-minded person can read a book like Best Evidence and still think Oswald acted alone… there’s simply a mountain of evidence to the contrary. The most credible authors of such books don’t consider the photos of Oswald with his rifle as fakes.

The “conspiracy people’s” conclusions have absolutely nothing to do with what we want to believe. Books like The Plot to Kill the President present one seemingly insignificant fact after another that, when considered as a whole, paint a surprisingly vivid picture of conspiracy and cover-up that reached into the highest levels of our government.

GRGE MING

DALLAS



Tinky’s Mom Needs No Man



As a fellow journalist and a woman, I am appalled by the writing and editing that went into “A Visit With Tinky’s Mom” (October).

As I started reading the article, I was impressed at first by the amount of attribution Laura Miller used in the article, which is often lacking in D Magazine stories, and the care she took in quoting people from both sides of the courtroom in this case.

But when she started talking about Patricia Griffin’s position in life, Miller said: “She has no job. No income. No man. No place of her own to live…”

“No man!” As if a woman has no future if she is not attached at the hip to a man. It is this kind of subtle sexism that is hurting the ability of women to make it on their own in this country.

Now, I will admit it is better for children to have two loving parents who can provide a male and female role model. But a woman does not need a man to properly raise a child, just as a man does not necessarily need a woman for the same task. But, more importantly, she does not need a man to be emotionally and financially healthy.

The fact that Miller wrote that sentence is frightening, but even more worrisome is that none of your editors caught it!

ADRIENNE CILET

PLANO



That “Selective” Media

I received my trial edition (September) of D Magazine and had intended to cancel my subscription before receiving the next two editions. Please cancel my subscription and refund my money pro rata.

I have also canceled my American Express Gold card that I’ve had for some two decades and intend on canceling my Optima Card within the next month.

I’m one who believes in investigative reporting and the media’s charge to protect our democracy. However, when the media is selective, that is worse than the good you might do uncovering the rascals that you do. You have done just that in your work on Commissioner John Wiley Price. With the rascals available to you in the D/FW metroplex, to my knowledge, your batting average doesn’t even register.

You see, I was taught that if I accelerated a vehicle with someone in front of it, I would be subject to manslaughter. I saw a videotape where that jogger ran through the protest line and Commissioner Price defended himself and his people. Now the broken bones of the construction worker will have to wait till trial. But it may be the same as the windshield wiper incident.

RUSSELL R. DOYLE

FORT WORTH